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It's #WorldAutismAwarenessDay today, though we'd prefer Understanding! For young neurodivergent people at school, we asked our neurodivergent followers to tell us what school was like for them and what their life is like now. Here's #NeurodivergentLives youtube.com/watch?v=EUZ-kd…

6. Autistic people can get married. We can have romantic relationships. Some of us are asexual, like some non-autistic people are asexual, and that’s okay too. But we become adults, and that means many of us are in relationships. We can still be autistic too.

7. The idea that someone making eye contact means they are listening is rooted in ableism and is just incorrect. Eye contact can be painful for some autistic people. It can mean that we can’t focus on what you are saying. It’s much easier to listen by not staring at your eyes.

8. Stop blaming me for miscommunications when communication works two ways. You can’t expect me to just know what you mean if you don’t state it clearly and literally. My brain is different to yours. That does not mean my brain is in the wrong. We have to work together.

9. I don’t “live with autism”. That makes it sound like a disease. Or something that I carry around. Autism influences every part of me, how I see, understand and interpret the world and how I respond to things around me. Autism IS me. And that’s okay.

10. Autism is not all bad. If you could experience autistic joy, you would understand, because it is the most wonderful feeling. Our brains hyper-focus on whatever it is that is making us happy, and we are completely captivated by joy. It is all-encompassing and it is wonderful.

11. When an autistic person tells you that they are autistic, don’t say “don’t you mean a person with autism?”. The majority of autistic people prefer identity-first language, i.e. ‘autistic person’. You shouldn’t need to be reminded that we are a person first, before our autism.

12. Everyone is not on the spectrum. The spectrum means each autistic person experiences different combinations of traits to diff intensities. Just because you share a trait (because, spoiler, we are human, so autistic traits are human traits), doesn’t mean you’re autistic.

13. We are fed up of people who aren’t autistic having conversations about us without us. We deserve to be involved in discussions about us without being shut out. In fact, we must be involved. You must consult us. Autism training is not training without autistic trainers.

You can read the full blog post here. authenticallyemily.uk/blog/what-i-wa…

Now Wednesday is looking even more exciting! You can join us here: eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-conversati…

In July I presented alongside Dr Keren MacLennan in the ‘Sensory experiences and processing’ session at the Autistica Research Festival 2022, on the @sensory_street Oxford Uni project. We were also both on a Q&A session after and you can now watch it here: youtu.be/9SR_4CEPTq0

ALL schools have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people under the Equality Act, 2010. Here's our list of some of the adjustments that can be made to make neurodivergent pupils' school careers more equitable with their peers. bit.ly/AGNAdjustments

🔥Save the date for our Fireside Chat! Featuring @gedankenstuecke, Marc Kuchner, Pen-Yuan Hsing & James Scott, co-organised with Georgia Aitkenhead of Aut Spaces at The Alan Turing Institute 🗓 Friday, 28 October, 15:00 UTC RT & Register🙏 eventbrite.co.uk/e/supporting-c…

Saw this ‘Sensory-Friendly Shopping’ initiative from @ikeauk when I was out briefly the other day. Now this is great - it’s a step in the right direction and it means a lot to me to see these sorts of signs. However… 🧵 #autism #autistic #sensoryfriendly IKEA UKSupport

If you only do one thing to support autistic people on #AutismAcceptanceDay buy a book by an #ActuallyAutistic writer and learn from their lived-experience. This is just a few from 🌻 c h l o é h a y d e n 🌻 hux | lizzie huxley-jones 🍟📚 (they/them) Greta Thunberg Yenn Purkis Pete Wharmby and Temple Grandin.

#citscimonth #WorldAutismDay Aut Spaces is a project from The Alan Turing Institute, Autistica and the #autistic community. Creating an online platform to share resources to empower autistic people through #citizenscience! github.com/alan-turing-in…