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rainwatersparkSort of the spiritual sequel to this post. Not that I wanted to write a sequel, but I'm mad at this point.
7. If you're going to write about an autistic character who struggles with metaphors, please learn the difference between a metaphor and an idiom. Problems with idioms are a difficulty for English language learners and should not be a problem for native English speakers.
8. An autistic adult should not sound like an autistic child; if they do, something has gone seriously wrong. To put it another way, would you write a neurotypical adult to sound like a neurotypical child? Obviously, the answer is NO. The difference between an autistic adult and autistic child is similar: the adult will have more accumulated life experience to know how to cope with and understand situations. An autistic child may be confused as to why string cheese isn't literally made of string; it's unlikely that an autistic adult would be so confused because they should have come across multiple instances of non-literal food names by the time they're an adult.
9. Please don't write about an autistic who is able to suppress their stimming in favor of appearing "socially acceptable" without consequences. Stimming serves a purpose and the elimination of stimming behaviors is one grievance many autistics have against therapies like ABA. I've read accounts of autistics who experience negative consequences if they suppress their stimming. Also, this kind of rhetoric just enforces the idea that autistics are able to and therefore should behave more "neurotypically." (The one exception would be the depiction of an autistic who has a self-destructive stim and sometimes struggles with channeling it into a different kind of stim.)
10. Autistics can and do use slang, colloquialisms, and profanities. Where the idea that we all speak like automatons comes from, I have no idea (my guess is that it stems from associations of autistics with robots/rigidly following rules).
And number one on my grudge list...
11. If you're writing an autistic adult who does not have an intellectual disability, do not, I repeat, do NOT write as though they are incapable of or would have difficulties consenting to romantic relationships and/or sex. This is infantilizing, ableist, and infuriating. If an autistic adult does not have an intellectual disability, they are FULLY CAPABLE of understanding consent. There is NO REASON for allistic characters to worry that said autistic ADULT is going to be "taken advantage of" by agreeing to a relationship/sex. By doing so, they are treating said ADULT as having the mental age of a child SOLELY because the adult is autistic. I repeat: THIS IS INFANTILIZING AND ABLEIST.
7. If you're going to write about an autistic character who struggles with metaphors, please learn the difference between a metaphor and an idiom. Problems with idioms are a difficulty for English language learners and should not be a problem for native English speakers.
8. An autistic adult should not sound like an autistic child; if they do, something has gone seriously wrong. To put it another way, would you write a neurotypical adult to sound like a neurotypical child? Obviously, the answer is NO. The difference between an autistic adult and autistic child is similar: the adult will have more accumulated life experience to know how to cope with and understand situations. An autistic child may be confused as to why string cheese isn't literally made of string; it's unlikely that an autistic adult would be so confused because they should have come across multiple instances of non-literal food names by the time they're an adult.
9. Please don't write about an autistic who is able to suppress their stimming in favor of appearing "socially acceptable" without consequences. Stimming serves a purpose and the elimination of stimming behaviors is one grievance many autistics have against therapies like ABA. I've read accounts of autistics who experience negative consequences if they suppress their stimming. Also, this kind of rhetoric just enforces the idea that autistics are able to and therefore should behave more "neurotypically." (The one exception would be the depiction of an autistic who has a self-destructive stim and sometimes struggles with channeling it into a different kind of stim.)
10. Autistics can and do use slang, colloquialisms, and profanities. Where the idea that we all speak like automatons comes from, I have no idea (my guess is that it stems from associations of autistics with robots/rigidly following rules).
And number one on my grudge list...
11. If you're writing an autistic adult who does not have an intellectual disability, do not, I repeat, do NOT write as though they are incapable of or would have difficulties consenting to romantic relationships and/or sex. This is infantilizing, ableist, and infuriating. If an autistic adult does not have an intellectual disability, they are FULLY CAPABLE of understanding consent. There is NO REASON for allistic characters to worry that said autistic ADULT is going to be "taken advantage of" by agreeing to a relationship/sex. By doing so, they are treating said ADULT as having the mental age of a child SOLELY because the adult is autistic. I repeat: THIS IS INFANTILIZING AND ABLEIST.
