Advocacy & Accommodations

  • 3 Effective Strategies to Become a Better Parent Advocate

    When your child is diagnosed with autism, there are really two routes you can go. First, the most popular route is the “autism mom™” route. You think autism is a tragedy that steals your child from you, but you are a superhero that has overcome. Thankfully, there’s another option! Instead of donning the puzzle-piece laden […]

  • Neurodiversity Doesn’t Exclude Your Autistic Child… You Do.

    “Neurodiversity excludes ‘severe’ children like my son…” “Neurodiversity is only for ‘high functioning autistics, and it ignores the needs of others…” “You can’t speak for my child because you can’t possibly know what they go through…” This is 100% the most common argument against the neurodiversity movement. That the movement supports the interests of the […]

  • What Happens When Parents Listen to Autistic Adults?

    When we were first told that my son might be autistic, I dove head-first into research. And I’ll be honest, I was really disappointed with what I found… The majority of posts made it seem like my son’s life was now completely over, I should be “grieving”, and we needed to get him in hours […]

  • 5 Important Reasons Even “New ABA” is Problematic

    (Inside: When autistics speak out against ABA, many people say that “new ABA” is different, but here are 5 important reasons even “New ABA” is problematic…) Every time I speak out against ABA therapy, without fail, a well-meaning parent or therapist chimes in with the same thing… “New ABA is different!” “ABA therapists haven’t done that […]

  • Why Don’t Autistics Want a Cure for Autism?

    (Inside: Why don’t autistics want a cure for autism? Parents and professionals are often shocked to hear that autistics don’t want to cure autism, but here’s why…) I talk a lot about the general differences between what autistic adults believe and what parents of autistic children believe. We prefer identity language while they prefer person-first. We […]