Autism Interview #124: Lydia Wilkins on Autism Acceptance

Lydia (right) is pictured above with her mentor, biographer Lesley Ann Jones

Lydia Wilkins is a freelance journalist based in the UK. She has written for publications including The Independent, Readers Digest, The Metro, Refinery 29, and others. She also documents life with Aspergers Syndrome, over at her blog Mademoiselle Women. Here she regularly interviews people such as Anastacia, journalist Paul Conroy, and others, as well as discussing topics such as interoception. This week she discusses Autism acceptance and offers some advocacy tips for parents.

Accepting Your Autism: A How-to Comprehensive Guide by Kerrin Maclean

The guide below is written by Kerrin Maclean (see her interview from last week here) and originally published on her blog. It is reprinted here with her permission. Kerrin Maclean is an Autism advocate from New Zealand. She vlogs at Aspie Answers, spreading awareness of Autism and invites viewers to witness the everyday life of an ‘Aspie.’ Maclean is also the author of Life of an Aspie and blogs at Life of an Aspie.

Autism Interview #119: James Sinclair on Autistic Identity and Autism Acceptance

James Sinclair is a marketer and autism advocacy blogger from the UK. He is the founder of the popular website Autistic & Unapologetic where he shares his exploration of what it means to be autistic and reframes the autism advocacy narrative to emphasize understanding and acceptance. He also tweets @AutismRevised and manages the Autistic & Unapologetic page on Facebook. This week he shared his personal experience developing an autistic identity, the wonderful supports provided by his family and fiancée, and stressed the importance of understanding the needs of the individual in any autism advocacy efforts.

Autism Interview #92: Quincy Hansen on School, Autism Acceptance, and Co-occurring Conditions

Quincy Hansen is a high school student and Autistic advocate from Denver, Colorado. Quincy has been formally diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and General Anxiety Disorder, and also has some fine motor skill impairments resulting in Dysgraphia-like symptoms. Quincy has found that writing offers a good outlet for communicating ideas that do not easily come…

Let the Disabled Community Define Inclusion

I recently saw a social media post supporting inclusion where an autistic woman commented with a warning about being “too inclusive.” What she was referring to was forceful inclusion, and gave the example of her mother removing her bedroom door at her therapist’s suggestion to improve socialization. This sounds like abuse, and the opposite of inclusion, but it’s worth mentioning because it raises the important questions of what is inclusion and who defines it?

Autism Interview #90: Robbie Ierubino on Art and Autism Acceptance

Robbie Ierubino is an American artist with autism studying Graphic Design at Staffordshire University in Stoke-on-Trent, England. He has developed his own style of art which he calls “shapism” and uses his art to communicate his unique world perspective and advocate for acceptance. This week he shared how autism influences his art and his passion for working to improve autism acceptance.

Autism Interview #66: Kat Muir on Socializing, CBT, and Advocacy

Kat Muir is a speech-language pathologist employed at Easterseals Crossroads. She has a B.S. in Speech & Hearing Science and an M.A. in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology. She speaks fluently in English, Spanish, German, French, Farsi, ASL and some Mandarin and is currently working on learning Vietnamese. She is also a member of Mensa and a public speaker. This week she shared how she has managed some of her personal struggles as well as how she works today to help others with disabilities.