Search Results: amy sequenzia

Autistic people should be heard because we are the ones with the most valuable information about autism. We live it everyday. Autistic people should be respected because respect is the foundation for all human interaction.…

I want to talk about Autism Acceptance again. I want to talk about Autism Acceptance because soon we will be, again, referred to as tragedies, burdens, afflictions. This will go on, more than usual, for…

I have written about my year in autism self-advocacy. I have a lot to celebrate and a lot to be thankful for. I think 2012 was a year of great accomplishments for our community, despite moments of…

Autistic people spoke. At least two of them did. They spoke on our behalf, eloquently and without drama or hyperbole. Michael John Carley and Ari Ne’eman spoke about, to and for us, autistics. Not only…

Throughout my life I heard comments about how difficult everything would be for me, how I would never be independent, or have an independent life. If I could grow up to live independently, I would…

I have written about how functioning labels are not helpful, how they help perpetuate myths and how labels don’t really tell our stories. I wrote from the perspective of someone who was labeled “low-functioning”; someone…

Self-advocacy is not easy. It is true that anyone can self-advocate, even through simple actions like saying “no” to another person, or refusing to follow an imposed activity. And that’s why it can be hard to…

A couple of weeks ago someone read my article “Being Happy” and wrote a comment on Facebook. This person seemed to believe that I must want to speak, that I would be much happier if…

I am usually a very happy person. I am not happy all the time and my face does not always show the depth of my emotions. Sometimes my body reaction to situations is very similar,…

I was once an ableist. And I was my own target. I had never before thought about my life and where I am now in these terms: from ableist to self-advocate. It might seem strange to…

There could really be a hundred or a thousand of these, but I’ve decided to choose just fifteen for the sake of brevity and not imploding anyone’s browser. All of these things have actually been…