Emily Paige Ballou
@epballou.bsky.social
AEA stage manager, Old Millennial, stationery junkie, hiking, X-Files.
Co-editor, "Sincerely, Your Autistic Child" from Beacon Press.
chavisory.wordpress.com
Co-editor, "Sincerely, Your Autistic Child" from Beacon Press.
chavisory.wordpress.com
Pinned
Emily Paige Ballou
@epballou.bsky.social
· Nov 26
Things I'm constantly trying to get people to talk to me about: A thread.
If any of this is up your alley, this is your invitation to completely go off at me about it. 🧵
If any of this is up your alley, this is your invitation to completely go off at me about it. 🧵
November 11, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
Call your senators. I don’t care if they’re Republicans, or if a deal has already been reached. Call them anyway, and let them know exactly what you think of what’s happening. Don’t give them a moment’s peace to forget the blood on their hands.
(202) 224-3121
(202) 224-3121
November 10, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Call your senators. I don’t care if they’re Republicans, or if a deal has already been reached. Call them anyway, and let them know exactly what you think of what’s happening. Don’t give them a moment’s peace to forget the blood on their hands.
(202) 224-3121
(202) 224-3121
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
Want to help with autism research? The Social Experiences of Loneliness of Autistic Adults (SELA) Project at the AJ Drexel Autism Institute is forming a Community Council of autistic adults (ages 18–35) to help guide a 5-year study on loneliness and social connection. Info in flyer and alt-text.
November 6, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Want to help with autism research? The Social Experiences of Loneliness of Autistic Adults (SELA) Project at the AJ Drexel Autism Institute is forming a Community Council of autistic adults (ages 18–35) to help guide a 5-year study on loneliness and social connection. Info in flyer and alt-text.
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
Now THAT’S a Project I can support!! 👊
November 6, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Now THAT’S a Project I can support!! 👊
chavisory.wordpress.com/2024/08/16/w...
I wrote this a little over a year ago. The latest chapter is:
-I get an endocrinology referral
-To a practice that turns out not to take patients who don't already have a diagnosis
-Of course, the whole problem is that I don't have a diagnosis...
I wrote this a little over a year ago. The latest chapter is:
-I get an endocrinology referral
-To a practice that turns out not to take patients who don't already have a diagnosis
-Of course, the whole problem is that I don't have a diagnosis...
Why autistic people can’t get healthcare
I’m describing here some events that have taken place over the last three months or so. The following is more or less what I was going to say to one of my doctors at a follow-up appointment I didn’…
chavisory.wordpress.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:14 PM
chavisory.wordpress.com/2024/08/16/w...
I wrote this a little over a year ago. The latest chapter is:
-I get an endocrinology referral
-To a practice that turns out not to take patients who don't already have a diagnosis
-Of course, the whole problem is that I don't have a diagnosis...
I wrote this a little over a year ago. The latest chapter is:
-I get an endocrinology referral
-To a practice that turns out not to take patients who don't already have a diagnosis
-Of course, the whole problem is that I don't have a diagnosis...
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
15 million Americans are going to lose their health care.
October 31, 2025 at 10:04 PM
15 million Americans are going to lose their health care.
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
Beginning November 6, Manhattan Plaza, located at 400 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036, will open its waiting list for qualified performing artists.
Find more information and apply at https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/
Find more information and apply at https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/
Housing Connect 2 | Public Portal
NYC Housing Connect 2.0
housingconnect.nyc.gov
October 28, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Beginning November 6, Manhattan Plaza, located at 400 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036, will open its waiting list for qualified performing artists.
Find more information and apply at https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/
Find more information and apply at https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
If you missed this, I’d like you to read it, and then share it with folks in your life who likely don’t know this story about AI and teen suicide.
Here’s where it gets personal for me. When I was 9, I started experiencing suicidal ideation … disinterested in living, and at least some of the time contemplating death and how it might happen … It’s easy to imagine how I would have used programs like these chatbots.
Perry: How can AI be used ethically when it’s been linked to suicide?
"It’s not on us, on you and me, to use AI ethically or responsibly. It’s on the companies to build safe, reliable, ethical products," David M. Perry writes.
www.startribune.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:25 PM
If you missed this, I’d like you to read it, and then share it with folks in your life who likely don’t know this story about AI and teen suicide.
Stage managers! Have you taken this year's Stage Manager Survey? Only open till Friday!
www.stagemanagersurvey.com
www.stagemanagersurvey.com
The Stage Manager Survey
Since 2006, the Stage Manager Survey has been the most comprehensive study of stage managers in the world. See how stage managers respond to questions about their careers and the field.
www.stagemanagersurvey.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Stage managers! Have you taken this year's Stage Manager Survey? Only open till Friday!
www.stagemanagersurvey.com
www.stagemanagersurvey.com
Bluesky won't let me DM a photo to @drmlharris.bsky.social so I'll just show everyone.
This is the bathtub they book out of my upstairs neighbor's apartment a couple weeks ago.
Gee, I wonder why that was leaking.
This is the bathtub they book out of my upstairs neighbor's apartment a couple weeks ago.
Gee, I wonder why that was leaking.
October 27, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Bluesky won't let me DM a photo to @drmlharris.bsky.social so I'll just show everyone.
This is the bathtub they book out of my upstairs neighbor's apartment a couple weeks ago.
Gee, I wonder why that was leaking.
This is the bathtub they book out of my upstairs neighbor's apartment a couple weeks ago.
Gee, I wonder why that was leaking.
So this is a long shot.
But I was recently reading "Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold," an oral history of lesbian culture in the Buffalo, NY area, and it made reference to Buddy Holly, among other rock 'n' rollers of the 1950's, being seen as a butch lesbian icon...
But I was recently reading "Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold," an oral history of lesbian culture in the Buffalo, NY area, and it made reference to Buddy Holly, among other rock 'n' rollers of the 1950's, being seen as a butch lesbian icon...
October 26, 2025 at 8:00 PM
So this is a long shot.
But I was recently reading "Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold," an oral history of lesbian culture in the Buffalo, NY area, and it made reference to Buddy Holly, among other rock 'n' rollers of the 1950's, being seen as a butch lesbian icon...
But I was recently reading "Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold," an oral history of lesbian culture in the Buffalo, NY area, and it made reference to Buddy Holly, among other rock 'n' rollers of the 1950's, being seen as a butch lesbian icon...
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
the Muppets have been real quiet since the Louvre heist
October 19, 2025 at 10:19 PM
the Muppets have been real quiet since the Louvre heist
The ASL interpreter of this debate is a real champ. 😳
October 17, 2025 at 5:35 AM
The ASL interpreter of this debate is a real champ. 😳
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
Chicago Presbyterian Minister is fired upon by ICE and hit 7 times with pellets containing a chemical agent.
October 7, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Chicago Presbyterian Minister is fired upon by ICE and hit 7 times with pellets containing a chemical agent.
Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou
I’m telling you: ridicule works. These guys are supposed to intimidate the citizenry and it’s very hard to do that when a guy in a frog suit is just staring you down and daring you to do something that makes it look like you’re afraid of a cartoon
Portland never stops being Portland.
wizard frog is insane
October 5, 2025 at 10:55 PM
I’m telling you: ridicule works. These guys are supposed to intimidate the citizenry and it’s very hard to do that when a guy in a frog suit is just staring you down and daring you to do something that makes it look like you’re afraid of a cartoon
www.voicesforvaccines.org/well-never-m...
This is one of those things that just makes me aghast at the way many Covid safety advocates have minimized what the flu is.
Covid is serious, with a risk of serious complications.
But there's no such thing as "just" the flu.
This is one of those things that just makes me aghast at the way many Covid safety advocates have minimized what the flu is.
Covid is serious, with a risk of serious complications.
But there's no such thing as "just" the flu.
We’ll Never Miss a Flu Shot Again
I typically stay on top of vaccines. But in 2023 we were late with flu shots–a mistake I will never make again.
www.voicesforvaccines.org
October 4, 2025 at 8:45 PM
www.voicesforvaccines.org/well-never-m...
This is one of those things that just makes me aghast at the way many Covid safety advocates have minimized what the flu is.
Covid is serious, with a risk of serious complications.
But there's no such thing as "just" the flu.
This is one of those things that just makes me aghast at the way many Covid safety advocates have minimized what the flu is.
Covid is serious, with a risk of serious complications.
But there's no such thing as "just" the flu.
Something I've suspected is that certain kinds of social skills training that teach mechanistic or formulaic modes of interaction actually worsen autistic rigidity or awkwardness, rather than in any way helping ameliorate it...
If you've spent any time in SpecEd or MH services, you've probably observed a noticeable "uncanny valley" effect in people who've had extended social skills training. But social skills don't have those kinds of rigid rules in practice. They also erode personal boundaries. #neurodiversity #SNS25
October 4, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Something I've suspected is that certain kinds of social skills training that teach mechanistic or formulaic modes of interaction actually worsen autistic rigidity or awkwardness, rather than in any way helping ameliorate it...
I still see people ask why autistic people like me can't admit to the hell that parenting an autistic kid with higher support needs or "profound" autism supposedly is...
When parents get info about their autistic kids from the autistic and disability communities, they will find people who think that their kids are awesome, and want their parents to feel the same way.
They will NOT find this love via #ProfoundAutism groups.
thinkingautismguide.com/2025/04/crea...
They will NOT find this love via #ProfoundAutism groups.
thinkingautismguide.com/2025/04/crea...
A "Profound Autism" Category Is Segregation—Not Progress
RFK Jr. went full "useless eaters" on autistics—& Profound Autism parents are thrilled. Here's why "profound autism" is harmful, not helpful.
thinkingautismguide.com
October 2, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I still see people ask why autistic people like me can't admit to the hell that parenting an autistic kid with higher support needs or "profound" autism supposedly is...
So has anyone ever hired a dowser in NYC?
A paranormal investigation team?
I'm only partly kidding.
A paranormal investigation team?
I'm only partly kidding.
October 1, 2025 at 2:50 PM
So has anyone ever hired a dowser in NYC?
A paranormal investigation team?
I'm only partly kidding.
A paranormal investigation team?
I'm only partly kidding.
hey, cis people. we need you to call every single elected official you've got, now.
Trump threatens to shut down US government unless Democrats agree to ban all trans health care
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/09/29/trans-care-ban-government-shutdown/?utm_content=1759153201&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/09/29/trans-care-ban-government-shutdown/?utm_content=1759153201&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
September 29, 2025 at 4:23 PM
www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-po...
Imagine thinking that this is the key to improving customer experience and not, like, having someone consistently working the register.
Imagine thinking that this is the key to improving customer experience and not, like, having someone consistently working the register.
Inside Starbucks' crackdown on cup notes
Starbucks policy now includes mandatory notes on every cup. Failure to follow the rules means baristas face write-ups or even termination.
www.businessinsider.com
September 22, 2025 at 10:40 PM
www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-po...
Imagine thinking that this is the key to improving customer experience and not, like, having someone consistently working the register.
Imagine thinking that this is the key to improving customer experience and not, like, having someone consistently working the register.
I obviously can't speak for all autistic people.
But MANY of us experience the bandwidth and effort required for "passing" or "masking" to be so burdensome that it would crowd out the ability to develop and maintain other skills.
But MANY of us experience the bandwidth and effort required for "passing" or "masking" to be so burdensome that it would crowd out the ability to develop and maintain other skills.
Some takeaways: First, we need to separate diagnosis and outcome measures. Two: we should have a really strong presumption against the prioritization of passing demands. Note that this is just as appropriate for people with higher support needs as those with lower.
#neurodiversity #SNS25
#neurodiversity #SNS25
September 19, 2025 at 2:57 AM
I obviously can't speak for all autistic people.
But MANY of us experience the bandwidth and effort required for "passing" or "masking" to be so burdensome that it would crowd out the ability to develop and maintain other skills.
But MANY of us experience the bandwidth and effort required for "passing" or "masking" to be so burdensome that it would crowd out the ability to develop and maintain other skills.
This is something that really gets me. That as neurodiversity proponents still get accused of being privileged or "very high functioning" or of looking at autism through rose-colored glasses... a ton of us still live in poverty, are marginally employed...
How have we fallen short of Sinclair's original vision? And how can we better be true to the original meeting of neurodiversity?
Because as neurodiversity became more accepted, Jim continued to live in poverty, on SSI. That's not a tragedy necessarily.
#neurodiversity #SNS25
Because as neurodiversity became more accepted, Jim continued to live in poverty, on SSI. That's not a tragedy necessarily.
#neurodiversity #SNS25
September 19, 2025 at 1:57 AM
This is something that really gets me. That as neurodiversity proponents still get accused of being privileged or "very high functioning" or of looking at autism through rose-colored glasses... a ton of us still live in poverty, are marginally employed...