Nothing about the neurodiversity movement will make sense until you can recognize and rescue yourself from the Neurotypical Fallacy.
It’s actually called the Typical Mind Fallacy, but I prefer the other name because it seems more common among neurotypicals.
Not that neurodivergent folks are immune – cognitive biases are human, and we are not divine. …
If you self-identify as autistic, people will doubt it because you don’t look autistic.
If you self-identify as autistic, and you write hundreds of posts explaining why, people will doubt it because you don’t have the medical establishment’s seal of approval.
If you get officially diagnosed, and it happens easily, people will doubt it because …
If you’re consistently understimulated, then you might have ADHD.
If you’re consistently overstimulated, then you might be a Highly Sensitive Person.
If you waver between overstimulation and understimulation, depending on the environment and the day – sometimes feeling both at once in different parts of your body – and it’s so all-encompassing to figure out …
Whenever I see myself on video, I cringe. It puts a spotlight on ways of speaking and moving that I don’t notice from the inside, and don’t enjoy observing.
Yet, when I try to identify what turns me off about those mannerisms, the only way I can express it is through exaggerated, mocking imitation.
Where …
Autistic children don’t scream, hit, bite, or run away when their sensory, processing, and communication needs are met.
When that does happen, it’s not because they’re autistic. It’s because something is hurting them.
So quit trying to bribe autistic kids with rewards, which won’t help for actions outside of their control. Instead, get curious!
Is …
If you have 500 Facebook friends, then on average, 10 of those friends have been diagnosed with autism.
Do you know who your 10 are?
Autistics only seem rare because some get sent to separate schools, some hide it due to fear of discrimination, and some never realize they’re autistic at all.
But we are …
In 6th grade, the most popular way for bullies at my school to insult other students (and one another) was to say, “You’re special… SPECIAL ED!”
Then they would run off, cackling at the cleverness of their wordplay. If a teacher heard them, they might get a reprimand, but not for the right reasons.
See, …