Another weekly blog post—we’re getting so close to the end!
Speaking of which, this past week was my last week of research, with three different interviews that were each absolutely incredible and so very helpful for my final project.
One thing I took away from these interviews, besides tons of helpful advice, knowledge, and examples, was the emphasis on individuation.
One of the most important things when advocating for autistic inclusion and accommodation is really just to remember that autistic people are people, so encouraging and providing space for self-advocacy and autistic voices is the only surefire way to help meet each individual’s specific needs and highlight their unique strengths. While it is of course important to take autism into account because it is a big part of what shapes autistic people’s experiences and is crucial for cross-neurotype communication (especially to ensure you are not ascribing incorrect intentions to autistic actions because of a neurotypical lens), it is also important to meet every autistic person as an individual and to work with them, for them. Autistic people have a ton to offer the world (plus a ton they already have!), and having the education and mindset to support them through an environment not designed for neurodivergent brains. and to bring out their strengths in a way our modern educational system very much does not, is absolutely the best thing I could suggest for teachers and, really, anyone.
Another aspect emphasized throughout my interviews was autistic strengths, which is something that is often overlooked in conversations about autism, and which I want to emphasize in my presentation, not only because it is important to not talk about autism with deficit-oriented language, but also because highlighting autistic strengths can be a crucial tool for teachers seeking to support these individuals in the classroom! Here is some very helpful reading from Embrace Autism about the common strengths of autistic individuals that I found :).
Last week, I also split up my long Important Basics page into a bunch of smaller pages (visible above) highlighting the subcategories in that initial post, such as Language and Symbols or Diagnosis Basics! I hope this makes the helpful resources and information I tried to provide more visible and makes accessing them a lot easier 🙂
This week, I will start working on preparing my faculty presentation by compiling everything I have learned this semester and refining it to the bits pertinent to this particular audience and the goals I want to achieve with this final project!
Thanks for reading!
