I’ve been so busy that somehow there wasn’t an Autism News post since June. But news has been accruing at an astonishing rate! So we’re going to have a REALLY BIG news post today. Hold on to your hats.
Intersectionality:
- Lydia Brown on the intersection of autistic and trans experience.
- A Fusion video on the intersection of race and autism
- Dani Alexis Ryskamp on emotional labor and autistic women. [I’m really glad to see an article on this topic; I’ve been wondering about autistic people’s experience of emotional labor ever since I was introduced to the concept.]
Science and technology:
- The University of Edinburgh’s Development Autism Research Technology team overturns some common assumptions about screentime, “technology addiction“, and children’s physical health
- Speaking of which, Feminist Aspie on technology panic
- Mark Wallace has an interesting new theory about sensory integration and timing
- Emily Morson on ADHD tipping points. [ADHD and autism are not the same, but there are similarities, and there are many points here that I feel autistic readers might find useful or thought-provoking.]
Reviews:
- Dani Alexis Ryskamp reviews “In a Different Key”: [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10]
- Shannon des Roches Rosa reviews “Life, Animated“
- Sparrow Rose Jones reviews “Life, Animated“
Some writing advice:
- pyxamid et al on writing accidentally autistic characters
- Alyssa Hillary on what to do if you find this occuring in your own writing
Some good posts about ableism:
- Alyssa Hillary on the hidden meanings of “use your words”
- Alyssa Hillary on indistinguishability from peers
- M Kelter on the effects of stigmatizing language on suicidal autistics [TW for basically what it says on the can – there are no graphic or specific descriptions of suicide.]
- Chavisory on privacy
- Rhi from Autnot on safety nets
- Lisa Daxer on faking normal
Misc:
- Susan Walton on a school for autistic students based on movement and activity needs
- Joel from Evil Autie on “prompt-critical excursions“. [I had one of these after arriving back in Canada from Finland and trying to get home.]
- Clarissa Kripke has a very detailed post for caregivers on dealing with meltdowns
- Kerima Cevik describes her attitude towards meltdowns
- Sam Crane on housing choices for autistic people
- Alyssa Hillary on Pokemon Go and autism
- Zoe Cannon on the Association for Autistic Community Conference
- Kermia Cevik on why she opposes the use of tracking bracelets for autistic children
Sad things:
We have a doozy of a Sad Things section this time, partly because of a few well-publicized cases of attacks on autistic people in the news. A man named Charles Kinsey was shot by police in the US, who later claimed they had meant to shoot the autistic person Kinsey was caring for. Meanwhile, an autistic man named Abdirahman Abdi was killed by police in Canada. A person in Japan performed a mass shooting in a facility for disabled people, claiming he wanted a future without disabled people in it. An autistic boy named Austin Anderson in the US who was killed by his mother also made the news.
The Charles Kinsey case got enough media attention to merit its own section:
- Official ASAN statement on the shooting
- Lydia Brown on the violence of ableism
- Pharoah Inkabuss on #BlackDisabledLivesMatter
- Kerima Cevik on the role of community in preventing more shootings like this
Meanwhile, other sad things:
- Carly Findlay on the mass murder in Japan
- Feminist Aspie on the Austin Anderson case
- Aside from the most publicized cases, Lisa Daxer’s Autism Memorial keeps accruing additional names, including five autistic people who were killed in nine days in June, and seven more over July and August.
- The deaths of four developmentally disabled men and their group home’s administrator in California are being investigated as homicides.
- Jennifer Partin on how awareness campaigns contribute to ableist violence. [I don’t think that everyone who uses the word “awareness” is guilty of what Partin describes, but what she describes is a very real thing that a great number of people using the word “awareness” do, including the biggest autism charities in the world.]