In which Anonymus Maximus talks some more about what Autistic People Are...

Autistic people are speaking - and it is indeed time to listen.

Autistic people, by defintition, utilises language in a non-standard way, ranging from non-verbal to hyperverbal. Hyperlexia is a symptom of autism, as is echolalia, palalia and extensive scripting.

But autistic people are communicating.
My personal language is highly scripted, and very echolalic. It is also, contrary to popular assumptions about autistic language usage, heavily reliant on extended metaphors. My language is a meta-language, if you will.
Earlier today I wrote a piece about the younger me, and the current me, being a dancer. Autistic people, being dancers. This is of course true in the literal sense. I am a dancer. I dance. And I would say that there are other autistics out there who dance.
But this is also one of my extended metaphors. It concerns movement and knowledge and bodies and thought and interpretation and being in tune with the rythm of your life. About the music of emotion. About communication.
Autistic people are dancers, because autistic people communicate.

Autistic people are dancers, because we move with the rythm of our lives. We might not move like you do. But we are dancers.

Last week we were writing-talking-speaking-communicating about the hatespeech generated by the google search auto-complete algorithm by flashblogging. The community moving as one to make things better. Talking about positive things. How Autistic people should be loved, and should be heard.

Well. We were heard. Google has said they shall fix this.
But we were then erased from the effort by the largest USian charity claiming to be on our side, whilst they tried to take credit. Erased from our own advocacy by people claiming to advocate for us. Autism Speaks tips their hat to Google, and doesn't at all mention the effort of the autistics out there who did the work to make it happen. No mention of Alyssa of YesThatToo, no mention of the flashblog. No mention of the dance of words, the music of emotions, the coordinated movement of people routinely assumed to be silent. We are dancers. We are speaking.

Autistic people are speaking and it is time to listen.
This does not mean allistic family members are speaking about and above their autistic family members and you should listen to them. It means autistic people are speaking and you should listen to them.
Autism Speaks does not speak for me.
I am speaking all on my own.

In which Anonymus Maximus flashblogs about what Autistic People Are...

This is Anonymus Minimus, and she is a dancer.

She will never become a world champion, but that is okay, because she doesn't dance for the competitions and the trophies. She dances because she loves the movement and the rythm and the music and the overall elation of the dance.

When she is dancing her arms are at her sides and her back is straight, she is high on her toes and she crosses her feet. She will never be a world champion, but that is okay.

Because this is Anonymus Minimus and she is a dancer.

 

This is Anonymus Minimus, and she is a dancer.

When she isn't dancing she stays high on her toes and her hands and arms are always moving, flapping, touching her hair, covering her ears. When she isn't dancing she is rocking, reading, signing, humming strange songs to herself.

She doesn't speak much, but her life is filled with music and rythm.

This is Anonymus Minimus, and she is a dancer.

She is also the clumsiest person she knows. She drools and spills and falls and tumbles and can't guage the force she should use when picking things up. She has very little awareness of her own body, her own limbs. But this is okay, because the secret to knowing that you have a body is to forget that it limits you.

This is Anonymus Minimus, and she is autistic.

Somewhere along the line, Anonymus Minimus grows up.

She becomes an adult, a scientist, an activist, an advocate, an educator.

She grows up and becomes an author, an engineer, a mathematician, a physicist.

She grows up and becomes an artist, a musician, a baker and a cook.

She grows up and becomes Anonymus Maximus.

And above it all, she is a dancer.

This is Anonymus Maximus, and she is a dancer.

This is Anonymus Maximus, and she is Autistic.

Autistic people are dancers.

We move to the music and rythm of our lives.

Autistic people are dancers.

 We may not move like you do.

But we are dancers.