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I'm a little confused as to the relevancy of this comment. A writer describes the hell of an unmodified gym class. Someone responds, describes the accommodations her sons receive, and says that for them, gym class is enjoyable. This does not disprove the article--it is, if anything supporting evidence.

:/

I just want to emphasize that for a lot of people, ESPECIALLY people who don't have access to other forms of communication, headbanging and similar SIBs can be a response to pain or illness. If someone is smashing their head into the wall over and over again, they need a *thorough* examination to rule out migraines, seizure activity, vision problems, ear infections, tooth pain, etc etc etc. MRIs, anything and everything.

Neither the autistic nor the disability community is in anything approaching clear accord regarding much of this post. The DD community is pretty strongly in agreement that the r-word is a slur, but the rest? There's significant disagreement and a general trend, in fact, away from the surface-level changes advocated here. I'm not fond of how this post papers over it or prescribes language policing as the solution. It's intellectually dishonest powerplay.

(Not a criticism of you, Shannon. Just letting you know that there's much more diversity of thought here than the two posts would like to be known.)

One of the things I *really* liked about Autreat is that I could say "I can't chose" or "tell me where to sit" and someone would, no big deal, no lengthy analysis of my personal neurosis, just, helpful.

The studies I know for adults with AS diagnosis puts the rate for anxiety at over 90%. If language and IQ are indeed *not* predicative (which would correspond with every piece of anecdotal evidence I have, so I do hope the study gets replicated successfully,) then I'd expect the end figure to be somewhere in there. Which makes painful sense.

Incredibly disappointed in TPGA.

Protesting service cuts can be done without referencing or relying on ableist and dehumanizing imagery and messages about autistic people. Whether or not that's how the sign was *meant,* that's what it, and its subsequent viral fame and framing, *did.* That is the only way it could have had an effect. The only reason it made this much noise is because of the dominant ideology. Nuance may have gone into the making of the sign--*may* have, did Ben make it *himself,* was it *his* idea and wording?--but it sure as hell wasn't being referenced when the image went viral.

Services and supports are constantly, internationally, being cut when *more* are needed, and that's a human-rights travesty and something we need to be talking and agitating about. Why can't we have those conversations when people aren't being killed or cure isn't being demanded? Autistic people deserve at least that courtesy.

We can do better.

I'm not going to respond to comments here, because, based on past experience, I don't expect this conversation to go anywhere at all. But for the record, I live in a state where DD services have been decimated, where my friends with severe disabilities receive no services, where people who have expressed competence with an AAC device are denied funding for one and thus a voice, where I can't even be placed on a waitlist and am trapped at home with no supports for me or my brother. This is not a hypothetical or philosophical issue to me. I understand the reality every day. And I still find the way these conversations about supports and cuts are conducted to be completely unacceptable, disrespectful, and, ultimately, responsible for those cuts. We deserve better.

I love seeing how these questions have been adapted in different ways! I know a couple of people who communicate through choice-making, it's great to see that mode represented.

Paula, it sounds like you have a phenomenal relationship with your son, and that makes me hopeful.

Moves Like Jagger is the BEST song to stim too.

(Emma, I love your string! I have some beads, but I never thought about modifying them like you do.)