snout:

every show with a neurodivergent character who’s good at something

person: whoa whoa whoa… what do you see??

(holographic numbers, da vinci drawings, music notes swirl around neurodivergent character’s head)

person: ???? what do you SEE?? whats going ON??

(3D model of human skeleton rotates, nebulas explode in front of nd character’s face as they smile mysteriously)

person: what do you see??? wh

sage old man: shh… just wait =)

(1 million ants pour out of character’s mouth as they write a message in the sand. IT’S the cure for cancer)

person: ohhhHHHH FUCK!!!!!!!!!

sage old man: he he he … what i tell you :)

leather-gremlin:

mother-of-jackson:

Instead of teaching autistic kids not to be themselves because you’re afraid they’ll get bullied how about you teach your shitty kids how to be good people

The amount of fucking times I’ve been told not to be weird instead of my bullies being punished followed by class lessons on acceptance and being yourself.

beeth0ven:

I absolutely hate when people say “so and so did x in spite of their disability” or “so and so overcame their disability and did x.” Because really, that’s not how it works. Disability and illness shapes a person and their experiences. Most of the time, it’s not “in spite of” our disabilities, it’s because of them.

Let’s look at some historical examples, shall we?

Take FDR. He was a wealthy, pompous playboy from a political dynasty who Gatsby-ed his way through the Roaring 20s without ever experiencing the real world. He didn’t become president in spite of having polio, he became president because of it. At a time of national hopelessness and desperation, his polio put him into the real world- into a place of understanding for the common man affected by The Depression. It humanized him and it got him 4 terms. It inspired the March of Dimes which consequently ended up funding Salk’s vaccine. That’s not “in spite of,” that’s because of.

Beethoven did not make music in spite of being deaf. In fact, he revolutionized Romantic music because of his distinct lack of high notes. His symphonies, especially his later works, are all much lower than what was common at the time, and it was all because he couldn’t hear high-pitched sounds.

Frida Kahlo did not blur the lines between Expressionism and Surrealism in spite of being disabled, she did it because she was bedridden and bored. Because she was in pain and she was shunned. In the same way her relationship with Diego Rivera inspired her works, so did being disabled. She didn’t overcome anything expect societies limitations.

The truth is, disability and illness are integral parts of our identities and they do shape our lives. The worlds we build and create are not made by overcoming the hindrance of disability, they are made because of the perspective it gives up. 

Erase the idea of in spite of. Erase the idea that our success comes from overcoming anything other than deep-seeded ableism. 

ittybittymattycommittee:

#raise your shields #because you’re about to get wrecked

nerdqueenenterprise:

theconcealedweapon:

autisticliving:

bloodblonde89:

autisticliving:

[Image text: “#autismawareness How would you feel if your parents were raising money to research how to make sure nobody ever has a child like you?”]

Cancerwareness: How would you feel if your parents were raising money to make sure nobody ever has a child like you?

Cysticfibrosisawareness: How would you feel if your parents were raising money to make sure nobody ever has a child like you?

Taysachsawareness: How would you feel if your parents were raising money to make sure nobody ever has a child like you?

Do you realize how ridiculous this sounds?

Maybe your fucking parents care about the troubles and issues you’ve suffered and hope another child doesn’t have to suffer you absolute morons. 

You’re making a common but very dangerous mistake by comparing autism to cancer and chronic illnesses. Unlike cancer, autism is a fundamental part of how our brains are built, which means that autism cannot be separated from who we are as people. Autism isn’t an illness, it’s a neurotype - it’s something we are, not something separate like cancer that is happening to us and which is inherently negative. When you want to remove or cure our autism, you’re saying that you want to cure or remove a central part of who we are, a defining part of our personalities and how we experience the world, and that’s a very dangerous sentiment to have towards your child.

The suffering associated with cancer is caused by cancer. 

The suffering associated with autism is not caused by autism, but by how society treats autistic people.

Stop comparing them.

If you don’t want an autistic person to suffer, just stop making them suffer.

also a lot of common illnesses are caused directly by your lifestyle, ie heart problems / attacks, lung cancer

and like theconcealedweapon said: autistic people suffer because we as a society force them to suffer from the outside, while illnesses come from within your body and make you suffer from within