SIDAutism: Posters

Showing posts with label Posters. Show all posts

thAut Toons

Here's another batch of the latest thAut Toons. Check out the new Pinterest page as well.

Too often, people see autism as a tragedy.

"I'm so sorry you're autistic."
"I'm not!"

Sometimes autistic people find it hard to connect with others - but it's not always the autistic person who has a deficit. This one is possibly a little confronting for neurotypicals, but that doesn't make it less correct.

"In some ways, my autism makes me so smart that the rest of the world has trouble keeping up with my brain."

Again, in the theme of people seeing autism as a tragedy...

"Are people with autism allowed to be that happy?"
"No!"
"Maybe not, but autistic people are!"

Sensory issues can be a major barrier to communication.

"I'm sorry, but the soap you used today is hurting my nose and my eyes.
I can't hear anything you are saying."

Just because someone interacts differently, doesn't mean they need to be cured, doesn't mean that their life isn't worthwhile exactly as it is, doesn't mean they can't add value to your life.

"I don't talk. At all. But my life is worth living and I am worth getting to know."

The quiet moments are very valuable. Think outside the box a little. Why not choose a friend who doesn't talk?

"Conversation is okay. But friendship is better."

It's not all roses and rainbows.

"Sometimes it's cool to be different.
And sometimes it just makes me sad and tired."

People often equate silence with intellectual impairment.

"He doesn't talk. I wonder if there's anything happening in his head."

Artist: Landon Bryce
Images are sourced from:
thAutcast: Aspergers and Autism Community
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thautcast
Blogazine: http://www.thautcast.com/

Landon Bryce does it again

Here are three more:

Neurotypicals often forget what it must be like to be autistic and to be told that they are such a burden they need to be prevented and/or cured.

"Hush!"
"We're trying to figure out how to prevent you."

It amazes me how sometimes people think they are doing a good deed by being friends with an autistic person. A neurotypical who sees it this way seems unaware that they are telling the autistic person that autism makes them somehow less worthy of friendship, and that they should be grateful for what they can get.

To me it's like saying I am your friend in spite of your blue eyes. A statement like that immediately infers that there must something wrong with blue eyes. Who gets to make that assessment?

"I know you're autistic, but I like you anyway."
"And I like you, even though you aren't."

Quite often, neurotypicals think they know much more about autism than autistics themselves. To me, this seems very silly, because such an assumption locks us out of so much more awareness of the real issues for a real person on the spectrum. Wouldn't it be better to listen and learn in more depth?

Artist: Landon Bryce
Images are sourced from:
thAutcast: Aspergers and Autism Community
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thautcast
Blogazine: http://www.thautcast.com/

I guess you might be autistic, but I don't think you're doing it right.

"I'm autistic, and I don't have any problem empathizing with other people. That's a myth."
"I do have a hard time with empathy. Does that mean I'm a myth?"

"I guess you might be autistic, but I don't think you're doing it right."

thAutcast: Aspergers and Autism Community
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thautcast
Blogazine: http://www.thautcast.com/

More thAutcast

This first one is about exclusion, and refers to organisations such as Autism Speaks, who have no autistic persons represented in their executive. As an aside: recently a woman applied to work for Autism Speaks. She made it to the final round of the hiring process, then was dismissed because of her need for some flexibility around the needs of her autistic son. She is of course suing.

"If you want us to include you when we talk about autism, you have to stop acting so autistic."

To me, this next one speaks of the gulf between the limited understanding of well-meaning parents/carers and the deeply felt, frequently misunderstood or unnoticed needs of the autistic person. I also see this comic as the two standing together and telling the rest of the world to stop judging. I expect this picture probably speaks to different people in very different ways, according to what they are living every day.

"If you don't have a child with autism, you'll never understand!"
"If you don't have autism, you'll never understand!"

thAutcast: Aspergers and Autism Community
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thautcast
Blogazine: http://www.thautcast.com/

Normal...?

"If you just tried a little harder, you would seem perfectly normal."
"Why would I want to?"

...and what's so good about being "normal"?
...besides, what the hell is normal? Who gets to decide that?

thAutcast: Aspergers and Autism Community
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thautcast
Blogazine: http://www.thautcast.com/

ThAutcast

This is a bit of a plug for Landon Bryce, who is the author/artist behind thAutcast: Aspergers and Autism Community
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thautcast
Blogazine: http://www.thautcast.com/

Landon writes some brilliant stuff, but of late he has really grabbed my attention with his very succinct cartoon slides, designed to educate us neurotypicals about the experience of people with ASDs. He holds up a mirror to us, showing us what our words sound like to someone with autism. With just a few words Landon expresses so much, and in a nutshell manages to say some of the things I have been trying to impart for years.

Remember it's about Acceptance vs Tolerance. People with ASDs are different, not defective!

Here are some of his cartoons below (in the order Landon created them). I will continue to share others he as he produces more.

"Don't you want to help us fight autism?"
"Um... No. Not really. I'm autistic."

"Why don't you want to help autistic children?"
"I do. I just don't think you can help people by telling them they are broken."

"This is going to be FUN!"
"Somehow I doubt that."

"Excuse me, doctor? It hurts my feelings when you say autistic people like me don't have empathy."
"Are you sure? According to my research, you don't have feelings to hurt."

"Sometimes I feel good about my autism."
"How can you say that!!!"
"Autism destroys families!"
"If you feel good, you must not really be autistic."
"You are keeping children with autism from being cured!"

"Sometimes I feel bad about my autism."
"How can you say that!!!"
"Autism is evolution!"
"Bad autistic people like you hold us all back!"
"You are encouraging genocide!"

"I'm autistic and it seems rude -"
"Please use people-first language!"
" - Okay. You seem like a person with rudeness when you tell me what to call myself."