Being pregnant or being a mom while having disabilities, in a time of eugenics and in a country (Portugal) where forced sterilisation is still legal.. it's revolutionary. Our body is revolution. Let's #EndForcedSterilisation and fight for our sexual and reproductive rights 🌟

It's almost funny that the NHS Audiology department, whom I contacted due to my hearing aids and hearing loss, sent me an email about how they tried to contact me.. by phone. I'm partially deaf and struggle with calls. Even some emergency health services, there is no accessible option.

The dehumanisation and eugenic ideals against autistic people are palpable. He doesn't care about people with higher support needs and no offer of services and support is on the table. Only to erase us.

Besides being an advocate and running an autistic self-advocacy, my paid work is actually in the University of Cambridge in cardiovascular research. Sharing a bit of a project we've worked for quite some time: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

As a queer disabled woman who identifies within the spectrum of assexuality, it does not surprise me that transphobic people easily start expanding their hate towards us and other LGBTQIA+ groups. If you don't protect trans lives and rights, they are coming for you next.

Just saw an occupational therapist using Autism Day to try to sell unproven therapies such as phototherapy and stem-cells therapy to "improve your children's abilities", even though there is no scientific evidence it works and we don't know long term health impact. This is predatory behaviour.

Today is Autism Acceptance Day. It's a day when a lot of non-autistic voices tend to drown our real needs and priorities. We need autistic voices to be prioritised and centred in policy, services and organisations. Please donate to autistic-led organisations today if you can.

ENIL co-chair Nadia Had at the Global Disability Summit: “Inclusion doesn’t mean investing in special schools, day-care centres, small group homes, sheltered workshops; all financing should be UNCRPD compliant”

"I decided I'd rather die than be in isolation because of the mood it left me in. "I felt alone and trapped at school for such a long time that I felt as though it would be best, as no-one seemed to care anyway." www.bbc.com/news/educati...

Such a powerful show of empathy and support in Survivor when Eva, an autistic woman, started having a meltdown, and Joe, from the opposite team, helped her regulate. We need more of this type of representation on TV. edition.cnn.com/2025/03/27/e...

Having a rare condition as a disabled woman is being unprepared for giving birth to my baby because doctors want us to make decisions, but I need a medical professional to tell me how to make me and my baby safe from complications I might have, but they just don't know. #hEDS #HSD

How are there no consequences for such severe systemic abuse? These people are just going to move on to another institution and continue to abuse disabled children who are institutionalised. No accountability when the victims have disabilities. We failed as a society. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

David Geier, a man accused of practicing medicine without a license, forging research data to try to prove a link between vaccines and autism, and who experimented with autistic children by giving them a castration drug Lupron is in charge of studying vaccines and autism. What is happening?

It's incredible to see someone as amazing and talented as Bella Ramsey being openly autistic and nonbinary in an industry so discriminatory against disability. Representation is so important and there's less and less excuses to not cast autistic actors. www.vogue.co.uk/article/bell...

In the UK and I was not yet even able to start my process to apply to PIP (disability benefits) since even the application is deeply inaccessible. The new @teamlabouruk.bsky.social cuts will make it even harder to pay for assistive devices to go to work in the first place and increase unemployment.

The criminalisation of forced sterilisation in Portugal, including minors, was for the 1st time ever discussed in the Portuguese Parliament. The Government fell and the bill will have to go through next mandate, but this was an amazing step for our rights. Thank you @bloconoparlamento.bsky.social.

Brand New Autism Research 2025. link.springer.com/article/10.1... So, which interventions (psychological or social, not medications) improve quality of life for autistic young adults? Er, after 100 years of research, it turns out we don't know. 👀 Not joking. Let's look/

Autistic children are being rejected by NHS mental health services, leaving families desperate for help. 📖 Read here: bit.ly/3RcEoAq Emma Dalmayne, CEO of @aimautistic.bsky.social and ICARS Team member, shares her son Damien’s experience. 🧵👇

Auticorpos is a project we did in vozdoautista.pt which studied autistic people's experiences and barriers to access mental health services in Portugal and recommendations. See the results in eBook format, in English here: drive.google.com/file/d/1OfCu...

The only thing it makes sense to me is that Trump is attempting to push other countries to start a war against the US so he can declare martial law and stay President.

Being ADHD and pregnant means I have baby brain times 1000. Not being able to take my ADHD medication, no caffeine, being exhausted, not sleeping properly due to pain.. every work or task is an effort. Sometimes almost painful. We need more support for pregnancy and motherhood.

On #IWD, I want to share with you a report I wrote for @validityfoundation.bsky.social on their DIS-CONNECTED project examining violence against women with disabilities, access to justice and support services in the EU. Amazing project by Validity and partners! validity.ngo/2025/02/27/e...

On International Women's Day, I highlight the need for leadership of women with disabilities in all national and EU policies, strategies and legislation. We need to #EndForcedSterilisation and ensure sexual and reproductive rights. We need rights, not violence as "protection". Nothing without us!

Any law on sterilisation that allows legal guardians to make the decision for disabled people, will enforce forced sterilisation. Most cases I encountered, the legal guardian, either the family or institution, were involved. Criminalise forced sterilisation with only OUR consent!

6 months pregnant and my unborn kid has already been in 4 countries and numerous meetings trying to fight for the rights of people with disabilities. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if his first words would be "CRPD" 😂

We need more than CCTV. We need comprehensive external monitoring of spaces with institutionalisation and special education for people with disabilities. Visitors need to be trained on how to interview and identify violence and interview with non speaking people and children. And consequences!

As someone with Ehlers-Danlos/HSD and 2nd trimester pregnant, I'm currently in so much pain I even dreamt of pain and the other day I couldn't walk. But it's so underresearched I just hear "there is nothing we can do". Also, not eligible for a rollator. Just 14 weeks to go...

An MP with disabilities in Portugal was called an "aberration" by the far right MPs in Parliament. Fascism is rising and with it eugenics and discrimination. This should not only grant a discrimination criminal case but expulsion from a house that is there for elected people to fight for all of us.

Institutionalisation is in itself a form of violence. But the amount of reports of dehumanisation and abuse I keep seeing from psychiatric hospitalisation and residential institutions makes me wonder: why isn't there more and better monitoring of violence in them? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It never ceases to amaze me how some people without disabilities congratulate us when they perceive us as less disabled and get defensive when we request accommodations. I will never become "less disabled" but with accessibility the world will become less disabling.

I heard a woman supporting forced sterilisation because "every case is different and people decide what they do in their own homes". Upholding the patriarchy with an argument often used against women who are domestic violence victims, and not even realising it. #EndForcedSterilisation

I talked with @publico.pt about forced sterilisation of women and girls with disabilities in Portugal. We need legislation change NOW to protect our bodily autonomy instead of other people's "options". "We don't need protection, we need rights." #EndForcedSterilisation www.publico.pt/2025/02/02/p...

"Disability justice cannot coexist with settler colonialism, apartheid and genocide, and any commitment to disability rights must extend solidarity to all oppressed people, including Palestinians.👏https://ichrgalway.org/2025/01/28/gazas-genocide-and-the-fragility-of-israels-disability-rights-claims/

I'm disabled and 23 weeks pregnant, and my care had been delayed more than once due to inaccessibility. GP knows I'm partially deaf but all bookings, including urgent care, are done by phone calls. Does anyone else have experienced inaccessible reproductive and prenatal care? #disability

Preparing a training and searched for images of children with disabilities who were institutionalised and main photos are happy and cheerful. If even Google gives an idea that people with disabilities are happy in institutions, how are we suppose to change people's minds?

Being pregnant with multiple disabilities significantly increased my support needs and decreased my capacity to work. But, there is no support in pregnancy or motherhood for people with disabilities, which increases the risk of complications and further disabilities.

Imagine if we put £210M into providing appropriate training to teachers, reasonable adaptations, and support in schools for children with disabilities instead of physically abusing them with restraint and seclusion. Amazing work from @againstrestraint.com 👏

The discourse on Musk inability to understand his "salute" for being autistic is the same used to deprive autistic people victims of violence of justice.Lack of capacity needs to stop being used to deny us both the accountability for our actions and the possibility to tell our stories.

US Department of Education warns of harmful effects of restraint and seclusion on students. This practice, still used in some schools, raises serious concerns about student safety and well-being. www.k12dive.com/news/ed-depa...

Tik tok was a source of income (sometimes the only) in the US for many people with disabilities who used it to build community, raise awareness, and fight for our rights. The financial loss to them but also the loss of community connection to all of us will be profound.

I'm an autistic advocate with multiple disabilities, fighting for the sexual and reproductive rights of women, and this year, I'm so happy to share that I'm pregnant and will have a baby boy in 2025.

I applied to UK Access to Work to get reasonable accommodations for my disabilities at work. I waited 9 months for an answer. They now closed my application and i will have to start over because they called me two times and I didn't pick up. I didn't pick up because I'm deaf!

Sharing the brilliant work of Mayne Benedetto, an incredible autistic researcher from Portugal on Dual Masking and the intersection between ethnicity and autism: www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/...

I was going to fly with @ryanairofficial.bsky.social from Porto to London Stansted at 2 pm with my #AssistanceDog. We are only departing at 6 pm. That means my #ServiceDog will go 6h plus the 2.30h flight without going to the toilet because the Porto airport has "no capacity to take her peeing"..

£100m in the UK spent trying to take away the rights of children with disabilities instead of using it to provide them the support they need in schools. This is mismanagement of public funds to violate human rights. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

Today, I was trusted with the stories of three more women with disabilities who were sterilised against their will. Their pain is on every policymaker who continue to do nothing against this eugenic and violent practice in the EU. We will not forget. #EndForcedSterilisation

Lived experiences are important but are rarely able to include the most marginalised voices. That's why it's important to have advocate advisors who not only share their experiences but also work on understanding and sharing the needs of the most excluded and disenfrenchised autistic people.

"Autistic people find status-seeking illogical and prefer egalitarian relationships." Social hierarchies are often unjust and not based on merit. Never fully understood them. Working with plenty autistic people taught me that equal stands and gaining trust are more important than a title.

Our policymakers will rush to vote for us to be able to get assistance to die, but not even be in the room to talk about building the conditions for us to never want to make that request in the first place. www.disabilitynewsservice.com/just-16-mps-...

Hilarious as @thedailytism.bsky.social always is but men really need to stop using Autism to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.