Fierce Autie

Homophobia is rampant. It has gotten better but there is more work to be done. Back in 1994, I experienced homophobia even though I had no idea what it was or what homosexuality was. This was before I knew I was part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Backstory
I went to a middle school dance in 1994 with my best friend.  We were 14 years old and in 7th grade. We knew each other since preschool. We were separated when I was placed in Special Ed (thats what it was called back then). I did not know I was autistic but I did have a diagnosis of ADHD and language processing disorder (receptive and expressive). Since I was in self contained classes, I was moved from elementary school to elementary school. The different schools in the district could not make up their minds where they would leave the special ed classes. After I was mainstreamed out, they built a school for this so the constant moving wouldn't happen. My friend and I were reunited in Middle School.

We were at this dance. Her mom pi…

The big news story in our community today is Myka Stauffer, a parenting and lifestyle Youtuber with over 700,000 subscribers, "rehoming" her adopted 4 year old son after he was diagnosed as autistic. She documented her whole adoption journey on her channel. She came to this decision because she is now pregnant. She does not know how she will have a baby with an autistic preschooler. Given the tragedy of what happened with Alejandro Ripley last week, I have mixed feelings.

Adopting or Gaining A Child Is Not As Easy As You Might Think Adopting or gaining custody of a child is no easy process. J, D and A are all my husband's half siblings. I love them like they are my own. Getting custody was no easy feat. My husband and I have kinship custody over his siblings. A legal petition had to be filed first. Then comes the first court appearance. There is a home study, or home inspection and background check. If the child is in a different state, a background check needs to be do…

A long time Autism One speaker Marcia Hinds says that autism should never be a term. She claims it should be included with autoimmune encephalitis. Autoimmune encephalitis is a real disease. Hinds claiming this trivializes what the people with this autoimmune disease go through every day.

Autoimmune Encephalitis Autoimmune encephalitis is a group of conditions that happen when the immune system attacks healthy brain cells. Autoimmune Encephalitis is a rare, frequently misdiagnosed disorder.  This leads to inflammation of the brain. People with autoimmune encephalitis may have different neurological or psychiatric symptoms.

Neurological symptoms:

impaired memoryimpaired cognitionabnormal movementsseizuresbalance issuesspeech issuesvision loss or unclear vision Psychological symptoms psychosisaggressioninappropriate sexual behaviorspanic attackscompulsive behaviorseuphoria fear These symptoms may fluctuate but normally progress over days to a few weeks. Symptoms can progress to loss of c…

My aunt has a long history of ableism, being condescending and siding with abusers when she never saw what happened due to being separated from the family.

History My aunt, who was married to my father's brother, divorced her husband when i was 7-8 (I don't remember exactly). All I knew I did not see my aunt, uncle or cousins anymore. I had no idea why.

One day my grandfather had passed away from mesotheoma. He used to work on the submarines with the US Navy during WWII. This was a knows effect from the asbestos. This was when I was 14-16 (it was after. my Bat Mitzvah. Thats all i remember on timeline). I waited until my father was locked in his office and my mother was in the bathroom to call my aunt. This was at a time where phone numbers and addresses were kept in address books, not on computers or cell phones. Cell phones were brand new technology. This is what got the family back together.

First Holiday Together
That holiday season, we flew down to Florida from Long Isla…

Alejandro Ripley was a 9 year old autistic boy who lived in South Florida, same area as I do. He was described by one of his neighbors as a playful child. He was always laughing while jumping on his trampoline. "Overall a good boy."

Patricia Ripley, his mother (I use this term loosely), led him to a canal, not once but twice. The first time, some bystanders saved him. She tried it again and succeeded. She drove him to another body of water but there was no one there to save him.

This is not what she originally told local authorities. She told them that her son had been kidnapped by two black men. She admitted what she had done to authorities after being confronted about her contradicting statements and video evidence showing her pushing him into a canal. There were also witnesses that placed her in the same place where his body was found. She admitted to considering murdering her son for months. Mr. Ripley, Alejandro's father does not want to believe his wife could do t…

The majority of "autism parents" I run into want to fix their autistic child with ABA or having them mask. This is usually achieved by operant conditioning, positive/negative reinforcement, etc. As an autistic veterinary technologist, I noticed that Jackson Galaxy from "My Cat From Hell" has a different approach when he works with cats and their guardians. I know cats are different than people. The way he works with them should be how parents should approach their autistic child. 
Jackson Galaxy is a cat behaviorist (I know behaviorist but stay with me) who is called when cat guardians are at their wits end. He comes to inappropriate elimination, fighting cats, scared cats, etc. The cat guardians almost always have the approach of changing the cat. Jackson quickly lets them know they are very wrong. 
There are cats that hide under beds and act like prey. He does not really work with the cat. He works with the guardians on how the environment is not appropriate for…

Marcia Hines is a parent of two adult children. She is married and lives in California. Hines has a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology/Psychology and Lifetime k-12 teaching credential from UCLA. She is not a medical professional in any capacity.

Hinds is the author of the book "I know you are in there-Winning the War on Autism." She calls herself a "DIY autism parent." The book is about the different biomedical treatments she used on her son and calls it recovery. The doctors told her that her son needed to be institutionalized but she refused. That is the only good point. James Adams wrote the forward in her book.

In an interview on bumpmama.com Hinds states,"I long for the day when someone gives the world a “cure” for autism. But as of yet, we haven’t found it. There is no “instant cure” or “easy fix.” Trust me I searched everywhere for it.  Still, children are recovering from autism and losing their diagnosis. Yet, the general public and even most of our dedic…

On March 11, I was messaged about participating and promoting a study to "improve autism."I got defensive and told her she was ableist. Here is the original message: