Autistic Voices & More On Healthcare | April 2022 – International Badass Activists

On the Impossibility of Getting Medical and Mental Health Care as an Autistic, Deaf, Black Woman with Chronic Illness

GenesizC at Neuroclastic

Hey Lovelies,

Let’s talk about disbelief.

What does that look like?

Well, to be frank, it looks like me. I am a Disabled, Autistic, Deaf, Black Woman, and that alone brings a lot of adversity to my everyday life.…. Read More >>

CREATING A “PROFOUND AUTISM” CATEGORY IS SEGREGATION, NOT PROGRESS

By Shannon Des Roches Rosa at Thinking Person’s Guide To Autism

All parents of autistic children struggle to give our children the lives they deserve, but we struggle in different ways because our children’s support needs vary so widely. I understand this complexity at a deeply personal level, as my autistic son requires full-time care—and I also get it professionally, as an editor and community manager at Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, where a dizzying range of autistic experiences passes through our forums…. Read More >>

Resource: Health Care

Autistic Women & Non-Binary Network (AWN)

This is a resource list of gynecologists (or other intimate care providers) who offer accessible and sensory-considerate health care. The listing has been developed from recommendations by autistic people who completed AWN’s health care survey. We will continue to run the survey ongoing in order to keep the results current. We appreciate your input! … Read More >>

Mental Health: Focusing Beyond the Individual

Max Taylor at Neuroclastic

This morning Facebook supplied yet another ad for me about mental health services. It was for a behavioral health hospital which was marketing itself as a trusted provider of effective help.

Seeing that post triggered my continued struggle to declare, for myself and for at least some others, that these services sometimes aren’t effective. I wrote them a post, and it’s one of my favorite attempts to date trying to unpack and explain critiques of terms such as “health”, “behavioral issues”, and “effective”…. Read More >>

ASK AN EPIDEMIOLOGIST: DR. RENE NAJERA ON VACCINES, MASKS, AND TRUSTED COVID INFO SOURCES

We spoke with epidemiologist Dr. Rene Najera about pandemic best practices and misinformation at the end of 2020, just as the first COVID vaccines were launching. It’s now mid-2022, the pandemic is still with us, and yet solid guidelines for COVID safety can still seem confusing. So we went back to Dr. Najera for updated insights and advice. Here’s what he has to say about vaccines, masks, and trusted sources for COVID information—and why he doesn’t like to use the word “booster.” … Read More >>

Autistic trauma peer support

By Jorn Bettin at Neuroclastic

In 2022 the Autistic Collaboration community is in the process of co-creating and operationalising peer support services for Autistic Trauma based on the lived experiences of Autistic people all over the world.

Our experience is that genuinely safe environments, where people can nurture trusted relationships, and learn to extend trust and appreciate trust that is extended to them, is essential to reducing Autistic anxiety to much lower levels. …Read More >>

APRIL AND ACCOMMODATIONS: WHY IS HEALTHCARE SO INACCESSIBLE TO AUTISTIC PEOPLE?

Health care can be surprisingly hard to access for many autistic people. While there are obvious ways in which care is particularly inaccessible to high-support autistics, too many autistic people overall avoid seeking health care for reasons that are straightforward to address—if only they were first recognized, and then enforced. … Read More >>>