autismacceptancemonth

Dedicated School For Autistic Students Scrapped By Edmonton Public School Board

We are already in your Location:
Why Location Owners need to have more Autistic Awareness

In our FAQ there's a script for requesting permission from private locations to document them and upload them to prepped.to, so that autistic folks can upload sensory info about them not only in text (which doesn’t require permission) but also in images and videos, so that others can consult richer info before going there.

Some locations consent right off, some ask for clarifications, and some just don't respond at all. But the most bewildering response you get when asking is the following:
“That's a great initiative, but I'd rather not have my business there, because I'm afraid that if autistic people started showing up here, I wouldn't know how to properly accommodate them.”

As part of a vibrant autistic community I find this reply both hilarious and infuriating. Let's start with the latter: It isn’t okay to knowingly choose not to make your location accessible to disabled people. While location owners may have other reasons, not to mention excuses, for not making their location wheelchair accessible, they would never say: “I don’t want to make it wheelchair accessible, because that would make people in wheelchairs come here.” And if they did, that would be breaking disability-rights and discrimination laws in many countries.

But somehow, when it’s about autism, some location owners feel comfortable saying just that. “Even though making my location accessible to autistic people by informing them of conditions and service in advance costs me nothing and is facilitated by the autistic community itself for free, I rather not let them document here, because I don’t want them to come to my business.” This is just plain discrimination trying to present as genuine concern.

But it’s also hilarious because current assessments are that 3% of humanity are autistic, so your location already has autistic visitors, whether you, or even they, know it or not. Some of us are easy to spot: We might be the potential customer who walks in, realizes that the conditions inside are untenable, be it because of the lighting, the sound, ambient perfume or smoke, or how crowded it is. In this case, we may dally for a couple of seconds, then walk right back out again. Lost business right there. We might be the one who gets in and stands around looking lost, not sure what to do next. When staff approaches us to offer service, we might flinch, freeze or stutter. We may be the queerdo in pink leopard pattern and gold, or the goth in full black and white makeup. We might be the one constantly holding a bottle or stimming with a fidget toy. Or you may not notice the most gifted and avid maskers of us at all.
But we are already all around you. We are your visitors, your clients, your employees, your neighbors, your colleagues, the person next to you on public transport and behind you in line at the store. We might even be part of your family or friend circle. And you might even be one of us without realizing it yet.

This is another reason why Autistic Awareness Month is important, and Autistic Acceptance, Accommodation and Appreciation are still far off. People need to realize that we are already here, there and everywhere.
If you have a hundred clients, in all likelihood, three of them are autistic. This is why, if you help autistic folks prepare before visiting your business, you will just have more successful visits and more clients, and fewer instances of people feeling lost or overwhelmed in your business.
Sticking your head in the sand about it isn’t going to help you, your business or your clients.

We invite businesses and location owners around the world to allow and encourage autistic clients to document the sensory conditions, navigation and service instructions in your location for the autistic community to prep with before visiting, for smooth and successful visits.

Your location hasn’t been documented yet, and you want it to be? Email us at contact[at]aut2aut.org, and we will make it happen.

And if you want to be extra helpful, you can become a business prepped.to supporter for as little as 10 Euros a month. To thank you for your support, we will add a badge to your entry, so everyone getting informed on prepped.to before visiting your location knows how much you care.

Links:
FAQ: https://prepped.to/faq
Blogpost: https://prepped.to/blog/we-are-already-in-your-location-why-location-owners-need-to-have-more-autistic-awareness
April Autistic Adult Awareness campaign: https://gofund.me/758a99cb0

#ActuallyAutistic
@autistics
#AutismAcceptanceMonth
#autismawareness

ALT

It’s still April and we have a new blogpost about the need for Autistic Adult Awareness this month:
https://prepped.to/blog/the-need-for-autistic-adult-awareness

Being inside the bubble of autistic activism, we tend to forget how often folks aren’t aware of the existence of autistic adults, not to mention that they might be one too!

This lack of Autistic Adult Awareness isn’t an accident, but a policy led by parent-organizations that still, horrifyingly, use the puzzle symbol, and moreover in a bow, the kinds of which one uses to commemorate the victims of cancer and war.

Aut2Aut is an autistic-led nonprofit, and it needs your support. As little as 1 Euro a month can make a huge difference, and bring us one step closer to reclaiming this month and our narrative, as well as providing autistic folks with a platform where we can share sensory information and service instructions, so we can prep and script before going places.

How to support us:
- GofundMe: https://gofund.me/70a4feca8
- Betterplace: https://www.betterplace.org/en/projects/164016-support-prepped-to-by-and-for-the-autistic-community
- Shop: https://aut2aut.myspreadshop.net/
- Add a new location: https://prepped.to/add-new-location?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_campaign=AAAM

#ActuallyAutistic #AutismAcceptanceMonth #AutisticAwarenessMonth

@autistics

ALT

As Aut2Aut's Autistic (Adult) Awareness Month crowdfunding campaign https://gofund.me/241e2471f enters its sixth say, we are moved to tears by our first monthly supporter 🥹

Someone decided that a platform for autistic folks to share sensory info about different locations on, i.e. our website https://prepped.to is a worthy enough cause to support it with 5 Euro each month.

This might not seem a lot, but it's much more profound than "just" the 5 Euros. Monthly donations give us predictability, which is one of the best things you can give an autistic person. Predictability means we can plan. It means we can be safe in the knowledge of what's to come. It means less ruminating and more mental space for doing. It's everything.

And this is what prepped.to is there for!
The idea is to give autistic folks predictability when going somewhere, especially somewhere new. Knowing in advance what the lighting and sound will be like allows us to take protective gear. Knowing in advance what to do to get what we went there for allows us to script before going, sparing us the endless moments of awkwardly standing around, trying to figure out where to go, who to talk to and what to say, while also dealing with some kind of sensory assault.

This April, please consider giving Aut2Aut the gift of predictability, so we can stop worrying about the future and start making it happen, with free, ad-free and membership-fee-free platforms and content by and for the autistic community 🙏

#ActuallyAutistic
@autistics
@autism101
@autism
#AutismAcceptanceMonth

We've just realized we've never posted about our support us page, and what better time to post about it than in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign?

On the page are links to the two platforms where you can donate to Aut2Aut, so it can go on creating free platforms and content by and for autistic folks, our merch shop with all #ActuallyAutistic designs, and no less importantly: how to add sensory info and service instructions about a new location to inform other autistic folks who plan to go there, and share links to spread the word with.

https://prepped.to/support-us

Thanks for your support🙏

#actuallyAutistic @autistics #AutismAcceptanceMonth #autism