We hope everyone had a fulfilling Week 4!
During this week's meeting this past Monday, we discussed the article "Awareness, Performativeness, and Irony in the Autism Narrative" by Kieran Rose — author, speaker, advocate, and autistic father to three autistic children. His various identities have led him towards a path of self-discovery that acknowledges the damaging narratives regarding autistic people. Kieran focuses on the collaboration of autistic voices, reflecting on the experiences of the entire autistic community and educating the neurotypical community to do better. Autism Advocacy at UCLA hopes to go beyond raising just performatively raising awareness and truly advocate alongside autistic individuals to foster acceptance and real change. If you would like to read more, check out Kieran's official website!
“One of the biggest reasons that Autistic people remain marginalized, misunderstood and denied basic rights is because we’ve been excluded from our own narrative for so long.”
Discussion Questions:
1. How can we navigate the complexitites of humor within the autistic community and between autistic and non-autistic individuals?
2. How can we differentiate between genuine autistic expresiion and performative behavior? What implications does this have for autistic individuals and their experiences?
3. How does the concept of "autism awareness" differ from "autism acceptance"?
Thank you for reading this week's blog post! Please feel free to take some time to reflect and leave any questions or comments down below. Looking forward to what's to come :)
