I am not sure I am interrupting your post correctly. But one highlights trans authors for the same reason you highlight any other group that has been discriminated against, systematically silenced, and locked out of the publishing industry. The same reason you support POC authors, women authors, ASD authors, etc.

It is not necessarily because they write about being that minority; it is because they are routinely silenced. Whatever they write in someway reflects their life experience as a marginalized individual.

I fit none of the criteria you mention, yet my characters reflect the realities of being trans, lesbian, and/or asexual. Undoubtedly, it also reflects life as ASD without my being aware of it.

@elysegrasso
#Trans #actuallyautistic #Asexual #TransgenderDayofVisibility #WritersCoffeeClub

Some of us just don’t like being touched & that’s ok.

Sound advice here about how to interact with cats. Coincidentally this is Exactly the approach needed by #ActuallyAutistic people like me. And, in my experience, by kids.

I wonder, how is this not obvious to everyone? The answer, I think, is that so many of us learn when we’re young that we’re not entitled to have boundaries. Not entitled to be safe.

Cats can teach us So Much about #consent. We are all entitled to be safe. @actuallyautistic

‘She treats everyone with a deep growl’: can you train an angry cat to be more sociable? https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/mar/30/she-treats-everyone-with-a-deep-growl-can-you-train-an-angry-cat-to-be-more-sociable?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Why is it always so stressful trying to make a complaint to a company/bank these days?🤔

Well,
1) Sending me a message via online banking message about their branch closing in a town I haven't lived in for 14 years, even though they put my correct/current address at the top as if it were a posted letter 🤦🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️.
2) All details of alternatives in the old town I've not lived in for over a decade, present!
3) All details of alternatives in the current town I live in & have done for over a decade, tumbleweed has more presence.🤯

4) Online 24/7 help not working & hitting the Retry button just repeats the fail.😠
5) DDG to the rescue but could they(the bank) just give me a frelling postal address?
... Nope!
6) Find working online complaint page.
7) Yay! I should no in '...four days...' once I've completed this form.
8) Starts simple but then the Qs get more ambigious, my complaint might be to do with that option or it might not. If only there was a blue circle with one of these❕ that I could hover the mouse over for more info.😡📈
9) Finally done > SUBMIT
10) Nope, I missed something? Then why the F did it not show me when I was at that part of the FRELLING form⁉️📈🤬
11) Success❕ Or was it?
It will take 1 - 8 weeks before they get can deal with the thing & that long for them to get back to me about it.
What happened to FOUR DAYS❗🤬⁉️📈🤬

Guess I best forget about it so I can have a nice surprise in 1 - 8 weeks... or not 🤷.

#BusinessIncompetence #Incompetence #OnlineFail #IdiotsInCharge #Life #AutisticProblems #Autistic #ActuallyAutistic #Autism #AuDHD #ADHD

If an autist muses they've noticed a pattern developing in something, no matter how unlikely it seems, chances are you'd be better off taking it to be real.

If an autist jokes about a pattern developing, and all the hilariously horrible consequences of that, you better go into an emergency mode, like, right now. That shit is serious, and absolutely certain to happen.

#ActuallyAutistic

Special treat from my twin nephews that I found at a charity shop in town.

#uncleduties #uncle #uncleoftwins #uncleofinstagram #autisticuncle #actuallyautistic #nephews #twinnephews #dinosaurs #thelandbeforetime #littlefoot #paleontology

I was just #gaslit by my youngest brother.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever been, before today.

I’m #ActuallyAutistic. I shared that news with him today. He’s nine years younger than me. I moved out of the house when he was eight. It isn’t as if we grew up in the same circle, with the same friends, like our siblings of a closer age did. They weren’t surprised by the dx at all. One said it made perfect sense, even.

This one, this one, immediately asked why I “thought so.” Diagnosed by psychiatrist after thorough testing, H & P?
“With all of my medical history one would think it would have been caught long before.”
How? No one ever asked the right questions.
“Nah. I doubt it. It’s such a late diagnosis.”

Well, I only had insurance for seven years of my adult life. During those years I was playing catch up with pressing physical conditions, not a luxury like my f’ed up brain/life.

This, after I told him it made my entire LIFE make sense. WHY, no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT do some things.
It wasn’t a freaking moral failing of mine, goddamnit; I’m autistic!

Just total denial on his part, like I’m a confabulist, or a liar, or delusional.

I even told him I could print it out and underline the symptoms I presented with!

I ended up giving him a link to symptoms of women with autism and told him I didn’t see any sense in our continuing to communicate.

As I’m 8800 miles from home I can’t go to my grandparents graves for the Chinese folk holiday (Qing Ming), but I’m reminded of how my extremely #ActuallyAutistic grandfather has a grave full of little clocks and watches and flash lights because ‘ah gong REALLY likes mechanical things and taking them apart’ so that’s what people bring to him, no flowers

#IWatchTooMuchTV #ActuallyAutistc #actuallyautistic
.
nice bit here. How many times do we see sea lions fighting compared to it’s the first time I’ve seen this.

I’m on My Best Friend is an Animal
again, and this time there’s kids - and disabled animals, and rescuers with rough childhoods and lots of empathy. Animal care is like neurodiversity on steroids, you gotta have a good theory of mind, I mean what that ought to mean, imagining DIFFERENT minds, not just . . . mostly lying.
.
Right up my alley, this stuff. 💜
.
#IWatchTooMuchTV
#ActuallyAutistc
#actuallyautistic

I wrote a thing about being #ActuallyAutistic in the workplace, and how communication norms are ableist rubbish. This is me venting my spleen about an awful training thing I did yesterday.

https://write.as/therivercrow/neurodivergence-and-communication

#autism #AutisticAtWork

No, I'm not like your child. I'm Autistic, but I'm still human. Humans are a diverse species.

#ActuallyAutistic #autism #Autistic #AuDHD #neurodiversity #neurodivergent

Being black and auDHD are the core part of my very being. It's not just an identity, it is a way of life. And I should NEVER apologize for being who I am and what I do whatsoever.

#blackmastodon #audhd #actuallyautistic #adhd

#actuallyautistic
#ActuallyAutistc
.
question for Samefoods people: have you heard of the peasant stew, and what would you think? It changes, but not completely every day.
.
The idea was in a French farmhouse, I think, that the leftovers go in a pot that stays on the stove all the time, so there's always a hot meal.
.
In theory, not the safest, I suppose you'd have to change it weekly or something.

The book's Dublin launch is tonight at 6pm at Hodges Figgis, with Sam Blake and @niamhgarvey appearing; drinks at Neary's afterward.

Its Cork launch is on Thursday April 3rd at 6.30pm, at Dubray on Patrick Street, with Niamh and myself, drinks at the Woodford afterward.

For neurodivergent folk and their loved ones planning to attend the launch events, please find a handy 'what to expect' dossier at @niamhgarvey's website:

https://niamhgarvey.com/2025/03/22/what-to-expect-at-the-book-launches-of-wired-our-own-way/

#actuallyautistic #mastodaoine

Reminder: this anthology of Irish non-fiction from autistic writers, Wired Our Own Way, hits shelves at Dubray Books and the postboxes of people who preordered tomorrow, Friday March 28th, via New Island Books. Audiobook via Audible, Tuesday April 1st.

It's been a long journey for editor @niamhgarvey, assembling work from a variety of scribes, from hacks like me to new voices entirely; it's a beautiful cross-section of the autistic experience of Ireland.

#actuallyautistic #mastodaoine

It’s good to see this taken seriously!

For folks like me who are sensitive to #gluten it may be worth investigating how we respond to #fodmap foods. We can’t eliminate fodmap completely bc these are foods our bodies need, but if we can identify which groups cause us most bloating & upsets we can adjust our habits to find the most fun & nourishing food intake for the least possible pain.

Also there’s the pesky fact that digestive systems shut down when we’re in flight or fight mode. For many of us who are #ActuallyAutistic, after a lifetime of gaslighting & trauma those embodied trauma responses are our everyday normal.

Let’s be gentle with ourselves. @actuallyautistic

Study casts doubt on gluten as cause of gut ailments among non-coeliacs https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/27/gluten-intolerant-intolerance-non-coeliac-disease?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Relevant other audiences:

Anticapitalists who are told they're naive myopic immature.

Covid realists who are told they are anxious.

Climate realists who are told they are cynics.

Anti-genocide activists.

& the other hashtags below.

#Scapegoat #FamilySystems #Ostracism #Neurodivergent #covid19 #WearAMask #ADHD #ActuallyAutistic #TransRightsAreHumanRights #LGBTQIA2S

Consciously chose to sit on the not sunny side of the bus only for the passenger across the isle to have their phone out at the perfect angle to blind me with the sun's reflection.

#ActuallyAutistic

I used to catch cold approximately three times a year. Like clockwork, once in the fall, another one in the spring, once during a vacation. This has changed in the recent years.

It started with my therapy and has progressed as I understood I'm a non-binary autistic person. I've carved a way more fitting life for myself even though the changes have been relatively small. I feel 100% more free.

It's not that I don't work properly. In fact, I work more than I used to. What has changed is that as I can now read myself much better, I can make adjustments as I go to facilitate my well-being. I've learned to regulate my tasks. Now I also take a short fall vacation and another vacation during spring. This all has lead to me being healthier.

I suspect my colds have mostly been my body's way of pushing the break pedal. Furthermore, I suspect I've had autistic burnouts but haven't just understood it.

#ActuallyAutistic #NonBinary @actuallyautistic

okay, you all #actuallyAutistic need to watch this

Aha!

These ‘48 laws of power’ could go some way to explaining why autistics don’t do very well socially 🤣

⬇️

(From the bestselling '48 laws of power’ by Robert Greene)

#LawsOfPower
#48LawOfPower

#Society #Power #Capitalism #Wealth #Homelessness #Poverty #Intersectionality #Autism #ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent

#ActuallyAutistic I’m sure many of us are going to see themselves in this article. TW for some parts of it.

“So An SLP Was Late-Diagnosed As Autistic This Week…”

https://app.bikers.social/@slreed/114207921875465983

Extremely in love with my next book's cover, illustrated by Rebecca Burgess (a fellow autistic) 💕

This book explains what it means to be autistic to kids (and adults!!) in a neuroaffirmative and fun way, and I can't wait for it to hit shelves in June 🎉

Published by #JessicaKingsleyPublishers
#writing
#KidsBooks
#Books
#Autistic
#ActuallyAutistic

Got a new autism book a week before its official release date 💜

Now I just need to find some spoons, to be able to read the book

/cc @niamhgarvey #ActuallyAutistic

Heeeeeey come listen to me talk! Free webinar!
https://www.additudemag.com/webinar/autistic-burnout-adhd-masking/

Oops got excited and forgot to tag #ActuallyADHD #ActuallyAutistic @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd

A minority struggling to fit in a world not designed by them.

Conversing with the new live AI's can seem like chatting to an autistic friend.

Lately I've been using Google's Gemini "deep research" option. Give it a paragraph and it scans mostly research sources and produces a report. As it works it describes its "thought processes" .

It feels very much like I'm chatting with info dumping autistic friend about a shared special interest.

@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic

If you are disabled, a friendship with you too often feels transactional to others who are abled.

You exchange your friendship with them. They exchange their friendship, plus the accommodations you need.

This feels uneven to them. You owe them. They are putting in extra effort and want to be compensated.

That is what it has felt like to me, anyway. I am too much effort with an unequal return on their investment.

#ActuallyAutistic #Disability

Me: "Hey, look at that cat on the left."

Them: "There's no dog on the right."

Yeah, I'm the one with a communication problem; allistics out here getting pissy that I explain the same thing 5 times.

#ActuallyAutistic

Darn. That's cool though.

By the way, yes Autism Speaks sucks. As does their hero William Shatner who has attacked autistic people who dared try to inform him they suck (he even hates anyone who uses #actuallyautistic). And their awful 100 Day Kit for Parents (advertised on Sesame Street and such) which encourages parents to grieve for loss of the "non-austistic child" they thought they had. And compare autism to leukaemia... Bleh.

The gold infinity symbol was adopted by the #ActuallyAutistic . There are many different ones, but they convey the Spectrum best.
@pathfinder

@actuallyautistic

It will soon be Autism awareness month, that wonderful time of the year when many autistics hit their foxholes screaming "incoming", or take to their bunkers and hide.

"But why?" I hear you ask. "Surely awareness is a good thing?"

Well, obviously yes, normally, but mostly, actually, no. Not in the way this normally pans out, anyway. Because this is the time of year when everything starts getting lit up blue and puzzle pieces start making their appearance and Autism Speaks articles rear their ugly, eugenic, heads. No matter how many times the vast bulk of the autism community explain that these symbols and the organisation that they are linked to, do not bloody speak for us and never sodding will.

Pity-me mothers parade their kids to showcase how terrible their lives are, or how there isn't enough help for their darling children. Which, whilst admittedly this is true for the kids, could be highlighted in better ways. Various celebrities and sports stars come out about the wonders of being diagnosed with autism and the huge change it has made in their pampered lives and puff pieces pop up everywhere about how someone succeeded because of their autistic superpower, or how they wouldn't be where they were now without it, or how someone's a hero, for standing up for their autistic friend. And editors across the land, slap themselves on their backs for such a wonderful job of awareness and here's to the next year and then silence once again falls.

OK, I may be slightly exaggerating this, but unfortunately not by as much as you might be thinking. So many times, even within the good articles and representation, there is the implicit message that only an official diagnosis can do this for you, which is a real kick in the teeth for everyone who has as much chance of getting one of those, as of winning the lottery. That this is something that is seen in us, rather than something that we can see ourselves. And all too often, even with the good stuff, it's always accompanied by the stock, what is autism? answers, from the internet. You know, the ones that just dryly quote the highlights of our disorder, in a way that none of us can actually recognise ourselves in and certainly don't help with others seeing us.

And this is the real problem with awareness month. It's all fine and dandy trying to increase awareness. But of what? Is it the problems and struggles, the difficulty of having autistic children, or being autistic in a world without support? The virtues of finally having your eyes opened to your autistic superpower? Of how the community and others could finally rally around you.

Or is it the different stories that finally allow others to see us, or even for us to finally see ourselves after decades in the dark. That allow the friend or neighbour, or workmate to maybe stop seeing you as the weird, or creepy, or even scary, person. But instead, someone who's just different, who sees and perhaps understands the world in a way that they don't. Not superpowered, or a burden, or broken in any way. Just yourself, just autistic. The stories that lead to acceptance and not just awareness.

#Autism
#ActuallyAutistic

I don't see this talked about much, but it could be the bubble I'm in. I know not all autistic stims are enjoyable -- some can be physically painful (I'm not going to use terms like SIB, as this feels different, at least from my experience). I'd love to read what other autistics have written about this, if people have pointers.

#ActuallyAutistic

I think a big reason allistic people always accuse autistic people of only thinking in black and white is because allistic people are trained to ignore consent.

We have boundaries about our bodies and such allistic people don't have and they hate being told no

#actuallyAutistic #autistic

This is the thing that really pees me off.

@actuallyautistic
#ActuallyAutistic

Debunked myths that vaccines cause autism are increasing stigma https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/vaccine-myth-autism-stigma?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

#actuallyautistic so here is an ick question for you all. In the last year paper back full sized books… like coloring books or the Milepost 2024. The covers feel slimy. Like not plastic but with this UNBEARABLE OOOOOOGIE feeling. I need the Milepost for the trip down the Alaskan/Alcan hwy to WA. I just couldn’t touch it for one more second. I cut the cover off & made a new one out of cardboard & packing tape from old notepads. Anyone else know what I am talking about? So CRINGE feeling

So much conflicting advice. Why is it then, that 'people' make snap judgement about us? #ActuallyAutistic

People spent 50 years telling me that what people look like doesn't matter and then they expect me to recognize people by their appearance.

#ActuallyAutistic

Executive dysfunction woes currently, makes getting out of bed extremely difficult and I wish there was something I could do about it. #actuallyautistic

I sometimes see people asking whether they should come out to friends/family. This is how I decide whether I should come out (as nonbinary and autistic, in my case).

If the reason I want to come out is *because I desperately hope for a particular reaction* from the person, like understanding and acceptance, and I'm scared an unfriendly or judgemental reaction might devastate me, then I might not be ready.

If the reason is that *I want the person to know who and what I am*, no matter what their reaction might be, even if their reaction hurts me, then it might be ok for me to come out to that person. I might worry about their reaction, but I know that I still want to tell them even if it's not what I hope.

Of course, my situation is different from other peoples. I have a lot of privilege as a middle class white person who can sort of pass for cis and neurotypical if I have to. So your mileage will definitely vary!

#ActuallyAutistic #nonbinary

original application. We’ll contact you to let you know the outcome."

Reference 59 is the #NDIS legislation 21 (3)
https://classic.austili.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ndisa2013341/s21.html

So in fact it seems I got turned down because they couldn't process my application in time. How ridiculous. 😤🤯

#Autism #autistic #neurodiverse @actuallyautistic #AutisticBurnout #ActuallyAutistic
@Tooden