To honor Alice—and all our disability ancestors—is to keep building that connective tissue she described. To love fiercely, politically, on purpose. To ensure the filaments they left behind continue to glow in us, and through us, long after the world has forgotten their names. We won’t.

“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”

Yes, this is what I was trying to say! Sorry if it wasn’t clear (I am much better at explaining myself with long passages rather than being succinct as is needed on social media) 😊

It became very apparent to me that this wasn't a reality once I began to learn about the experiences of earlier diagnosed autistics, both those of a similar age to me, and present day.

I completely agree. I think if you're late diagnosed, it's very easy in those early days to romanticise about a life that could have been if you were diagnosed at a young age and given all the support you needed. But those supports weren't around, and generally aren't now either.

I suspect I am reading the same book. I'm not very far in, but it otherwise seems good so far.

🥲🫂

That sounds amazing. Maybe one day there won't be so much physical distance

Autumn shares a poem:
“Nothing about us without us means all of us together
The loud, the silent, the joyous, and the somber
The future is an echo that arrives before the sound”

The first award is the Nothing About Us Without Us Award, given to self-advocates whose work fights to make sure that our community’s voices are being heard. This year, this award goes to Autumn Lauener for their tireless work supporting both the autistic and trans community across Texas.

“Most of all, we know that, whatever laundry list of activities they can and cannot do, the life of every autistic person is worth living.” – Colin Killick, ASAN’s Executive Director

“We know the world is full of autistic people, including those with high support needs, who do all those things amazingly, from nonspeaking poets, to policy experts with intellectual disabilities.”

“When the government spreads lies about autism, these lies put the autistic community in danger. They threaten our access to health care, our right to make choices for ourselves, and our right to live in the community.”

Oh that is the worst. Our next door neighbours added another whole story to their house and it was sensory hell for six months. I hope it doesn’t last too long for you.

Yes I know! But don’t worry, the library had it back within a couple of hours of my copy arriving. I’d filled it with post-it notes marking things so had to wait for my copy to transfer them to the right spots!

I’ve already finished, it’s fantastic! I’m working on some stuff around mis/disinformation, so it’s been super interesting and really relevant. Info dumped half the book to my partner until they said they were just going to read it too. Well written and really easy to read. Brilliant work!

ALL Haymarket EBooks are 80% off through November 7th ✊🏾✊🏿✊🏽

100%! and I must say your garden is looking very inviting at this time of year 🍂

Happy napping and carving! I really hope your time stays protected so you get that much needed reset.