autism

Face the truth: what you REALLY mean when you say “low-functioning”

4 Comments / autism, autism acceptance, autism awareness, autistic, disability, discrimination, functioning labels, IDD, intellectual disability, neurodiversity, presume competence / By

I’m so freaking tired of people throwing around functioning labels. “High” functioning autism. “Low” functioning autism. “Moderately,” “mildly,” or “severely” affected by autism. Aside from the fact that these labels are arbitrary, divisive, imprecise, and inaccurate, they just don’t make sense.  As someone (not me) brilliantly stated, “Low functioning means that your strengths are ignored; …

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Contribution for #EducateSesame Collaborative Blog

#EducateSesame, advocacy, autism, autistic, Boycott Autism Speaks, family, parenting / By

I am proud to support Boycott Autism Speaks’ Flash Blog urging Sesame Workshop to reconsider their recently announced partnership with Autism Speaks. The movement has attracted media attention lately, and the flash blog is one of several grassroots attempts to protest this partnership peacefully but assertively. You can read my post at the link provided. …

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Autism as seen by my autistic daughter

April, autism, autism acceptance, autism awareness, autistic, FB, self-awareness, youth / By

My sweet girl’s contribution for a community flash blog (that wasn’t part of it because Mommy didn’t submit it on time to be included, oops).  SO I’m sharing it here. She typed this out unprompted and unassisted.  🙂 This is autizum Autizum is something BIG and good. It is fun to type about autizum!  I …

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“Carter”: an exercise in presuming competence

autism, autistic, FB, March, presume competence, volunteering / By

I volunteer on Sunday evenings with our church’s worship and creative arts ministry for children. The kids take fun classes such as kick-boxing, art, hip-hop, cup stacking, Sign Language, music, Legos, etc, and Biblical concepts are interwoven into the lessons. Though children with disabilities are welcome into this program, most of those families seem to …

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Cleanin’ out my closet: coming out Autistic!

autism, autistic, FB Valentine's Day, self-advocacy, self-awareness / By

So…I kinda came out this week.  About my neurology, that is.  In recent months, I’ve grown increasingly comfortable being fairly open about some aspects of myself in the semi-anonymous world of the internet. But IRL, it’s different.  While I am not ashamed of who my Lord and Savior made me to be, my diagnosis is …

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“Don’t let them be Autistic…” #AutismIsNotACrime Flash Blog post

1 Comment / #Autismisnotacrime, autism, autistic, discrimination, parenting, parenting while black, POC, police violence, racial profiling / By

Though I am not a regular blogger, I learned about the “Autism is Not a Crime” flash blog being hosted by Gretchen Leary (described here), and I wanted to support my community by participating (some additional great information available here).  I don’t know how good this will be given that I’m throwing it together, but …

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