newtsoda

@newtsoda@wandering.shop
  • Comic writer & artist
  • Published in Sensory: Life on the Spectrum
  • Ringo Award Nominee
  • Graphic Medicine Award Nominee

I make educational comics on autism and also like to dabble in fantasy art.

Webcomic on hiatus: Gummy Wizard Saga

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newtsoda, to random

When school is torture...

A comic about autism and “school avoidance”. (1/2)

The woman lies with her head on a pillow, staring wide-eyed at the reader. Thorns creep around the edges of the frame. The text reads: It's nearly twenty years later, and I still have the nightmares. Not the same vague dreams about not doing my homework everyone gets, but vivid night terrors that revolve around school and the things it made me feel. I've been told it's a symptom of CPTSD. The second panel shows a dagger with thorns wrapped around it as it is slowly dragged into their midst. The text reads: Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder develops over a series of prolonged traumatic events. A disturbingly high number of autistic adults go on to develop it and can trace the root of their trauma back to the torturous experiences of their school years. So, I guess it's safe to say I'm not alone. But what's worse: It's still happening today.
A girl is at the centre of the page, tears streaming down her face as scissors cut through her wings. Blood drips down the page. Thorns creep towards her. Another panel shows the woman's back with the shredded remnants of her own cut wings. The text reads: Autistic children are being dragged through a grim education system that does not get their needs, quietly suffering. Parents are denied support if their child makes good grades or is quiet in class, because all is well. But the school doesn't see the tears and fights getting to the gates in the morning. Or the meltdowns/shutdowns as soon as the child gets home. It doesn't matter what's happening to their mental health. That a bubbly, happy child who loved to learn has turned into a despondent, empty shell of their former self. Above all else, school emphasises attendance rates. As long as that child is still showing up every day, it's seen as a success, no matter the cost—and the cost, sadly, is often steep for people like us.

newtsoda,

We're suffering, but no one cares as long as we keep up our attendance rate.

Imagine if we could raise the next autistic generation free from trauma and CPTSD... (2/2)

The woman is seen healing the girl's back. Tiny wings sprout where hers were cut. The text reads: Homeschooling can allow parents to slowly build their children back up, coaxing them back to their former selves. But not everybody has the means to homeschool, and while it should always be a choice, it should never be one forced by desperation. The next panel shows the woman's own shredded wings. The final one shows her defending her child. Text: This whole thing is excruciating for autistic parents who experienced it all themselves while growing up and know exactly the damage that is being done, yet find themselves unable to protect their child from suffering the same fate. I want to be a parent one day, but the thought of school already fills me with dread. I want my child to benefit from a well-rounded education without paying the steep mental health price I had to pay. It shouldn't be too much to ask! And yet, I've fully prepared myself for the battles I'll have to fight.
The page shows the woman twirling the girl around while she holds her hands and the girl flies with her new, full-grown wings. The woman's wings are still shredded, but she smiles knowing that she was able to help her daughter. The text reads: I want to raise the next generation of autistic people unburdened by school trauma or CPTSD. We need more autistic-friendly options, and lockdown and the pandemic showed that it's possible! We need flexible schooling, less classroom time, more opportunities to do schoolwork from home, and low intensity classrooms for children who don't have parents who can support learning from home. Allow for recovery time and stop penalising low attendance rates! We want the education system to recognise the damage it's doing to young people and believe parents when they plead for support. There is more than one way to achieve learning outcomes, and we deserve a system that works for us.

newtsoda, to art

ABA therapy, a therapy still predominantly used for autistic children in the USA and other countries to this day, was created by the same man who invented gay conversion therapy. What does that tell you?

newtsoda,

I predict there will be a handful of people in my comments who are pro ABA, possibly even a couple autistic people. But here are the facts: survivors of ABA who grew up to reach their 30s and above have come out to collectively speak of the psychological abuse and trauma it caused.

newtsoda,

The therapy is often carried out by NTs who mean well but don't understand the damage they're causing. Autism is not an illness that can be trained away, it's a neurotype. All ABA does is teach children to mask their autism, which leads to serious mental health issues & autistic burnout later in life.

Look at the fundamental teachings at the core of ABA—Lovaas described autistics as non persons. How can that form a healthy basis for a therapy designed to apparently help us?

newtsoda,

And don't even get me started on the financial chokehold ABA has in the USA!

I figured out that I was autistic when I was working as a paraprofessional doing “compliance training” with autistic children. I got my official diagnosis two years later, and to this day the processes I witnessed do not sit right with me, though I do understand that everyone in the department genuinely cared for the children they worked with and thought they were doing the right thing.

newtsoda,

I don't blame practitioners if they are willing to listen to autistic voices and accept that it's time to ban ABA, which is essentially conversion therapy.

I will not be engaging with anyone pro ABA in the comments.

newtsoda,

Research paper: Autistic Adult Perspectives on Occupational Therapy for Autistic Children and Youth

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15394492221103850

newtsoda, to art

There has been a lot of research about autistics over the years, but this one really took the cake! 🍰

Find out what happened when researchers attempted to compare the moral compass of autistic and non-autistic people... (1/2)

A girl is seen clutching a sack of money, cackling wickedly. She has little devil horns and a tail. The comic text reads: This is what the study discovered: Allistic people were more likely to support the bad cause. The higher the monetary reward was, the more likely they were to do so. The girl is seen fawning over a pile of money with hearts in her eyes. She gasps “Wow!”, her mouth wide open. The comic goes on to say that allistics were more likely to support the bad cause in the private setting. One panel shows the girl in a group of people, with a halo over her head and sweating nervously as she lies, “I don't support it!” In the next panel the devil horns have returned, and she is alone in the room with a wicked grin, clutching the sack of money as she says, “Give me the money!”
Autistics, on the other hand, were much less likely to support the bad cause. And their answer stayed the same, regardless of the setting. The first comic panel shows an autistic girl playing with the kittens from the first page. The second panel shows the girl turning up her nose at the stack of money. In both panels the girl says determinedly, “No way!” The comic then asks: So, how did the researchers feel about these results? Well... They concluded that autistics were too concerned with their principles and morals. The panel shows the researcher tapping a sign showing the girl and the cat crossed out; the text reads, “Bad!”. The comic goes on to say that the researchers framed the results as a negative thing. It shows three shortened excerpts from the research paper, which read as follows: Excessive valuation of negative consequences when judging the moral appropriateness or permissibility of actions. Inflexible when following a moral rule even though an immoral action can benefit them. ASD individuals, unlike healthy control subjects...

newtsoda,

The research was fundamentally flawed and should not be used as evidence that one group is better than the other. It does, however, highlight the problem of biased research that stigmatises everything about us.

The page opens on a large spread, showing the autistic girl in various different poses and activities: displayed on a stop sign and crossed out, holding one of the kittens from the first page, playing music on the harp, and daydreaming of a beautiful castle in a field of flowers. The text flows alongside these images. She says, “It often feels like everything about us autistics is twisted into negative traits. Even the good stuff! Our strong sense of justice, our passion for our special interests, and our rich inner lives are all viewed with scepticism.” The bottom of the spread shows several allistic people frowning and judging the girl. The final panel reads: We can see it all across autism research carried out by neurotypicals. There is an inherent bias.
A girl is staring unnervingly at the reader as she says, “I am staring into your soul!” The panel text reads: Imagine if we talked about neurotypicals the same way researchers talk about autistics: “Aggressive obsession with eye contact”, “Inflexible adherence to unwritten social rules”, “Inexplicable compulsion to project negative subtext into simple conversations”. The next panel shows the autistic girl standing in front of a blackboard which has “Bad Researcher Detention” written on it. She looks strict as she says, “Silly, right?” Two researchers are in detention, teary-eyed and apologetic. “Sorry,” one of them sobs. The next panel shows a diverse group of autistic people and the three kittens from the first page, an infinity symbol above their heads. The text reads: We need to have a serious conversation about how we research and talk about autism. And above all, autistic voices need to be the ones leading the charge. Let us head the research! Let us share our experiences!

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