A Plethora of Therapies isn't always the Answer

Dear families,

If your child has been identified as autistic, I want you to know that they do not instantly require a plethora of therapies.

Our children may not even require any therapies at all.

Autism is a neurobiological divergence.

We are on our own timeline of development.

Those horror stories you may have read, those images you may have seen, those awful family narratives played out in the media are often what contribute to the very "behaviours" that "early intervention" seeks to correct.

We know when we are misunderstood.

We sense the energy of those around us - their attitudes, intentions and motivations toward us.

We feel your desperation when you are not supported adequately.

Many therapies undermine our right to exist as we are, radically loved and accepted.

Social skills training that is designed by and for the non autistic world often cause us to be more confused, more self conscious, more socially anxious amongst our peers.

Therapies that seek to extinguish our very functional neurobiological processes such as stimming prevent us from being able to regulate, to find calm, to achieve balance.

'Intervention' that seeks to normalise us, rather than actualise us:

Shortens our lives.

Supportive therapies exist, but we must tune into the individual and assess when and how they might be supported, if at all.

Just as we would any human being.

You cannot undo autism.

You cannot neutralise neurodivergence.

You cannot bully and harass normal into autistic people; you can only teach them that they are worthless and inadequate.

Please. See us as human beings.

Not disorders.

Vibrant, luminous, diverse.

Autistic beings.
.
.
.
.
KF

(Image credit: Gustavo Fring)