Human minds can develop amazing capabilities, but at the same time, our cognitive capacities are limited. To ensure we understand each other, we must know our limits, and we must co-create safe spaces for engaging in de-powered dialogue.
Many Autistic people have suffered some form of abuse throughout their childhood from their caregivers. Broken trust is at the core of Autistic trauma. There are no shortage of leverage points for healing from Autistic trauma. Our main challenge consists in progressing the neurodiversity movement in the face of headwind from powered-up established cultural institutions.
The cult of busyness undermines attempts at creating a shared understanding at a very basic level. In a hyper-competitive world the unexpected non-compliant Autistic behaviour is often misunderstood.
A letter of support to neurodiverse people inspiring all of us to radical self-care as a form of activism.
Discrimination against Autistic people is comparable to the level of discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people 50 years ago. In this environment, obtaining a diagnosis can be an invitation for potential abuse and exploitation.
Thriving Autistic / ND communities, that act as local centres of Autistic / ND culture, can only come into existence if we can imagine new kinds of collaborations between Autistic / ND whānau and the rest of society, and if we allow designs to emerge organically from the collective intelligence that exists amongst intersectionally marginalised people at ground level.
The need to be resilient is something that Autistic people unlearn over time. We need to learn to be gentle with ourselves. With the concept of Autistic whānau we are exploring new terrain and new possibilities. It’s something that we can incrementally weave into the Autistic collaborations that are already established.
Thanks to wonderful Autistic conversations I think I am beginning to understand why I feel so much at home in the ocean. To date I had not connected it to healing from Autistic trauma, but now I see the connection with increasing clarity.
In 2022 the Autistic Collaboration community is in the process of co-creating and operationalising peer support services for Autistic Trauma based on the lived experiences of Autistic people all over the world. We invite our Autistic peers (you) to contribute lived experience.
David Gray-Hammond links the systemic factors that contribute autistic insomnia to the pervasive fear of death many of us experience.
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