Are most autistic people fabulous? Yes. But we live in a world that spent nearly 100 years misunderstanding almost everything about us. And one that targeted us time after time for awful assaults etc. It takes time to get good info out there. Your exhausted autistic friends hope you're listening.

I am begging people to please seek out Autistic voices if you want to learn about autism. You will find that rather than wanting our lives to be prevented or cured, we want appropriate supports for ALL Autistic people (including those with intellectual disability and other co-occurring conditions).

They should invent allistic people that don’t try to ruin the life of every autist on planet earth

It's not difficult to recognise autism in girls. You just need to pay attention! Decades of suffering could be prevented if allistics stopped ignoring female autism.

being a Gestalt Language Processor as a child was confusing because I knew I used language differently and I didn't understand why; I had delayed echolalia/echopraxia so I didn't feel like a "real" thinker until my 20s. my thoughts and communications were a collection of echoes.

Autism is not a set of external behaviours. It's a fundamental neurological difference that can be visible or hidden, but you're Autistic regardless of which one you are. #actuallyautistic

I had never so deeply related to Jesus flipping the money-counting tables in the Temple .... until I joined Autistic spaces. Classism is the most undiscussed intersection of Autistic oppression and it regularly drives me to meltdown.

me watching bourgeois L1 middle class Autistics with jobs & university degrees get their private autism diagnosis that was "so thorough and validating!" ... and it cost thousands of pounds/dollars.

A fantastic Day 1 at the 14th @autismeurope.bsky.social International Congress in Dublin! Elizabeth met with Adam Harris, conference leader and Founder of @asiamireland.bsky.social and typed “Don’t forget about nonspeakers.” #aecongress2025

If the autism industry wants to play Suffering Olympics, I have an unpopular opinion that female autism is twice as disabling as male autism due to the stress of female physiology and our Autistic physical conditions (EDS/HSD, dysautonomia, fibro etc) BUT WE HAVE NONE OF THE SYMPATHY!

NHS diagnosis. Everyone was getting an NHS diagnosis or on an NHS waiting list. So I went for it too. The team was 4 allistics who don't know anything about autism and two tried to bully me to suicide. Now I have PTSD from unsupported autism AND being ostracized and gaslit.

I drifted between both spaces. I was on the Gifted and Talented register due to hyperlexia but not actually talented at anything, failed A Levels because of undiagnosed learning disability, and dropped out of Sixth Form after useless disability accommodations.

Autistic Lexicon Perseverate “repeat or prolong an action, thought, or utterance after the stimulus that prompted it has ceased.”

It is honestly wild to me how often autistic people self-report that their race or gender was and still is a MASSIVE roadblock to being recognized as autistic at all, how much harder we had to mask, and how often researchers are like 'but that doesn't matter does it? Surely it doesn't matter.'

No shit we all have CPTSD. We've been violently depersonalized our whole lives, completely disconnected from who and what we are until we finally figure it out, and when we do and talk about it there's a chance some redditors will appear out of thin air to tell us we're delusional.

I genuinely am shocked to think that there may be autistic people out in the world who *don't* have CPTSD because existing in our current society as autistic is so fundamentally traumatic

I wish I didn’t have to say this but… If someone tells you they’re autistic and you find that hard to believe, it might be because: - They don’t feel safe enough to unmask around you - Your knowledge of autism is limited Arguing won’t help. Kindness, curiosity, and listening to understand, will ❤️

I cried several times today. NHS flashbacks, and the pointlessness of my life. I just want an expert, a proper process for this disability. It's not fair that L1 and middle class Autistics get diagnosed properly.

So no, I’m not the “academic autistic.” I’m the working class one. And I see the world clearly because I have to. 3/3

To everyone like me, the unseen autistic people, I see you. The ones who left school early. Who never fit in. Who’ve worked hard jobs, masked through exhaustion, and kept going because there was no other choice. 1/3

Free all the autistic girlies from survival mode 🫶🏾🥹

✨ new word for the #AutismDictionary

being an autistic teenager meant that I was the opposite of most teenagers: ♾️ instead of rebellious, I was cautious and scared of everything ♾️ I couldn't go to parties or use a bus by myself ♾️ I wanted to be alone in my bedroom, not socialising

Elizabeth’s presentation is tomorrow. May we make more allies from around the world to teach nonspeakers to type! -C4A Team #aecongress2025

Autism means I'm trapped on an alien planet for a lifetime. And it doesn't get better. In fact, it'll get worse once I'm living alone, because of poverty and severe functioning impairments. I'm living the best life I'll ever have, and it's miserable. 💔

Private autism diagnosis should be free for people living on the welfare state. Why am I excluded from a necessary, fundamental, life-changing, mental health preserving autism diagnosis because I'm too autistic to work?

I'm so tired of seeing cost-prohibitive autism assessments by private and/or "neuroaffirmative" teams in the UK. If you charge thousands of pounds to diagnose autism, you are classist and exclusionary.

From a micro (interpersonal) level, many clinicians lack autism training, leading to misdiagnosis, dismissal of concerns. Also families can be overwhelmed by paperwork, waitlists , and system navigation. They can experience bullying social exclusion, or peer rejection. #neurodiversity #SNS25

I have impaired spontaneity in polytropic, unpredictable situations, and flourishing spontaneity when I am encased within my own monotropic space-time. #actuallyautistic #autism

Annette closes the conversation by emphasizing that we must continue to advocate for nonspeakers not just on this day, but every day, because although a lot has happened in the last few years, there is so much more to be done. We couldn't agree more!

allistics think silently all the time, all humans think silently, otherwise we'd be talking constantly, so it's baffling to me that they don't believe that Autistic non-speakers are capable of thinking! #autism

I'm not a debating Autistic, I'm a declarative Autistic. I don't have the capacity to debate stuff. It dysregulates me. I unilaterally come to reasoned conclusions after lots of research, declare my position, and quietly change my mind if new data arises.

this gives me an awkward "access need" -- I need people to acknowledge my existence but not discourse with me. whenever I try to accomplish a project or achieve social connection, this "access need" obstructs me.

it's amazing how quickly I can be driven to meltdown by unpredictable social situations; my autism fundamentally cannot cope with digital interactions anymore, unless it's for specific, neutral, predictable, pleasant subject matter.

my autism cannot cope with people telling me how to do things and questioning my process; there's a process that mustn't be disrupted, a logic behind everything I do, and demanding I explain my reasons is exhausting and difficult. #actuallyautistic

if the NHS refused to diagnose diabetes, cancer, a spinal injury, a broken leg ... that would be a national scandal! but NHS clinicians are happy to refuse diagnosis to Autistic people, even though access to work and school support is impossible without it

when I think about all the different allistic excuses for why autism exists, I want to laugh because it looks like a comical farce. it's absurd that you can list every cause imaginable, except the simple fact it's a genetic neurotype. #actuallyautistic

We were told that our C4A instructional videos had saved lives from suffering in silence. That is why we are here. #aecongress2025

as an Autistic person, you cannot defeat my perseveration on Autistic oppression in a way that matters I will perseverate until my last breath

the autism industry was created to help allistics cope with the existence of autistic people -- by curing and eradicating us allistics have Diversity Intolerance Disorder and eradicating us is their therapeutic intervention

the autism industry is not for autistic people, it's for allistics; the autism industry should be renamed the "allistic copium" industry

Autism is the only condition in the NHS that uses harmful pseudoscientific tests to diagnose it. This is a measure of how little value the NHS sees in Autistic people. #ableism

allistic paternalism: the position that Autistics need "saving" and that allistics know best allistic saviourship: the act of trying to "save" Autistics, and the pity projects (e.g. allistic charities, conversion therapy & neuronormative programs) associated with it #autism #actuallyautistic

Apparently it's #AACAwarenessMonth I don't use traditional AAC because of my processing delay & cuz I have some speech, but I do use writing/typing to communicate important, in-depth things non-verbally. Unlike fully verbal Autistics, I can't info-dump or monologue unless I'm alone (monotropic).

❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Autistic women & girls have long been overlooked, misdiagnosed, or unsupported due to outdated stereotypes. In work, education, & society, we must ask: are autistic women & girls recognised, valued, supported, & empowered? Neurodiversity is a vital part of the conversation. #IWD2025

You know what I REALLY hate, as an #autistic person? When people don't believe something I tell them. Something I KNOW is true. Something I have personally experienced. And people dismiss it, downplay it, deny it. It's infuriating. #Autism

Finding out I was Autistic, 'meeting' other Autistic people and sharing experiences, learning about Autism, embracing Autistic joy, and giving myself some more space to stim has changed my life so much I see it as a completely different phase of existence.

We shouldn’t be looking at what causes autism We should be looking at: - how society can STOP STIGMATISING AUTISM - support and services that work for everyone - how to improve autistic people’s quality of life - reducing suicide rates (9x higher for autistic people)