Why a Feminist

Autism and Activism

dat.activism is a website for data-driven activism around Autism, women’s issues, disability and the world in general. All articles are in English and Portuguese.

dat.activism é um site para activismo baseado em dados relacionados com Autismo, assuntos feministas, incapacidades e do Mundo em geral. Todos os artigos são escritos em Inglês e Português.

welcome! Bem-vindos!

Latest from the Blog

  • Fear
    Digging through the bowels of my childhood while moving house, I discovered a notebook. In it, it had all the mysteries that I found fascinating as a child. From monsters, to legends, vampires, ghosts, mysteries of history and murders. This at 7 or 8 years old. My mother called it morbid. I had the entire […]
  • Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
    Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is one of the many unproven therapies that go around to treat autistic people. This week an article came out with a literature review on it’s effectiveness. “hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), which involves breathing high levels of oxygen inside a special chamber in which pressure is usually greater than 1.4 ATA (absolute […]
  • “Outcomes” in disability support
    A new study shows that: “When disability is defined by behavior, researchers and clinicians struggle to identify appropriate measures to assess clinical progress. Some choose the reduction or elimination of diagnostic traits, implicitly defining typical appearance as the goal of service provision. Such an approach often interferes with more meaningful, person-centered goals; causes harm to […]
  • Therapies – Do’s and Don’ts
    What to DO: • Presumes competence • Prioritizes learning how to communicate (for example with AAC) and not necessarily learning to speak • Develop emotional regulation and help identify how they feel • Helps to switch from harmful stimming to non-harmful ones (never repressing them, specially not non-harmful ones) • Find ways to manage sensory […]
  • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Diagnosis
    ADHD is one of the most common co-occurrences in Autism, with 30 to 80% of autistic children also meeting the ADHD criteria. A study showed that undiagnosed ADHD might take 13 years from your life expectancy. So it is important to recognize it and diagnose it as soon as possible to give proper support. Do […]
  • #91Percent
    Disabled women are 91% more likely than non-disabled women to die from COVID-19. 91%!!! This is criminal. It is social genocide. Mulheres com deficiência têm 91% mais probabilidade de morrer de COVID-19 do que mulheres sem deficiência. Isto e criminal. Um genocidio social. 91%!!!!
  • A new show – Dinosaur BBC
    Remember me telling you there was a BBC being prepared where they were looking for an autistic actress? Well.. it was announced! It will premiere in 2022 Ashley Storrie, comedian and autistic, will portrait Nina: “Nina is Autistic, but yet to be diagnosed. Nina’s always felt different – and often made to feel it by […]
  • Autistic Burnout – a study
    ‘People praise us for what we are capable of and what we have achieved thanks to our performance . . . but no one stops to consider the toll it takes on us’ ‘being in a world that is not your world and you have to change how you exist to make it all work’ […]
  • Undisclosed conflict of interest in ABA research
    I already talked about a study that showed that ABA research had a chronic problem of undisclosed conflict of interests. It came out this month another study that confirm this: “We found that 84% of studies had at least one author with this type of COI, but they were only disclosed as COIs in 2% […]
  • Racism and access to healthcare
    A study of autistic adults and their access to health care in the USA, showed that black beneficiaries were significantly less likely than white beneficiaries to be eligible for insurance at all ages. Average expenditures for eligible beneficiaries on certain insurances were higher among white beneficiaries compared to black beneficiaries. Racism in access to healthcare […]
  • Aggression and Sensory overload
    I’ve been thinking lately about aggression since it is one of subjects that people ask me. I always thought I was not aggressive, because I never hit anyone, but I had to examine my life and came to a different conclusion very quickly. Although I never hit anyone, I got very irritated and ‘ready to […]
  • Emotional labour and emotional dysregulation
    Emotional labour is when we regulate or suppress their emotions in our work. It is a particular issue within advocacy and activism, since normally we work in things that goes deeply into our life and requires a lot of emotional sharing. “Emotional labour required as a role within an organization increases emotional exhaustion (Grandey, 2003), […]
  • Why was the Asperger’s Syndrome dropped?
    Elon Musk just admitted on SNL that he is one of us, however, he said he was Asperger’s, not autistic. So today, I will explain why exactly Asperger’s Syndrome was dropped, and why this separation doesn’t help the community, but only hurt them. 1. Asperger’s can became Autistic, and Autistics can became Asperger’s It is […]
  • Double empathy problem
    Double empathy theory: The Double Empathy Theory suggests that when people with very different perspectives of the world interact, they will struggle to empathise and communicate with each other. The Double Empathy problem, when applied to Autism, suggests that communication between autistic people is so efficient as neurotypicals, since we have similar ways to communicate, […]
  • Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva – the first person to recognize autism traits (1926)
    Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva – the first person to recognize autism traits (1926) In 1926, 20 years before Aspergers and Kanner, the child psychiatrist Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva, from Kiev, published a detailed description of autistic traits in a number of children. She published in Russian and German, so it is possible Aspergers read her work, although […]
  • Why Next for Autism and Mark Robber fundraising is problematic
    Colour the spectrum – Why Next for Autism and Mark Robber fundraising is problematic Center for Autism and the developing brain mission Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, which is run by Next for Autism, mission says is conducting research that “enhances the understanding of the causes, treatment and prevention of autism spectrum disorders”. […]
  • Meltdown – how does it feel (for me)
    I very rarely have meltdowns. I normally have Shutdowns. However, yesterday I had one and I would like to share with you how I felt. First of all, I tend to have meltdowns only for emotional overwhelm. Generally with sensory issues I feel exhausted, have a shutdown and fall asleep wherever I am. Since I […]
  • Domestic violence and Disabled Women
    Disabled women have 2.5 times more probability of suffering domestic violence than other women, according to the Office of National Statistics. However, when they try to leave this situation, they have less options. The reality is, for many disabled women, their own carers are their abusers. Those can be their partners, family, or support worker. […]
  • The History of MMS – Bleach as a false cure
    Industrial Bleach DOES NOT cure Autism. I know.. I feel insane when I have to write this, but apparently is still needed. Today I received a comment saying vaccines cause autism (again??) and that MMS or chlorine dioxide, can cure the symptoms that are autism (which apparently are parasites and heavy metals in the intestine, […]
  • Disability Poverty
    In 2017, 31% of disabled people in the UK lived in poverty – around 4 million people, while non-disabled was 20%. There are several issues that might impact that number: equipment and healthcare cost: higher costs of living, specially in equipement like hearing aids, wheelchairs, mobility aids, etc. education exclusion: 9% of disabled adults have […]
  • Walking home at night, as a disabled woman
    As a woman with disabilities, I am very well aware of how dangerous is for me to be alone at night. I shared my live location with friends/partner. I called my partner while I am walking alone at night. I wore a big jacket to hide any view of skin, even in summer. I held […]
  • Disability guide to cope with COVID-19 uncertainty
    How to cope with COVID-19 uncertainty? Ask Disabled people. The truth is we are the experts at dealing with uncertainty. We are not great at it, but we sure had to learn how to cope with it. COVID-19 brought a lot of anxiety, stress and mental health issues. The fact that we do not know […]
  • World Hearing Day!
    I have a hearing disability and I wear a hearing aid. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to understand people, with background noise, other voices etc (basically auditory processing disorder). Now with the masks is a nightmare (although please wear them, because they are important. if you would like to help get one with a window so […]

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