Autistic sensory sensitivities are usually more than 'just being uncomfortable.' Sensory issues, such as loud noises, can be physically painful, can trigger automatic behavioural responses, can impact executive function, and/or have serious emotional impacts.

Even though MANY autistic people also have ADHD, there are many ADHD traits that seem like the exact opposite of autistic ones. As AuDHD'ers can attest, this makes navigating our changing struggles and support needs a wild, unpredictable ride at times.

Different autistic people can have very different support needs. What's right for you (or your autistic friend/family member) may not be right for any other autistic person, and that's okay.

Autistic special interests can be intense and intrusive. Strangely, when these special interests align with expectations of our society, they can also be completely missed by the people around us.

Accepting autistic people means building a safer world to be autistic in. Safer to access healthcare, safer to interact with authority figures, safer from bullying, safer to be who we are.

A lot of spaces are inaccessible to autistic people, and often the barriers aren't immediately obvious to NTs.

Spaces with sudden, unexpected, and/or intense sensory experiences, unpredictable changes, or unclear expectations are accessibility barriers that might go unnoticed

A significant percentage of autistic people also meet the criteria for an ADHD diagnosis, and being both ADHD and autistic changes our experiences and barriers in fairly significant ways.

In some ways, they are opposing forces. In others, they seem to tag team my functioning

Autistic communities have consistently been at the forefront of identifying, labelling, and communicating the autistic experience. For decades this work has been ignored by professionals.

Accepting autistic people means listening to autistic communities

There's an assumption that speech is indication of intelligence or 'functioning level' when it comes to autistic people, and it just needs to stop.

Autistic people who do not or cannot verbally speak are often far more intelligent than society gives them credit for

This is one of the biggest struggles that I have personally.

Making friends (and networking) feels like I'm playing a game I intellectually know all the rules to, but I'm just trash at playing.

No matter how hard I try I just can't actually succeed at it. It's heckin' lonely

There's no one 'correct' autistic experience, just like there is no one 'correct' way to understand or feel about being autism as label, diagnosis, or identity.

Different autistic people simply relate being autistic differently. That's okay

Other conditions commonly co-occur with being autistic, such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, ADHD, OCD, hypermobile disorders, and GI issues.

If we're committed to accepting autistic people, autistic spaces also need to accept and support these other conditions

A lot of autistic girls and women are misdiagnosed with other conditions before being diagnosed autistic.

Being misdiagnosed with personality disorders or multiple anxiety disorders is distressingly common