In which Anonymus Maximus flashblogs about what Autistic People Should... (part 2)

Autistic people should be heard.
Our voices should be listened to. The things we have to say about our own lives respected.
 Popular discourse around autism is focused on the parent, the sibling, the caretaker, the teacher, the therapist, the doctor, and the actually autistic people are left out.
And when we try to make our voices heard, we are silenced with "you are not like my child" [Obviously not. Your child is a child. I am not.], implying that because we can advocate for ourselves and other autistics we are not autistic enough to know anything about the difficulties of our disability.
You can say that I am wrong, thusly I am not autistic enough, low-functioning enough, to have anything of value to say.

Autistic people should be heard.
The actually autistic people are left out of the conversation about our disability.
It is focused on mice "developing autistic behaviours" as if mice could be autistic. (I'm not actually sure, maybe they can be, but I fail to recognise how behaviours that are considered autistic in humans would be the same behaviours a potentially autistic mouse exhibited.) It is focused on pre-natal testing, to make sure autistic children won't be born. It is focused on the great burden it is for a family to have an autistic family member. It is focused on how eye-contact is so very important and absolutely devastating if it isn't done. It is focused on everything but the actually autistic people, and what we have to say.

Autistic people should be heard.
And not just when we say things you agree with. We should be listened to when we say that you are being ableist, we should be listened to when we say that you are wrong, we should be listened to when we say that you are perpetuating stereotypes, we should be listened to when we say that there is hope, we should be listened to when we say that we don't want cures, we should be listened to when we say that we don't want to be Not Autistic, we should be listened to when we say that passing for allistic isn't a good thing. We should be listened to when we are challenging your beliefs, because we speak from a lived experience.

Autistic people should be heard.
I don't care if your brother is autistic, you are not the authority on the autistic experience.
I don't care if you work with autistic children (sorry, children with autism. Nevermind that the autistic community prefer identity first.), you are not the authority on the autistic experience.
I don't care if you have an autistic classmate, you are not the authority on the autistic experience.
I don't care if you have studied autism in school, you are not the authority on the autistic experience.
I don't care if you used to date an autistic person, you are not the authority on the autistic experience.
I don't care if you are the parent of an autistic child, you are not the authority on the autistic experience.
I don't care if you are studying neuroscience, you are not the authority on the autistic experience.
I don't care if you are otherwise neurodivergent, you are not the authority on the autistic experience, just as I'm not the authority on your divergence.
It turns out that the reliable authorities on the autistic experience are the autistic people themselves.

Autistic people should be heard.

In which Anonymus Maximus flashblogs about what Autistic people should...

Autistic people should get to live.

Autistic people should get to lead their lives without fear of violence.

Google search has really rather unfortunate auto-complete for the partial sentence "Autistic people should", and this is text is a part of a larger organized attempt at not getting told that we should be killed.

Autistic people should get to live.

Autistic people should get to lead their lives without fear of violence.

Here and now, today, if a parent murder their child, it is considered a heinous crime.
Here and now, today, if a parent murder their autistic child, it is considered a tragedy. The poor parent. Of course killing is wrong, but it is such a hardship to have an autistic child. It is understandable that they commited a cold blooded murder. Somehow. And people forget that a person lost their life. A person is dead now. And this is not noteworthy, because the person had a different brain.

Autistic people should get to live.

Autistic people shoud get to lead their lives without fear of violence.

I am a person. I am here, I think, I feel, I do, I dream, I love, I learn. And I want to live. I want to be the best me I can be. I want to be happy. I want to bring happiness to others. And I should get to do that, without having to know that most people want me dead.

Autistic people should get to live.
I should get to live. I, an Autistic person, should get to live.
We are here, and we can hear what you are saying about us. You want -people- to be exterminated. Why?
I should get to live.
Autistic people should get to live.


Autistic people should get to lead their lives without fear of violence.
I should get to lead my life withour fear of violence. I, an Autistic person, should get to lead my life without fear of violence.
I am here. And I am forced to lead my life knowing that people would rather I was dead. I am forced to lead my life knowing that parents would rather their child died than being like me. I am here, and I am forced to lead my life knowing that violence against me would be considered justified, and that the person getting the sympathy if I were to be murdered wouldn't be me. It would be my murderer.
Why?
I should get to lead my life without fear of violence.
Autistic people should get to lead their lives without fear of violence.

Autistic people should. Indeed.