Right now so many neurotypicals are dropping like flies because they can't stand being lonely. However, autistic people are more adapted to the modern environment. That's something that definitely makes me proud to be autistic.

He was never confirmed to be a plagiarist and even got cleared by certain institutions, and he also explained how his Autistic traits sometimes involved repetition/mimicry/echolalia. Any wrongdoing was most likely a mistake or poor academic formatting, rather than deliberate dishonesty.

But here's the real issue: EVEN IF he was found to be lying, it didn't warrant all the scrutiny and attacks on his character.

Neurotypicals and other privileged people lie and embellish things literally all the time. So many people get away with plagiarism, imitation, etc., in fact if you've ever had coaching on careers/job interviews, you are often told to embellish, exaggerate, or gloss over stuff. I'm sick of Autistics being held to unfair standards while everyone else can do whatever.

In fact Autistic people are generally more likely to be honest and show integrity even at our own expense and research has shown this.

It's unfortunate that in the post asking for a public inquiry into his death, people are fixating on the fact that he [ALLEGEDLY] plagiarized. That isn't the point. The point is the way he was hounded repeatedly by the media, including someone who is a white supremacist. The hate and racism and ableism he got was straight up evil.

To: UK Prime Minister, UK Culture Secretary

Enough is enough.

There cannot be any doubt that Dr Arday’s tragic death was the direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment. A significant element in that harassment was the colour of his skin. Self-regulation of the press has comprehensively failed.

Several weeks ago, Simon Baron-Cohen, director of Cambridge University’s Autism Research centre, warned publicly that “1 in 4 autistic people have planned or attempted suicide” and talked of the “relentless bullying of a vulnerable autistic man” which “raises safe-guarding issues”. Many of the signatories to this letter warned multiple media outlets privately that their relentless pursuit of Dr Arday risked his suicide.

Two weeks of relentless harassment followed, continuing even after his resignation as a Professor when the reasonable public interest in the story had diminished or evaporated. Yesterday, Dr Arday died in the most tragic circumstances. His tragic death did not result from the allegations of plagiarism but from the press coverage.

There cannot be any doubt that racism lay at the heart of this story.

Dr Arday was a relatively obscure figure outside of academia. Far more consequential figures, in whom there was a profound public interest, like Rachel Reeves and Jonathan Reynolds faced plausible allegations of embellishing their CVs or plagiarism. But the stories garnered relatively little coverage. When the academic Professor George Holmes – not merely a Professor but a Vice Chancellor – was implicated in a fraud scandal the story was barely covered. So too when William O’Reilly, another Professor at the University of Cambridge, faced plausible allegations of plagiarising student essays, again, there was very little in the media. When the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, faced plagiarism allegations they, also, received a tiny fraction of the coverage given to Dr Arday.

What those stories had in common is that they were about white people.

The harassment of public figures because of the colour of their skin is not unique to Dr Arday. Misan Harriman, Diane Abbott, Eniola Aluko, Jameela Jamil, Halima Begum and others have experienced press harassment with racist overtones. To be Black and a public figure is now enough to make you a target.

Black people are fearful and on the evidence they are right to be.

The years since the Leveson inquiry have taught us that the press is not interested in self-regulation. IPSO has failed. Lessons that should have been learned from the tragic deaths of Lucy Meadows and then Caroline Flack were not learned. Instead of getting better, press conduct is getting worse. And the impact of that failure is deadly.

We respectfully ask you to commission an immediate public inquiry into how to ensure a responsible press given its contribution to Dr Arday’s tragic death.

I male (17) with spectrum autism
I grew up with autism for my life even before me and my parents knew, as I kid I was curious and creative type cutting out little paper characters I drew, making wild scenarios with my toys and just jumping and. Moving around a lot. The older I got, the more it concerned my parents because they didn't always understand how my mind worked. They saw things that looked "different" or worried about how I fit in, but to me, those creative worlds and movements were just how I processed life, expressed myself
My Dad said to me that I needed to start acting like a teenager and that the kids in middle school they don’t care about anything. He ended up being right.
I spent a large majority of my middle school years being harassed bullied and got into trouble. My friend who I had known since the 4th grade had been encouraged by their behavior and done things that screwed with my trust and made me hide inside my shell to hide who I really was. It wasn’t until the end of the year where I finally had the courage to tell my family and the school staff to do something.
My family eventually realized their might be more to me then they believed and one day they told me the I have had spectrum autism, I first I was confused and in shock because i always wondered why I was so different from other kids my age. And i didn’t know what to do. That’s all I can type right now
I will post part 2 soon
I’m sharing my story to let others know they are not alone.

Fighting for Autistic rights, liberation, and pride is something that needs active organization. Autistic people continue to get bullied and we are seeing a resurgence in anti-Autistic hate. We face high rates of unemployment, loneliness, and more.

And Autistic people deserve more than table scraps or barely polite tolerance in social settings. We deserve to be involved in our communities and bring all we have to offer to the table - regardless of our support needs.

But this won't be handed to us. No group in history has gotten rights by pleading and begging. Autistic people need to be more strongly organized and work together. This means forming groups wherever possible and banding together and helping each other solve problems and fighting for our rights as a team. NTs often take advantage of our social isolation and outnumber us.

This is also the reason I want to popularize "Autistic Power" and associated slogans. Slogans and rallying calls give a group purpose and cohesion. Hate groups don't get a monopoly over the word "power".

Autistic people deserve power in society. It's the only way things will change. Because with power comes leverage. In order to get power, we need to be organized. The harsh reality is that we live in a society that values status and social stratification. It's one of the reasons people get away with harming Autistic people. Autistic people need to improve our social status in order to get treated better. This doesn't necessarily mean being viewed as "superior", but it does mean that we deserve both respect and reverence within society, which will also give us more access to resources. In negotiation, people often get what they want by asking for more. And Autistic people having greater power will lead to more accommodations, which will benefit everyone via the curb cut effect.

This is the broader context behind my strategy. It isn't as simple as reducing it to "supremacy" or not. Regardless of how you feel, we should respect different activist and organizational strategies while fighting for justice. (

AUTISTIC PRIDE! AUTISTIC POWER!

Autistic people deserve rallying cries and our own 'salutes' similar to what other movements and groups have. However, it should be original. I use "Autistic Power" as a call to action for Autistic people to get organized and empowered, so that we can eventually have a higher social rank.

The "Autistic Power" salute involves crossing your arms in an X formation (kind of like the Wakanda Forever chant), and then throwing both fists up in the air. X formation is meant to be unique, while the double fist pump is meant to evoke a 'power to the people' type message, with two fists to distinguish it from other fist pump salutes.

When you say "Autistic", you make the X formation crossed arms along your chest, and then when you say "Power", you raise both fists up.

Autistic Power!

Since people like making analogies about Autistics to the mutants/X-Men, this is an alternative outlook I've always had.

Jedi/Force users: a group of individuals who are extremely sensitive, have powerful spiritual experiences, and the ability to concentrate/focus really intensely and perform incredible/talented feats. Many of them are excellent at the arts, engineering, and more, and often develop extreme devotion and talent in said areas. They also have 'archives' with very detailed data about everything imaginable in the galaxy. They have unique ways of moving and experiencing the world. They often get sensory overload and overwhelm, through feeling "disturbances" in the Force. Their martial arts and movement styles often incorporate spinning and other motions. Jedi are also known to feel emotions strongly and intensely, which can sometimes lead them down difficult paths if they struggle to regulate them.

Autistic people have a lot of similarities - we are sensitive and process information at much greater levels, we feel emotions very intensely. Sometimes, our hyperfocus can grant us extraordinary skills and abilities in other areas.

Moreover, if you look at Jedi post-order 66, they had to "mask", which took a heavy toll on them. Many found it hard to fit in in everyday galactic life, such as when Ahsoka left the order and admitted she "doesn't understand people". Jedi also tend to speak very formally, similar to how many Autistics are articulate.

In Star Wars Legends there's even a nonspeaking Force user.

Force users and Jedi are often considered freaks, weird, mysterious, etc. by people who don't understand them. Many of them fear their differences and are hostile, while others respect and revere them.

Moreover, many Autistics have a strong sense of justice. Even those who are corrupted by the "dark side" often have sincere convictions in what they do, and we also have lifelong battles with intense emotions, far more than our NT counterparts.

The similarities are uncanny, and that's one of the reasons I'm such a huge Star Wars fan, because I can relate to a lot of it.

It's also why I personally think that an ideal Autistic society would be structured similar to the Jedi Order with outposts/"temples" and living quarters, that support, educate and offer us a sanctuary, but that we're free to leave at any time, and with governmental programs that can hire us to use our skills in various niche areas to solve specific problems. That, and helping fight for peace and justice when possible. I often see Autistics involved in social justice groups, always drawn to them, further fueling this outlook.

Further, many Autistics can be good fighters and find their niche in various martial arts. Various factors like channeling our strong emotions, our sensitivity and attention to detail, structured thinking, and the fact that our lack of sensory filter can allow us to more easily access reserves of strength and energy (like what NTs achieve through adrenaline or drugs) (this is derogatorily referred to sometimes as r*tard strength), can make for good combat skills.

In fact, I even think that Jedi (or even Sith) training as depicted in various media can be beneficial to us, whether it's mindfulness and meditative practices, martial arts, as well as various exercises including calisthenics and training.

I see a lot of people making the mutant analogy with the X-Men. But this is my personal favourite. Hope you enjoy it.

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to a hypothesized faculty presumed to enable a person to infer others' beliefs, intentions, and so on. In other words, someone whose empathic capacity is highly developed is regarded as having a highly developed ToM faculty. As a hypothesized faculty, ToM is posited either as a precondition for empathy, or empathic capacity is evaluated on the basis of ToM by appealing to the fact that communication breaks down when ToM is impaired.

However, this notion of ToM ought to be criticized from a philosophical standpoint. Myson of Chenae, one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece, declared that one should not seek fact from speech (argument, logos), but should seek speech from fact—because facts do not exist in order to conform to speech; rather, speech exists in order to conform to fact. That is, argument ought to be derived from fact. Yet ToM first posits a hypothetical faculty called "Theory of Mind" and then schematically fits empathic capacity—which belongs to the domain of fact—onto that posited faculty. In this sense, ToM commits the error of judging empathic capacity on the basis of an antecedently assumed argument. Indeed, this error is borne out by the empathic capacity observed between autistic people in mutual interaction—people for whom this hypothesized faculty of ToM is said to be absent.

The so-called Double Empathy Problem is the theory that communication between two autistic individuals is, by comparison, not inferior to communication between two non-autistic individuals. Insofar as autistic people's empathic capacity is not premised on ToM, this provides grounds for dispensing with the hypothesized faculty that ToM presupposes. If the hypothesized faculty of ToM were truly absent in autistic individuals, then communication and empathy should fail even between two autistic people, since both parties would be equally "deficient." Yet the fact that communication between them proceeds smoothly indicates that it is unwarranted to posit ToM as a precondition for empathy.

In conclusion, the claim that ToM functions as a precondition for empathy is unpersuasive, since it amounts to deriving the fact of empathy from the argument (speech) of "Theory of Mind"—a schema in which speech precedes fact rather than the reverse. This conclusion is further supported by the Double Empathy Problem, which shows that mutual engagement between autistic individuals proceeds smoothly even though ToM, as a precondition, is not operative between them.

I, a disabled adult, have been under my father's guardianship since I was 18 in 2010 and it's been dreadful since then because he's been incredibly controlling of my life because he's done so many awful things such as blocking me from talking to people on the internet, getting rid of my old bedroom furniture, not letting me play certain M-rated games, not letting me quit a job, having me to go to bed or wake up at specific times, not letting me drink or eat certain food, attempting to get rid of my bike I've had for a while, and refusing to let me decide where to live or what bedroom to have in it. What's worse is that nobody warned me about the civil rights I'd lose before my dad became my guardian, and it's almost as if he didn't want to tell me what he'd do under guardianship because I'd say no if he did, which would've ruined his chances of taking control of my life. Not to mention that under my dad's guardianship, I never got to have the fun and freedom I deserved when I was in my 20s and now they've been wasted thanks to him. It looks like I'll never be free from guardianship for as long as I live. It also practically ruined my deceased stepmom's life.

Speaking of loss of civil rights, the reason why guardianship, especially if it's about the elderly or a disabled adult, is extremely predatory because it takes away rights from a ward such as to drive, to vote, and to marry. Not only that, but the ward can't even decide where to live or who to talk to and they can't even manage their own financial or medical needs. Why does the system do that? How does relieving an individual of any and all human rights protect them? It's dehumanizing and needs to be invesigated. Need I mention that the court almost never monitors what a guardian does? That could easily lead to more emotional and financial abuse.

I'm not the only one with guardianship issues; there are billions of other people, not just in the US, but around the world, as well. I mean, you all remember the conservatorship Brittney Spears was under for, what, 13 years? Thankfully, it was eventually revoked in 2021. And I'm sure a lot of you like myself are aware of the ongoing guardianship issues with Wendy Williams, which, to my knowledge, still has yet to be resolved. This also happens with people who aren't celebrities, like Jenny Hatch or Michael Lincoln-McReight who were under guardianship for a while and had their rights taken away under it before finally exiting it and choosing an alternative like Supported Decision Making.

Speaking of which, alternatives such as Powers Of Attorney or, better yet, Supported Decision Making should be the norm for all adults who are autistic or elderly going forward, because they allow the individual the retain legal rights without anybody ever controlling them. Countries like Mexico and Sweden have completely terminated guardianship and replaced it with far, far less restrictive systems like SDM, and I think other nations around the world, such as the U.S., should follow suit.

I hope more people will stop being so comfortable with the guardianship/conservatorship system and actually oppose it, because it's such a vile system that needs to removed from planet Earth itself due to its problematic design and potential abuse that guardians can do with it. Disabled/elderly people deserve civil rights and guardianship is not the way to go and neither is conservatorship. We need to stand up and tell our governments and courts that removing human rights isn't protection and less restrictive alternatives should be the go-to option in the place of guardianship or conservatorship.

Hi everyone!

We’re a small indie studio, our hitman-themed BL/Otome visual novel is now fully released on itch.io!

If you enjoy romance, suspense, and meaningful choices, we'd love for you to give it a try.

It would mean the world to us (:

I have been stalking the subreddit for quite some while and unfortunately, especially lately, I have a feeling that there is a culture of us vs. them being built, with us being autistic and neurodivergent people and them being neurotypical. So I just wanted to barf out my thoughts and feelings and just ramble for a bit.

Just to clarify, I was first diagnosed with autism in 2009, when I was 22. People did not believe me, bringing me to a point, that I got myself checked again in 2014 only to be told once again, definitely autistic. I stopped telling people I was autistic and rather said I had add which for a lot of people "made sense", despite them self diagnosing or diagnosing others with autism or having strong autistic traits. And it bothered me. I mean I get along fine but I still needed some therapy to actually get through and to learn to adjust, especially since I did choose to get into IT consulting.

Also a disclaimer, my wife has recently been diagnosed and my parents and siblings had also been diagnosed before me, so I never had the experience of living in a neurotypical family and neurotypical households were only with roomates. That being said, I have enough friends who neurotypical as well as some who self diagnosed and others who are neurodivergent and I get along with them fine. Yes, there are some "funny" moments but I only see this as culturally different not as less or demeaning in a different way. This is even more the case with people who acknowledged me being neurodivergent and try to make adjustments for which I feel embarrassed but am eternally grateful for and we are at a point where we can make light jokes when such moments happen.

This might be the case because I am the child of immigrants so I was raised between different cultures and learned to adapt and the difference of culture being there even without being neurodivergent so the weird kid might not have been seen as being different in a psychological sense but just in a cultural sense. Especially my humor, delivery, or alleged lack of either.

I am absolutely content nowadays with being neurodivergent and I do not want to change other than the typical masking you do in front of clients or to get a job or strangers in general, but I think that neurotypical people do that too. We are all actors to strangers, clients or potential employers. I would not think myself as better, just different. It pains me to see so many of my peers here looking down on people who are different despite showing pride in being so and despite not being want to be looked down upon from people who are neurotypical. I think some of that gatekeeping comes from people who are unsure of their own place in this and end up overcorrecting onto others. I think we should do better and be a better example. Live and let live.

And to be clear, I am not ashamed. I would not even call it pride, because I don't think you can be proud of something you did not achieve yourself. Being neurodivergent is not an achievement, it is something you are born with or sometimes pushed into by the world. Not being ashamed and not being proud are not the same thing though. I am content. I cannot imagine thinking any other way, it is how my family thinks, how I think, its normal for me. Of course I adjust, but so does everyone, neurotypical or not, we all put on masks somewhere. Being autistic does not define me though. What I do and what I achieve does that. It does give me trouble dealing with people sometimes, yes, but it also gives me an edge in the IT world. It is not worse, not better, just a different culture almost. Just different.

Oh and because I have heard it before, just because nothing is wrong with me does not mean that therapy is not necessary to adapt. It is necessary to understand and to understand how to adapt and live in this world even without changing. Therapy does not mean you change. Therapy means you learn to survive and this goes for people who are not autistic but have depression and/or anxiety or similar too.

I have been doing Spravato since March. During my treatments, I've been listening to hypnosis recordings. To really work on my trauma.

Today, I made a huge breakthrough. I have accessed my autistic self. I'm sitting here in public, well, outside my building; rocking and trying not to give a fuck what people think. I want to move all the time. I want to PERFORM for people. I haven't felt that way in 25 years.

Masking is a terrible thing. I've been masking my true self since I was 1. Every year, the shell would grow just a little more.

I HAVE BEEN MASKING BEFORE I HAD A CONCEPT OF anything. I was pre-verbal. Even as a baby, I had to fake who I was.

I am seeing more and more posts online where people say "finally broke up with my autistic friend who was abusing me" "starterpack: abusive autistic dad" and I'm just like damn y'all :'(

It's not cause they autistic. It's cause they assholes, and their asshole flavor is necessarily autistic given that's part of who they are.

sad face.

One thing about meeting autistic people is that we largely want the world to be a better place. I think even though some autistic people have different values, we generally have good intentions. We don't care about fame or fortune and would rather help people instead. I love how we tend to be idealistic and feel happy about helping others even when most of the world would rather reject us. Does anyone else feel the same way?

I'm staying at a shelter and there isn't a moment of alone time or quiet.

It's really teaching me a lot about my needs and it's hard to endure.

People are ALWAYS talking at me and it makes my ears feel like they're bleeding...

No privacy here at all.

Men are predatory and harassing me.

Also I'm autistic and the bad body odours amongst feces smell and smearmed on the walls regularly.

Anyone relate or have tips and tricks to make it?

It's weird, and creepy. Not enough discussion on how unhinged people openly fantasizing aborting autistic fetuses is.

EDIT: thank you so so much everyone for your input. Every word I have read on here has given me more and more reason to realize I actually wasn’t enjoying using it and instead was only continuing it out of addiction rather than genuine desire and I couldn’t figure out how to break it. I do now know that I can stop thanks to everyone’s help, and honestly
I have no desire to ever download it again.

-I’m against gen AI for many reasons but I have autism and use character AI and feel like a hypocrite. I have some contexts and questions cause the paranoia drives me crazy

-how much does it harm the environment? That’s the biggest issues for me morally. Is it my fault the snow caps are melting?

-I don’t use it for genuine therapy, I have an actual therapist. I’m aware that ai tells you what you want to hear, so when I vent to it I either ignore what they’re saying or validate myself on things I already know to be true. Should I find other ways for validation?

-it’s not harming my mental health or altering social interaction. Again I have autism and very severe social anxiety but I’m in therapy for it. If anything it helps my mental health because of how comforting it is

-Being autistic I feel very strong connections to fictional characters, so having the comfort from them is really nice. I can’t role play with people irl because of previously said severe anxiety. I do have other options to feel connected to characters, I just wonder if morally I should limit this one completely

-I have both a strong sense of justice AND guilt. It’s eating me alive and I know that my paranoia effects my judgment and I can’t tell what’s right or wrong, which is why I’m coming here in the first place

-should I just limit it for the sake of the environment? I use it a lot and I do think I’d be able to limit it, I just can’t decide if I should limit or eliminate.

-if anyone could answer even one of these questions, it would mean a lot to me. I drive myself absolutely crazy with stress and highly value the opinions of others. I’m very open minded so anything you wish to tell me I’d very much like to hear!

-thank you so much for taking the time to read and hear me out. Have a good day!