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Breaking the Silence: A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for Autistic Children
Imagine your child has thoughts, feelings, and ideas but struggles to say them out loud. For many parents of children on the autism spectrum, this is a daily experience. This is where Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) can help. What is AAC? Augmentative and Alternative...
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Co-Mentorship: A Catalyst for Fighting Stigma and Career Success
Autistic professionals bring critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and unique insight to the workforce. Yet many face persistent stigma and misunderstanding that hinder their full participation in professional spaces. Misconceptions about communication styles, social behavior, and sensory...
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Research Meets Reality TV: How the Media Stigmatizes Autism and Why it Matters
Depictions of autism in the media—whether fictional or nonfictional—influence the wider public’s perception of autism, both positively and negatively. Two of the more well-known portrayals of autism are Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory as well Raymond Babbitt, the historically common...
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It Is Time to Remove Stigma from Autism Interventions
Historically, autism has been blamed for the challenges autistic people face. Struggling to stay in school? Get a job? Make friends? “It's because of the autism.” The belief is this: If autistic people are trained to behave like someone without autism, they will face fewer challenges. Under...
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The Neurodiversity Movement: Promoting Acceptance and Understanding Through Employee Resource Groups
Devereux is known for its 112-year history of providing compassionate, evidence-based clinical care and treatment of neurodiverse individuals. The nonprofit is equally committed to fostering a welcoming workplace environment for its employees, many of whom are also neurodivergent. One way...
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Studying Us to Death: The Lethal Cost of Autism Research Without Autistic Investigators
I was formally diagnosed with autism and ADHD at the age of 44. I finally had an explanation for why so many things in my life seemed so much harder for me than for others. There was a reason I often felt like the people around me were having two conversations – one with words that I had full...
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Becoming the Person I Once Needed
I often think to myself, “I do this so that no other autistic child has to go through what I went through.” As an autism researcher with a background in social psychology, I’ve developed a pretty good understanding of stigma over time. But it wasn’t any article, study, course, or the...
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Bridging the Gap: Improving Health Care Access for Autistic Patients
People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face significant health care disparities and stigma in accessing appropriate care, contributing to markedly reduced life expectancy. Research indicates that autistic individuals experience premature mortality at rates two to ten times higher than the...
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Calm Minds, Ready to Learn: Empowering Children with Relaxation Training
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a wide range of challenges, particularly in social communication, sensory integration, and self-regulation. Children with ASD struggle to regulate sensory input: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, vestibular, and proprioceptive input. They also struggle to...
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Increasing Autism Awareness and Reducing the Stigma of Autism in China
Autism Awareness Month, mandated by the United Nations (UN), provides an opportunity for scholars, community service providers, and the broader public to come together to increase community knowledge of autism. These events may help to reduce the stigma that surrounds this complex...
