Many well-meaning people don't know that Autism Speaks does very little to help existing autistic children or adults.
We are grateful to @autisticadvocacy.org for going over Autism Speaks's financial record—so you can see exactly why you shouldn't donate to AS.
#autism #neurodiversity
Graphic with a light gray to white horizontal gradient background. Text reads, "Many autistics speak late, a little, or not at all. This is called being “autistic with speech divergence” (A-SD). "A-SD people, even with intellectual (dis)abilities, often have strong visual and hearing skills. These skills are key to how A-SD folks understand and communicate—but are not always recognized in the usual assessments (e.g., IQ testing). "ND-informed assessments & supports can build on A-SD strengths instead of trying to “fix” A-SD autistics." Smaller text in the lower left reads, "Steven K. Kapp &Juliette Gudknecht tinyurl.com/AutisticSpeechDivergence" The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism logo is in the lower right corner.
Focusing on the visual & auditory skills of autistics with speech divergence (A-SD)—including those w/ID—can help them demonstrate intelligence, learn to read, and acquire communicative language skills. @drstevenkapp.bsky.social & @juliettegudkne1.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
"Autistic burnout does not appear overnight. It is the result of years of surviving on a tiny buffer that was never large enough to cope with the world we are living in. It feels like you have been running on almost nothing for years" and the tank is finally empty. TY @embraceautism.bsky.social.
Please buy our shirts and help support TPGA writers and artists while promoting autistic pride and autism acceptance! If that's not in your capacity or interest, please share our campaign.
#autismAcceptanceMonth #autism #neurodiversity
I do not watch reality TV, but I have it from Gen Z autistics that this takedown of the misogyny baked into the autistic dating series Love on the Spectrum is on point and also very funny:
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8gMWoEs/
#LoveOnTheSpectrum
"Here are just seven of my childhood traits and behaviors that I now understand were great big clues that I was autistic—and that might lead to an early diagnosis if I were growing up today." From Leah Welborn, at TPGA:
thinkingautismguide.com/2026/02/i-wa... #autism #autistic #neurodiversity
“When our kids tell us that they’ve been victimized, believe them. Let them tell us their stories. We must understand that bullying is not the same for neurodivergent kids as it is for all other kids.” From @katiepryal.bsky.social’s new book Your Kid Belongs Here:
books.apple.com/us/book/your...
Help Us Support Our Writers and Artists! We are an all-volunteer #neurodiversity & autism resource, but we do pay our (almost all-ND) contributors. You can help us keep on doing that, while also wearing (or gifting) cool TPGA gear. Please spread the word if you can:
www.bonfire.com/fidget-for-a...
“Terms such as ‘profound autism,’ ‘high functioning,’ or ‘levels of autism’ […] maintain systems of categorisation and segregation that prioritise some needs over others, without addressing the structural changes required to support all Autistic people.”
Green: And I have now seen multiple testimonies from parents who had put their child through ABA, through full-time hours of ABA for years, who are aghast at what they did. It’s so scary.
#BetterWaysThanABA 74/
this gets annoying when you want to do things but your body says "no."
"I have to be realistic about the community that I am nurturing in—& the community for my children & for the parents that I help—as a Black autistic woman. I can’t just be me anywhere I want to be." @supernovaparenting.org on parenting while autistic & Black:
thinkingautismguide.com/2022/08/supe...
A reminder for folks who are going to #INSAR2026: Last year the Autism Science Foundation provided branded badge lanyards for all attendees. If you would prefer to not chance signal-boosting an anti-neurodiversity, anti-autistic advocacy org, bring your own lanyard. #TheMoreYouKnow #neurodiversity
The struggle is very real.
#RealScienceHelps #PseudoScienceHarms @standupforscience.net @thinkingautism.com
Green: If you think that a happy life is just a complete waste of time, like trying to make your autistic loved one happy is a complete waste of time because they will never be happy—then you’ll never try, and then they never will be. #autism #neurodiversity #ProfoundAutism 73/
Rather than focusing on “‘fixing”’ spoken communication, @drstevenkapp.bsky.social & Juliette Gudknecht argue for approaches that build on autistic strengths (including language in other forms where possible). This means creating ND assessments and supports:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Green: Families [of higher support autistic people] absolutely do NOT get enough support in that journey […]but there is this constant assumption with these profound autism people that an inability to speak means a complete inability to make one’s desires known—and that scares me, that is scary. 72/
Hey North Americans going to #INSAR2026: Don't forget to bring along a travel plug adapter!
Quite the shower of nasties here incl those parents who moan about having #autistic children. Get over yourselves! I would do anything to get another day with my autistic child who passed over & I wish there were better supports & awareness; I wish I could have done more to make their life easier
Sincere condolences for your loss. -SR
I feel the same way they feel, but I can suppress the expression of those feelings. I feel the same way! The same! I don't have words for it, and if I had to describe it accurately, it would also be wordless screaming. You want me to WATCH?! When you watch, do you feel? Can you feel? Monsters.
Autistics who struggle with daily “steps” for living life—you are not alone: “Steps. They’re hard, they’re anxiety provoking, yet they’re associated with almost everything. I haven’t really found any perfect solutions. I muddle through.” Rhonda Cheryl Solomon:
autismspectrumnews.org/life-through...
Anti-vaccine influencers often claim that vaccines don’t work and haven’t saved millions of lives, despite all evidence to the contrary. How about today we show you evidence about how well Hib vaccines work?
But hey, I'm one of the hellbeasts w/o significant learning needs (like 50-80% of our community, depending on which study you read), so what do I know? (...except for having family with higher needs and working with autistic kids in various types of mainstream & SEND education settings for 25yrs...)
I will never understand how anyone, least of all a parent, would be satisfied to write off a child as:
- can't verbalise so can't communicate,
- can't understand what we're saying,
- has autism so I can't be bothered to get dx for their multiple co-occuring needs, which could improve their support.
This bit upset me greatly. Of course we don’t want to watch someone having a meltdown. We know how it feels & we know how it’d feel to have a room full of people watching it.
Alison Singer takes this response as proof we can’t advocate for ourselves, she sees it as a sign that we can’t empathise.
"The way we autistics process is often on hyperdrive. The activities that are like strolling for many allistic people are like sprinting for us. We need rest, more frequently and in greater durations than non-autistic people." Advice from Neuromess, at TPGA:
thinkingautismguide.com/2025/10/we-g...
Green notes that "that Lancet commission report, they even say that the term #profoundAutism is not appropriate for young children." And yet "The pushers of the profound autism category [Including Singer] are absolutely categorically using it to describe children, including very young children." 71/