Speak for Yourself: a Call to Action

 (Trigger Warning for Institutional Abuse, mentioning derogatory language [R-word])

R. Larkin Taylor-Parker has written Speak for Yourself: a Call to Action on tumblr:

Autism discourse is dominated by despair. Children and teens are bullied. Adults are unemployed. Bloggers insult political opponents with our label. Schools begrudge us an education. Many who claim to help us shout over us. We are called changelings, inferior replacements for children stolen from our parents. The society that consigns us to its fringes in youth welcomes us, during working hours, if we grow up and gain skills it can exploit. If we are unable to have a conventional career without supports, it calls us useless, accuses us of draining its prolific resources, and throws us away. Those of us who fought through our own deficits, low expectations, parents who misunderstood us, teachers who considered us ineducable, and sometimes violence to reach the professions carry scars nothing can erase. We are the lucky ones.

The less-fortunate are dead, languishing in institutions, living with parents into middle age. We have escaped their suffering by means ranging from our own cleverness to mother tigers. Stripped of those means, we would suffer as they do. If their circumstances are unacceptable for you, they are unacceptable for everyone. They are a sign of change to make. Our rage festering on the Internet would make an anthology, but it amounts to a few things:

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