Below is a list of resources that may be helpful to the autistic community, to include its allies. Feel free to make suggestions and post/comment about them to create engaging discussions! Note: this is a dynamic list that will change as we learn of new resources and things are updated.
Autism (General)
- A social description of autism.
- A review of Asperger syndrome, it’s history, and how those that are Aspies experience the world.
- Tips on how to discuss autism in a respectful and inclusive fashion.
- A medical approach to describing autism.
Abuse
12 Ways to Recognize Passive Aggression
- A ~17 minute video covering 12 ways to identify passive-aggressive behaviors. This video is helpful if you are confused over an interaction and want help on assessing if the interaction is passive-aggressive or not.
How Abuse Mars the Lives of Autistic People
- A well-sourced compassionate review of the abuse autistic people may often experience
- A YouTube playlist by a nationally reknown expert on emotional abuse covering tactics that abusers employ and signs that someone is being abused. This is a great playlist for someone that is confused as to whether they are being emotionally abused in a relationship.
- A page covering reasons why autistic people are more likely to be abused, signs that they are being abused, and tactics that abusers use to abuse autistic people.
Recently Diagnosed
- A YouTube playlist of 4 (11-17 mins videos) covering expectations and advice for those that have been recently diagnosed as autistic.
Bienvenidos a la Comunidad Autista
- Un libro electrónico gratuito escrito para empoderar a personas autistas. Cubre todos los asuntos relacionados con ser autista.
Welcome to the Autistic Community
- A thorough and empowering free ebook written for autistic people. It covers all matters related to being autistic.
Relationships
- An ~8 min video guide that breaks down the complexities of flirting for autistic people.
The Five Neurodiverse Love Languages
- An essay covering the 5 major strategies that autistic and ADHD people use to communicate they love you ❤️
Support Groups
Asperger/Autism Network (AANE)
- A list of available online support groups for autistic people.
Self-assessments
- A thorough list of scientifically based assessments with descriptions and ability to complete and score. Note: A self-assessment is not sufficient enough to properly assess autism. A proper assessment includes at least a thorough interview by a licensed mental health professional that specializes in autism assessment.
Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire
- “The broad autism phenotype (BAP) is a set of personality and language characteristics that reflect the phenotypic expression of the genetic liability to autism, in non-autistic relatives of autistic individuals. These characteristics are milder but qualitatively similar to the defining features of autism…This instrument provides a valid and efficient measure for characterizing the BAP.”
Strengths
Autistic people – The cultural immune system of human societies
- A thorough blog essay covering contributions that autistic people make to society as a whole.
Understanding Neurotypicality
A Field Guide to Earthlings: An Autistic/Asperger View of Neurotypical Behavior
- A free ebook written for autistic people that describes the neurtotypical world. It can be funny and quite insightful!
YouTube Channels
- A channel ran by a Paul Micallef who discovered he was autistic at 30 years old. His videos are well-educated, compassionate, cover all sorts of autism-related material, and break-down social matters for autistic people to better navigate their internal and external worlds.
- Diagnosed as a teenager over 30 years ago, Quinn is “autistic and proud.” Per the channel’s About section, “For autistic people & those who care about us. Autistamatic content is made entirely by autistic contributors, curated & presented by Quinn. If you’re autistic or your partner, friend, family member or colleague is you’ll find something that will help make your life easier and maybe make a bit more sense.” He also maintains a site (www.autistamatic.com) that “[explores] our mainy-coloured minds.”
- “Autistic ADHDer. Lover of frogs, books, neurodiversity, psychology, etc. Hater of capitalism.”
- A channel ran by Tay, a mother of 2 that discovered she was autistic at 31 years-old. She “share[s] knowledge, resources, and products that empower other neurodivergent people and their loved ones to live freely and creatively.”
Orion Kelly - That Autistic Guy
- Orion Kelly “an Autistic author, YouTuber, podcaster, actor, keynote speaker and Autistic advocate based in Australia. [He is] all about helping increase your level of understanding, acceptance and appreciation of Autistic people.”
- After many years of difficulty trying to understand her difficulties and several mental health diagnoses, Karen received an autism diagnosis at 40 years old stating, “Finally, I understood who I was!” With the personal history to be able to compare before an after diagnosis, Karen found that being openly autistic leads to considerable adversity across many areas of life. Additionally, being exposed to narcissism in her childhood home and adult relationships, Karen also experiences difficulties related to abuse and Complex PTSD. She uses her medium to build a community of people that want to live authentically.
- Disabled, Autistic, Lesbian. They are an “an openly queer, disabled, autistic, trans non-binary actor, composer, youtuber, educator, media analyst, and disability advocate. [They try] to use this channel to educate about any and all of the above categories as well [their] original music and a bit of a memory log for [themself]!”
Yo Samdy Sam - ND, Autism, Poor Attempts at Humor
- A recently diagnosed autistic adult, she “explore[s] the autistic experience from every weird corner of [her] brain and help[s] others discover themselves, be proud of themselves and change the world, one silly video at a time.
Suggestion for a youtube channel:
Autistamatic
One of my favorites