Autism Information From an Actually Autistic Adult
Please don't be turned off if the bright, pink colour scheme in this section isn't to your liking! You can adjust the colours using the Theme Selector on the top left hand corner of the screen. Currently, a Light it Up Red colour scheme inspired by
the anti-Autism Speaks slogan of the same name and plain dark and light themes for people who do not want anything remotely colourful are present. The code for this Theme Selector was created by Christopher Heng and can be found on his exceptionally useful website Site Wizard
at this link. If you have any problems reading the material on this site and/or have any suggestions for additional themes, please feel free to
contact me! I'm
always happy to hear from people. (:
Welcome to the UFO! This section is dedicated to Autism Spectrum "Disorder" (ASD,) a highly misunderstood neurotype that I want to share my perspective on. The discourse on autism is unfortunately still dominated by (sometimes maliciously) ignorant neurotypicals instead of actually autistic people, and I'd like to use my little corner of the Web to attempt to mitigate that.
Like many other autistic people, I don't consider autism to necessarily be a "disorder," a disability, or a mental illness. It is a neurotype - a different way of being wired mentally. While it is true that there are many autistic people that have mental disabilities, this is only part of the story. Autistic people are simultaneously more likely than non-autistics to have very high IQs and very low IQs. According to
a report by the Dutch Autistic Register, 16% of autistic people have IQs above 130, compared to only 2.3% of neurotypicals.
You may have noticed the rainbow infinity symbol in the "Autistic Pride" button at the bottom of each page (and in the shiny header in this section). This is a popular symbol for autism in the autistic community that many prefer over the more commonly used puzzle piece. The latter symbol was created by non-autistics and was intended to represent the false idea that autistic people are some sort of enigma that cannot be understood. The rainbow infinity symbol is meant to represent the infinite diversity of the autism spectrum and the people on it. More on all of this later.
The name and theme for this section are references to the commonly expressed sentiment that being autistic makes one feel like they're an alien living on the "wrong" planet. The fact that it gives me an excuse to give the page a funky theme doesn't hurt either. (:
Some of the terms that I will be using in this section are ones that most people are unfamiliar with. If you see a word that you don't know the meaning of, you can hopefully find an explanation for it in the
autism-related terminology subsection below.
If you want to check out some more helpful autism-related resources on the web, you can find some informative (and humourous) sites about autism in the
Autism section over at the Dock.
Understanding Autism
Autism-Related Terminology - Last updated on 23 July 2021
Examining the Relationships Between Autism and Personality Disorders - Last updated on 17 October 2021
Intense World: The Autistic Theory of Everything -
VERY important article, Last updated on 17 July 2021
Intense World: Some Additional Ruminations - Last updated on 09 January 2022
The Double Empathy Problem - Last updated on 17 April 2021
The Operating System Metaphor - Last updated on 27 April 2021
Things Autistics Wish Neurotypicals Knew - Last updated on 25 July 2021
Understanding the Autistic Experience
Autistic Inertia: A Double-Edged Sword - Last updated on 22 January 2022
Discovering My Autism as an Adult - Last updated on 02 May 2021
Life Through Autism-Tinted Glasses - Last updated on 11 April 2021
"Odd" Autistic Behaviours, and Why We Do Them - Last updated on 17 January 2022
The Strange Case of "Autigender" - Last updated on 05 June 2021
Autism Acceptance/Pride
Autism Acceptance vs. Autism Awareness - Last updated on 02 April 2021
Autistic Pride - Last updated on 14 February 2021
Helpful Accommodations for Autistic People - Last updated on 08 May 2022
Symbols for Autism - Last updated on 26 February 2023
Why We Need Autism Acceptance and Pride -
VERY important article, Last updated on 05 September 2021
Advice and Help
Life Advice to Younger Autistics, Part 1 - Last updated on 26 January 2022
Life Advice to Younger Autistics, Part 2 - Last updated on 06 February 2022
Debunking Disinformation
Common Autism Myths - Last updated on 05 October 2021
Debunking the "Autism Epidemic" Myth - Last updated on 19 April 2021
Autism Theories
Articles coming soon!
Humour
Neurotypical Disorder - Last updated on 18 February 2021
You Know You're Autistic If... - Last updated on 24 January 2021
More sections coming as soon as I have time/motivation to make them!
