How are we doing?
Hey folks and welcome back to The Autistic Infodump. Thanks to everyone who subscribed already. It’s great to see so many people interested in what’s going on in our community and in the wide world that affects us.
Now that you have found us, we’d love to hear your thoughts on how we’re doing. We’re still early and small enough that we don’t need big customer survey tools or tons of metrics. Just send us a note - email (AutisticInfodump@gmail.com) and twitter (@autistic_info) are both fine - or use the Substack comments on any issue.
And if there’s any news or info you want to suggest for the next issue, feel free to send it our way. We’re always happy to hear from you.
This Week
⏭ TL;DR
Is this turning into a Calendar section already?
Saturday, November 13: Bay Area Adult Autism/DD Virtual Conference at Stanford University. Registration is closed.
Massachusetts House Bill H.225 to prohibit painful and aversive therapy for disabled people is up for discussion in a hearing on Monday, 11/15, 1:00pm EST.
ASAN (Autistic Self Advocacy Network) is holding their virtual gala next week, November 17-19. This is a big fundraising event for ASAN, so sign up to support their work.
😿 Black, Autistic girl Isabella Tichenor bullied to suicide
#CW #bullying #suicide #ableism #racism
We see this kind of story far too often, but that doesn’t make each one any easier to take. A 10-year-old, Black, Autistic girl was subjected to racist and ableist bullying, and her school did nothing about it even though her mother made repeated complaints to teachers and officials. Last Saturday, November 6, after enduring months of bullying, Isabella “Izzy” Tichenor died by suicide.
She was a beautifully unique soul - full of love and kindness. She was bright and gifted. She touched the hearts of so many. She loved to sing, dance, and be the best sister to her siblings. 🔗
Izzy was a 5th grade student at at Foxboro Elementary School in North Salt Lake, Utah. The Davis school district, in which Foxboro is located, has a history of issues with racism and discrimination. The US Department of Justice investigated civil rights violations in the district, and reached a settlement agreement with the district to address those violations.
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for Utah announced a settlement agreement with Davis School District in Utah to address race discrimination in the district’s schools, including serious and widespread racial harassment of Black and Asian-American students. The department opened its investigation in July 2019 under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 🔗
If you’d like to help Izzy’s family financially through this difficult time, you can make a donation via GoFundMe: Stand for Izzy.
🔗 Obituary: Isabella Faith Tichenor
🔗 GoFundMe: Stand for Izzy
🔗 Community mourns Utah 10-year-old who died by suicide after her mom says she was bullied for being Black and autistic
🔗 Family Wants Answers After Girl With Autism, 10, Commits Suicide After Racial Bullying At School
🔗 Black Girl Dies by Suicide in Utah School District Rife With Racism
🔗 Justice Department Reaches Settlement to Remedy Severe Racial Harassment of Black and Asian-American Students in Utah School District
🧠 Autism Is Not My Personality
#disability #neurodiversity #psychology
A few months ago, a friend was talking about their sensory processing issues that made driving a car difficult. I delicately suggested they might be Autistic, and pointed them at @mykola’s excellent autism self-awareness thread. A few minutes later, they responded: “Ahahahaa oh no. That's just a description of me. I thought that was my personality!” Many of us who are Autistic can feel this way, and wonder how much of our personality is unique to us, and how much is part of the autism package deal. This essay by Devon Price is a deep and thoughtful exploration of this topic, and the kind of thing I’d have found very useful when I had just realized I was Autistic.
In the years since learning I’m Autistic, I’ve actually become more outgoing and extroverted. I’ve tried a lot of new things and befriended a lot of people. I’m not as terrified by social failure or rejection as I once was. When I fumble during a conversation, I don’t take it as a sign I am doomed. I accept my disability as a core part of who I am, but like all parts of me, its meaning is not crystallized. I am Autistic person with a complex inner life and the capacity to change and grow — and all of me is constantly in flux. My “social skills” might not look like a neurotypical person’s, but I do have them — and they’re forever developing in new, exciting ways.
🔗 Devon Price: Autism Is Not My Personality
🐦 Online Activism: Autistics Being Abused
#activism #ABA
Twitter activist @autismsupsoc has been engaging with autism organizations that support the use of ABA. They are reaching out to these organizations to invite them to discuss their support of ABA with the Autistic community. Typically, there hasn’t been much response from the organizations, but these campaigns can take a while to get traction. I expect some community engagement and support would be helpful.
Here’s an example exchange and where it led to. Click on through for all the action.
@autismsupsoc is keeping a twitter list of the organizations they have engaged with, which is useful for reference. However, I don’t recommend following it for the organizations’ content, unless you’re into that sort of thing.
By the way, Autism Support Society Helping Overcome LawfulEvil is a pretty killer name.
🔗 Autistics Being Abused
🧠 Public Neurodiversity Support Center
#community #education #resources #support
Autistic twitter star @mykola has a new project: the Public Neurodiversity Support Center. This site consists of essays about the Autistic experience, links to resources for Autistic people, and a survey to collect data to help guide future research.
This place is intended as a community resource and centralized repository of information about neurodiversity. The essays I’m writing are coming from a place of lived experience, and represent challenges that I’ve overcome and insights that I’ve had on my own journey of healing and self-acceptance.
This is a work-in-progress and it’s definitely early days, but there’s a lot of good stuff there already and we expect to see a lot more soon.
🔗 Public Neurodiversity Support Center
🧬 Tracking Genetics Studies of Autism
#eugenics #genetics #research
There are a fair number of autism genetics studies in the works these days and it’s hard to keep track of them all. We tried to list them all in the last issue but we missed at least one, even after doing a lot of searching. We see this will take some focused attention, so we are setting up an ongoing section to track these studies and their status. This information can be challenging to curate, so if you’re aware of a study we don’t include here please let us know about it.
MSSNG – Google, AutismSpeaks
Spectrum 10K – Cambridge University
Autism Sharing Initiative – Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, AutismSpeaks
SPARKforAutism – Simons Foundation
Right now, this is just a list of current projects, but we’ll be expanding it with more status information soon.
Shiny Things
This twitter thread by @grnpointer rating all the surviving imperial Faberge eggs is a delightful romp through what must be someone’s autistic joy / special interest. These eggs are like Pokemon for royalty.
That’s all for this week. Hope to see you again soon. – josh