Gal (they/them)

CW: mental health, self-harm, checking out On Thursday the Mental Health Services episode of my podcast The Autistic Rant Hour went online. And then I got a phone call from my mother’s cousin, a beloved elderly family member, where he heartbreakingly informed me of the passing of his 27 year old eldest grandson. It was self-inflicted and preceded by a lifetime in the Mental Healthcare system of a North-European country, with all the available resources at his disposal. I‘ve never met my first cousin twice removed, may his memory be a blessing, and I very barely know his father. So I cannot tell you whether he, like Rey, the wonderful guest on the podcast’s Mental Health Services episode, was also a misdiagnosed autistic person who got the wrong treatment for his condition, no accommodations, and often suffered extremely harmful neglect. Maybe he had a totally different mental struggle, maybe he did get the treatment he needed. I have no way of knowing. All I do know is that on his computer, his father found a document detailing the research he conducted regarding the recovery rate of people with the condition he was diagnosed with and about the kinds of help he could expect from Mental Health Services in his country. He came to the conclusion that his only way was the way out, and started planning his escape from life on a weekend off the ward he had coming. Rey Rissanen, my guest on The Autistic Rant Hour’s 4th episode, was thankfully luckier. After years in and out of therapy and psych wards, they realized they were in fact, autistic, rather than depressive with a borderline personality disorder. This helped them understand that all their efforts to recover by following the prescribed treatment did not fail because they were a terrible person nor a terrible patient, but because they got the wrong diagnosis and the wrong treatment, if they even got any treatment at all. They learned to advocate for themself and figured out how to shape their life in a way that would enable them to pursue goals such as moving and attending university. There, they will also know how to request the accommodations they need and seek appropriate help in case of trouble. Such a future was not to be for the family member we have lost, and we are left to mourn and wonder why. I would like to dedicate this episode to his memory, and hope that those of you who need to hear a story of hope rather than despair, can get that from this episode. Whether you choose to listen to it or not, please know that there might be an explanation to your plight that Mental Health professionals are often woefully misinformed about, and that if you feel your treatment is failing, it might very well not be because of your shortcomings, but that of the system. Figuring out what is at the root of your suffering can make a world of difference and help you forwards and upwards. I hope you and your loved ones who may be struggling right now can find hope in this message, and maybe give yourself a few more years to try and figure this out before making any irreversible decisions. You are very welcome to share your experiences with Mental Health Services on this thread, but please remember to add content warnings. Also please keep in mind that neither I nor most of the people reading this can give you professional help, so in case of emergency, please contact your local crisis center and try to advocate for your needs as best you can. You can find The Autistic Rant Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Here’s a link to the podcast on Aut2Aut’s website, where you can find a human-proofread transcript: https://prepped.to/podcasts/autistic-rant-hour #ActuallyAutistc #MentalHealth #misdiagnosis #selfharm #AutismAwareness @autistics@fedigroups.social

We are already in your Location:
Why Location Owners need to have more Autistic Awareness

In our FAQ there's a script for requesting permission from private locations to document them and upload them to prepped.to, so that autistic folks can upload sensory info about them not only in text (which doesn’t require permission) but also in images and videos, so that others can consult richer info before going there.

Some locations consent right off, some ask for clarifications, and some just don't respond at all. But the most bewildering response you get when asking is the following:
“That's a great initiative, but I'd rather not have my business there, because I'm afraid that if autistic people started showing up here, I wouldn't know how to properly accommodate them.”

As part of a vibrant autistic community I find this reply both hilarious and infuriating. Let's start with the latter: It isn’t okay to knowingly choose not to make your location accessible to disabled people. While location owners may have other reasons, not to mention excuses, for not making their location wheelchair accessible, they would never say: “I don’t want to make it wheelchair accessible, because that would make people in wheelchairs come here.” And if they did, that would be breaking disability-rights and discrimination laws in many countries.

But somehow, when it’s about autism, some location owners feel comfortable saying just that. “Even though making my location accessible to autistic people by informing them of conditions and service in advance costs me nothing and is facilitated by the autistic community itself for free, I rather not let them document here, because I don’t want them to come to my business.” This is just plain discrimination trying to present as genuine concern.

But it’s also hilarious because current assessments are that 3% of humanity are autistic, so your location already has autistic visitors, whether you, or even they, know it or not. Some of us are easy to spot: We might be the potential customer who walks in, realizes that the conditions inside are untenable, be it because of the lighting, the sound, ambient perfume or smoke, or how crowded it is. In this case, we may dally for a couple of seconds, then walk right back out again. Lost business right there. We might be the one who gets in and stands around looking lost, not sure what to do next. When staff approaches us to offer service, we might flinch, freeze or stutter. We may be the queerdo in pink leopard pattern and gold, or the goth in full black and white makeup. We might be the one constantly holding a bottle or stimming with a fidget toy. Or you may not notice the most gifted and avid maskers of us at all.
But we are already all around you. We are your visitors, your clients, your employees, your neighbors, your colleagues, the person next to you on public transport and behind you in line at the store. We might even be part of your family or friend circle. And you might even be one of us without realizing it yet.

This is another reason why Autistic Awareness Month is important, and Autistic Acceptance, Accommodation and Appreciation are still far off. People need to realize that we are already here, there and everywhere.
If you have a hundred clients, in all likelihood, three of them are autistic. This is why, if you help autistic folks prepare before visiting your business, you will just have more successful visits and more clients, and fewer instances of people feeling lost or overwhelmed in your business.
Sticking your head in the sand about it isn’t going to help you, your business or your clients.

We invite businesses and location owners around the world to allow and encourage autistic clients to document the sensory conditions, navigation and service instructions in your location for the autistic community to prep with before visiting, for smooth and successful visits.

Your location hasn’t been documented yet, and you want it to be? Email us at contact[at]aut2aut.org, and we will make it happen.

And if you want to be extra helpful, you can become a business prepped.to supporter for as little as 10 Euros a month. To thank you for your support, we will add a badge to your entry, so everyone getting informed on prepped.to before visiting your location knows how much you care.

Links:
FAQ: https://prepped.to/faq
Blogpost: https://prepped.to/blog/we-are-already-in-your-location-why-location-owners-need-to-have-more-autistic-awareness
April Autistic Adult Awareness campaign: https://gofund.me/758a99cb0

#ActuallyAutistic
@autistics@fedigroups.social
#AutismAcceptanceMonth
#autismawareness

To our autistic users,

We've heard our user frustration about our Add New Location form, and we have fixed two of the main culprits:

Now the form comes prefilled with the location name, address and coordinates, and also, there is no longer a size limitation on the images you upload 🎉🙌🤓

Check it out here: https://prepped.to/add-new-location

If you want to upload a video tour or a sound sample, you still need to paste a link to your video/recording. If this is an issue for any reason, please email or wetransfer them to us directly, and we will add them to the location. And you can always add missing info/media to each location via its feedback from at the bottom. Just scroll all the way down on the location's page.

Another fix that we finally managed to figure out was how to fix contrast for iPhone users who visit the website on Lockdown Mode 🔐

I hope this makes it easier for you to upload new locations, because this is what makes prepped.to useful for all of us.

The crowdfunding campaign for our #ActuallyAutistic nonprofit is ongoing, please support us at: https://gofund.me/f9e4034e2

@autistics@fedigroups.social

It’s still April and we have a new blogpost about the need for Autistic Adult Awareness this month:
https://prepped.to/blog/the-need-for-autistic-adult-awareness

Being inside the bubble of autistic activism, we tend to forget how often folks aren’t aware of the existence of autistic adults, not to mention that they might be one too!

This lack of Autistic Adult Awareness isn’t an accident, but a policy led by parent-organizations that still, horrifyingly, use the puzzle symbol, and moreover in a bow, the kinds of which one uses to commemorate the victims of cancer and war.

Aut2Aut is an autistic-led nonprofit, and it needs your support. As little as 1 Euro a month can make a huge difference, and bring us one step closer to reclaiming this month and our narrative, as well as providing autistic folks with a platform where we can share sensory information and service instructions, so we can prep and script before going places.

How to support us:
- GofundMe: https://gofund.me/70a4feca8
- Betterplace: https://www.betterplace.org/en/projects/164016-support-prepped-to-by-and-for-the-autistic-community
- Shop: https://aut2aut.myspreadshop.net/
- Add a new location: https://prepped.to/add-new-location?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_campaign=AAAM

#ActuallyAutistic #AutismAcceptanceMonth #AutisticAwarenessMonth

@autistics@fedigroups.social