Many autistic children thrive on routine and predictability, which can make vacations challenging for them. Here's a story from USA Today with tips on how to plan a trip, choose an airline that provides accommodations for autistic children, and details on what to expect from an autism-certified resort.
@kkffoo and others highlighted to us that the puzzle piece originally used to illustrate this story is an offensive analogy to some autistic people. Here is an explanation as to why. The publication has now changed the image in response to this feedback. Thank you all.
Since April is #AutismAwarenessMonth, I felt like I should amplify the fact that people with #Autism and #Autistic spectrum disorders almost unanimously feel that #AutismSpeaks is counterproductive in that it actively avoids allowing autistic representation, and focuses on suppressing autistic traits in general rather than trying to bolster coping skills and give autistic people wider acceptance in society.
It's the equivalent of an organization about people in wheelchairs, run entirely by people who are inconvenienced by them, pulling attention away from advocacy for ramps in order to find ways to make the wheelchairs less obtrusive, at the expense of the people in wheelchairs.
「 Selling autism as a brand likely perpetuates some generalizations — even stereotypes — in the name of overcoming bias, a complicated compromise, if a strategic one 」
— @nytimes
「 Anxiety, commonly experienced in people with autism, can make typical workplace competition unbearable; one Auticon employee, compared his experience at his last job to the television show “Survivor.” The interview process alone is a sociability test that many people with autism are destined to fail or inclined to avoid altogether 」
— @nytimes