Lots of people have wrong ideas about people who are non-speakingPeople who don’t talk with their mouths..
People think that if someone is non-speaking, they have an intellectual disability.
People think that if someone is non-speaking, they don’t have anything they want to say.
People think that if someone is non-speaking, they don’t care about other people.

All of these ideas are wrong.
Non-speaking people don’t talk. That’s it.

Just because someone can’t talk doesn’t mean they have nothing to say.
It doesn’t mean they don’t care about people.
It doesn’t mean they have an intellectual disability.

You should help non-speaking people communicate in ways that work for them.
If someone is non-speaking, try to understand them. Get to know them.
Don’t assume things because you don’t understand.

Some scientists say that autistic people don’t understand other people.
They say we don’t know that other people have thoughts.
They say we don’t know that different people have different thoughts.

That is very silly.
Autistic people know that other people have thoughts.
Autistic people have said this for a long time.

In this book, we talk about what other people think a lot.
That shows that we know that other people have thoughts.
Maybe reading this book would help scientists understand how we think.

Some people say that autistic people are “in our own world.”
They think we don’t notice things going on around us.
They think that we don’t care about other people or other things.

This is wrong.
Autistic people are in the same world as everyone else.
We are right here. We just see the world differently.
Autism changes how we act with other people.
But we are still part of the world.

Sometimes it might look like we are not paying attention or noticing things.
But that could be for a lot of reasons.
It doesn’t mean we are “in our own world”.

Some autistic people are very good at certain things.
They are better at these things than almost anyone else.
For example, they might know the day of the week of any day in history.
Maybe they can draw a city perfectly from memory.
They might be able to do very hard math in their heads.

Most autistic people are not this way.
We are good at some things and bad at some things.
But it is very rare to be the best at something.

Right now, more boys and men get diagnosed with autism than girls and women.
Boys are diagnosed with autism about 3 times as much as girls.
But that doesn’t mean that there are more autistic boys than autistic girls.

The tests doctors use to diagnose autism were made just by looking at boys.
Doctors decided what autism means by looking at boys.
This means that a lot of autistic women and girls get left out.
They are autistic, but doctors don’t notice.

Plus, autistic people are lots of different genders.
There are more genders than just boys and girls.
But nobody is counting people who aren’t boys or girls.

Since we are missing so many people, the autism diagnosisWhen a doctor says you are autistic. numbers are wrong.
We don’t know what the real numbers are.
What we do know is that people of all genders can be autistic.

Anyone of any race can be autistic.
White people get diagnosed with autism more than people of colorPeople who are not white. For example, black people are people of color..
This is because of racism.
People of color are autistic just as often as white people.

The tests doctors use to diagnose autism were made just by looking at white boys.
Doctors decided what autism means by looking at white boys.
They didn’t think about autistic people who aren’t white boys.
That’s why people of color get diagnosed with autism a lot less.
They are autistic, but doctors don’t notice.
Now, doctors are starting to notice more.
But people of color still don’t get diagnosed as often as white people.

Autistic kids of color might not get diagnosed with autism.
They may get diagnosed with other disabilities instead of autism.
For example, they might get diagnosed with an intellectual disability.
They might get diagnosed with a mental health disability.
A lot of times, the diagnosisWhen a doctor says you are autistic. is wrong!
Doctors have wrong ideas about people of color.
So they diagnose people of color with other disabilities instead of autism.
This isn’t fair!

People of color should get the right diagnosis.
Everyone should know that people of color can be autistic.
People of color are part of the autistic community.

• Mental Age Theory Hurts People with Disabilities – by Ivanova Smith – http://nosmag.org/mental-age-theory-hurts-people-with-intellectual-disabilities/
• Left Brain Right Brain: Autism News, Science, and Opinion – https://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/
• “Putting on My Best Normal”: Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5509825/

This chapter talks about:

• What disability means
• The disability rights movementWhen disabled people fight back against ableism. We work to change society to be better for disabled people.
• The neurodiversity movementA part of the disability rights movement. It says that people with all kinds of brains should be accepted in society.

Disability is a normal part of societyA big group of communities. A society usually has rules and people in charge..
A society is a big group of communities.
The United States is one society.

Society is supposed to help everyone get what they need.
But society doesn’t always do that.
Our society hurts people with disabilities.
Our society says that disability is a problem.
It says that people should try to cure disability.
It says people should try and be less disabled.

People with disabilities are not the problem.
Instead, society is the problem.
Society needs to help people with disabilities, not hurt us.
Society shouldn’t try to change disabled people.
We should work to make sure people with disabilities can get what we need.

Disability isn’t as big of a deal if things are accessible.
AccessibilityWhen disabled people can easily use something. We can easily get around somewhere. We feel like we belong there. means disabled people can easily use something.
We can easily get around somewhere. We feel like we belong there.
For example:

Charlene is blind. She goes to a restaurant.
They do not have a menu in Braille.
The restaurant is too crowded to get around easily.
The waiter doesn’t try to help Charlene.
People nearby talk about her disability while she eats.
The restaurant is not accessible to blind people.

Charlene goes to a different restaurant.
The restaurant has bumps on the floor to help Charlene find a seat.
They have a menu in Braille. The waiter also says he can read the menu to Charlene.
People nearby make friendly conversation with Charlene.
They don’t ask rude questions about her disability.
This restaurant is accessible to blind people.

There are things about some disabilities that can be hard.
For example, autism is a disability.
Autism might make it harder for someone to talk or get dressed by themselves.
Accessibility doesn’t make disability go away. But it still helps a lot.

Disability is a part of life.
Disabled people will always be a part of the world.
Many disabled people will always need help to live our daily lives.
That is okay!
Disability makes us different and interesting people.
We need to talk less about fixing people and more about fixing the world!

Treating people badly because of who they are is called discriminationTreating people badly because of who they are..
AbleismDiscrimination against disabled people. is discrimination against disabled people.
Ableism doesn’t always happen on purpose.
But ableism happens all the time.

Some non-disabled people think it is bad to be disabled.
They don’t always say that with their words. They say it with their actions.
They don’t accept people with disabilities.
They don’t try and make things accessibleWhen disabled people can easily use something. We can easily get around somewhere. We feel like we belong there..
They keep us out of schools, neighborhoods, and jobs where non-disabled people are.
They might abuse or hurt us.
These things are all ableism.

Autistic people deal with certain kinds of ableism.
Here are some kinds of ableism we deal with:

• It is ableism when people want to cure autism.
  It means that people want to get rid of us.
  They try and make us act less autistic.
  They should accept us for who we are!
• It is also ableism when people say we aren’t autistic.
  People might not give us help we need.
  They might say we aren’t “autistic enough” to need help.
• It is ableism to ignore non-speakingPeople who don’t talk with their mouths. autistic people.
  People might say we can’t communicate.
  They might take away things that help us communicate.
  They might hurt us because they know we can’t tell someone else about it.

Ableism means that some people don’t think about our needs.
Because of this, they don’t help us live good lives.

Autistic people aren’t the only people who deal with ableism.
All disabled people deal with ableism.
Wheelchair users get told they aren’t “disabled enough” to need a wheelchair.
Deaf people may not get interpreters during job interviews.
People might try and keep disabled people from getting health care we need.

Ableism has been around for a long time.
Disabled people have been treated badly for a long time.
If you have dealt with ableism, you are not alone.

We know that there is nothing wrong with being disabled.
We can be proud of who we are.
People with disabilities work together. We show others that we are proud.
We have worked together for many years. We made the disability rights movementWhen disabled people fight back against ableism. We work to change society to be better for disabled people..
The disability rights movement is when disabled people fight back against ableism.
We work to change societyA big group of communities. A society usually has rules and people in charge. to be better for disabled people.
We fight for our rights as people with disabilities.