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Title: The Obsessive Joy of Autism
Author: Julia Bascom aka![[wordpress.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/1225b00cee13/-/s.wordpress.org/about/images/wpmini-blue.png)
juststimming
Review:
Not a fanfic, but so worth sharing because so much of what neurotypicals - be they writers, teachers, family etc - are taught about autism is from the outside looking in and that's just not good enough. I don't know how many people are aware, but sometimes there's a really huge gap between what something looks like from the outside and what it's like from the inside (what's called the "lived experience" of it). This gap between what it looks like and what it is leads to a lot of misunderstanding. If the only view you ever see of something or someone different is from the outside, it would make it very difficult to write a character like that realistically. It would also make it too easy to disregard that person's point of view entirely, to take for granted that its fundamentally wrong and that they're pitable for it. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff about autism is written by parents and doctors and teacher, for parents and doctors and teachers with the implication (or sometimes its far to blatant to merely be called an implication) that autistics themselves don't have any insight, aren't worth talking to or writing for which is not only wrong but actually makes me really angry sometimes.
And this is why I think it's great to see the contrast between the way stimming is normally viewed (as wrong and disordered and distressing) and the way it's described here. This essay is really beautiful and happy. It's an autistic speaking about joy and about joy with autism and its so cool. Before you write a fic where someone is autistic, you should really read it. Or, you know, read it anyways... because its all infectiously happy and made of awesome. If you like it, check out some of the author's other writings too.
( ... )
The Obsessive Joy of Autism (on Wordpress)
Author: Julia Bascom aka
juststimming Review:
Not a fanfic, but so worth sharing because so much of what neurotypicals - be they writers, teachers, family etc - are taught about autism is from the outside looking in and that's just not good enough. I don't know how many people are aware, but sometimes there's a really huge gap between what something looks like from the outside and what it's like from the inside (what's called the "lived experience" of it). This gap between what it looks like and what it is leads to a lot of misunderstanding. If the only view you ever see of something or someone different is from the outside, it would make it very difficult to write a character like that realistically. It would also make it too easy to disregard that person's point of view entirely, to take for granted that its fundamentally wrong and that they're pitable for it. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff about autism is written by parents and doctors and teacher, for parents and doctors and teachers with the implication (or sometimes its far to blatant to merely be called an implication) that autistics themselves don't have any insight, aren't worth talking to or writing for which is not only wrong but actually makes me really angry sometimes.
And this is why I think it's great to see the contrast between the way stimming is normally viewed (as wrong and disordered and distressing) and the way it's described here. This essay is really beautiful and happy. It's an autistic speaking about joy and about joy with autism and its so cool. Before you write a fic where someone is autistic, you should really read it. Or, you know, read it anyways... because its all infectiously happy and made of awesome. If you like it, check out some of the author's other writings too.
( ... )
The Obsessive Joy of Autism (on Wordpress)