This doc has information on the resolutions and their process, as well as sample messages and a phone script you can use. Please, use this moment to hear witness for your neighbors.

Don’t sign forms with areas left blank. Make sure those areas have “not applicable” written in each one (or words which work where you are).

Be aware of ambush tactics like being asked to sign unrelated forms * after * a surgery, any painful therapy, while feverish — any time when you’re unable to read and think clearly.

Don’t believe “this form is no big deal, you don’t have to read it.”

If you’re pressured “because it’s more efficient to sign everything at once” or anything like that, remember this is one more reason to be cautious, if not suspicious. Tell them to make a separate appointment.

If you are in pain, alone, or concerned for yourself and your ability to refuse to sign papers under pressure, ask someone to be there with you.

Normalize "abnormal" speech patterns. Normalize lack of eye contact, normalize ticking, normalize emphasis on different syllables. Normalize "Inappropriate" emoting, especially when it's a stress response.

Normalize verbally processing thoughts, external system communication, non- aggressive interaction with hallucinations or delusions.

We all matter. We all have the same diagnosis. We all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

But we are not the same.

I can mask and might be seen as 'odd' or 'weird' in public. The students I work with are seen as 'dangerous' and 'practically little kids'.

I can go to university and work with accommodations. The students I work with likely will never live independently and a few might find jobs that support them but still pay them less than an abled worker.

I have full control of my finances. The students I work with aren't allowed to make independent financial decisions, even if capable.

If I say 'no,' I'm making a choice. The students I work with can't say 'no' without being labeled as defiant and difficult.

I can feed myself, bathe myself, and take care of myself with extreme challenges. The students I work with are unable to take care of themselves without high levels of support/one on one support.

I had an IEP in high school but was mainstreamed in classes. The students I work with take separate classes and some rarely get to interact with their abled peers.

Our experiences are fundamentally different. Higher support needs autistics will experience a specific type of ableism I never will, and can never fully understand.

Lower support needs autistics need to stop saying we understand what higher support needs autistics are going through and then present autism as only being disabling because of society/lack of acceptance because that is dangerous. We need to stop saying every autistic person is capable of everything if given the right support because that leaves out huge parts of our community who will never be able to do certain things, regardless of support.

We are worthy of existence regardless of our abilities.

ART IS NOT MINE* The Art Against Apartheid toolkit contains 100 posters made by artists from across the world in solidarity with Palestine.

There are some fantastic pieces in here and above are some of my faves. If you wanna check them out yourself go to againstapartheid.art

Oh, you cut out dairy/gluten/ect? I could never. Oh, you do self injections? I could never.

I could never deal with that much pain. I couldn’t live with all those doctor appointments. I could never stay in bed all day, I’d just get so bored! I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t live like that, can’t couldn’t wouldn’t…

Please stop implying to people with something chronic that you’d rather die than go through what they’re going through, and take a minute to understand that their treatment isn’t a hobby. It’s survival.

Yes, people with chronic ailments ARE incredibly strong. They ARE doing things you think you couldn’t ever do.

But they’re the same things that they likely thought they couldn’t ever do until they had no other option.

Yes. Often, someone with a chronic issue sees a notable decline in their quality of life.

That doesn’t make it less worth living.

You could do it if you had to.