Chris Williams

The work we do to advocate for people with speech-related #disabilities is more important than ever. To celebrate SIX years of hard work, we want to raise $10k by 10/10, our 6th birthday. Share our birthday #fundraiser far and wide so we can meet our goal! lnk.to/pledge

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Fellow journalists: I will not quote Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation as an autism expert because of the harm she's caused. Maybe you shouldn't either.

YouTube video by AssistiveWare Nonspeaking people have #MoretoSay

We know that nonspeaking people have #MoretoSay. October is AAC Awareness Month, and AAC app maker @assistiveware.bsky.social is celebrating with a short AAC understanding video. Please watch, take to heart, and share.

youtu.be/jGpglhW7I54?... #AACawarenessMonth #nonspeaking #neurodiversity

"Accessing the supports my autistic son needs can be brutally difficult, especially as he and his peers transition into adulthood. But unlike grievance parents, I believe my son deserves respect and understanding—not grievance parents’ relentless exploitation of their children as burdens."

Reporters & @nytimes.com, do better. Talk to folks like @fidgetsandfries.bsky.social, @jessdiaryofamom.bsky.social, @cosmickarmic.bsky.social, @lollardfish.bsky.social, @autisticenough.bsky.social who love and support their high-support autistic kids, and don't pretend their lives are pony parties.

After an Autism Diagnosis: 13 Necessary Next Steps For Parents — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM If your child has recently been given an autism diagnosis, as my son was in 2003, here's what I want you to know: Learn from me, don't be me.

I feel so awful for parents of newly diagnosed autistic kids right now, being drowned in such hateful nonsense. You deserve better. Your autistic kid deserves better.

My kid was diagnosed 20 yrs ago; please let me give you hopeful advice:

thinkingautismguide.com/2025/09/afte... #autism #parenting

Neurotribes by Steve Silberman: 9780399185618 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books This New York Times–bestselling book upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differ...

Can you believe it's been a decade since #NeuroTribes came out? This groundbreaking, humane, endlessly entertaining history of autism and #neurodiversity now comes in a 10th anniversary edition, with a brand spanking new introduction by John Elder Robison:

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/310415...

Are You a Bad Mom for Taking Tylenol? - CNN One Thing - Podcast on CNN Podcasts Major medical groups are speaking out against claims made by President Donald Trump linking Tylenol use to autism. So where should pregnant people and parents of autistic children turn for guidance? W...

I went on CNN's One Thing podcast last week, talking about how absurd & ass-backwards last week's White House Big Autism Announcement was. But as not everyone listens to podcasts, here's a thread of the conversation:

www.cnn.com/audio/podcas...

#autism #TylenolDoesNotCauseAutism #neurodiversity 1/

If my writing about autism does anything, whether it be in my books, my columns or my reported stories, I hope it advances the idea that autistic people are whole human beings as they are with legitimate needs and inner lives that deserve to be told the same as other stories.

Things today's White House autism announcement did not do:

-Discuss strategies to increase supports and services for autistic people/families
-Highlight why autistic people and families deserve respect, not pity or fear
-Endorse one speck of autism research that is not dangerous pseudoscience

Steve Silberman is not here to shout it — so it’s up to all of us.

Vaccines don’t cause autism.

Neither does Tylenol. (I mean seriously WTF?!?!)

The “epidemic” of autism is the result of increased testing, broader definitions, and raised awareness.

LOUDER.

Opinion | Don’t let RFK, Jr. make you feel guilty for having autistic children Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., continues to sow discord and disinformation about autism and characterize autistic people like me as nothing but burdens.

Trump and Robert F. Kennedy's announcement about Tylenol and autism will have tons of negative implications for women's health. But it will also return society to when people blamed unloving mothers–aka "refrigerator mothers– for their autism.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Community Survey on Blue Envelope Programs CommunicationFIRST has been asked what we think about "Blue Envelope" programs. These programs in some states and counties have been created to try to reduce misunderstanding between drivers with disa...

"Blue Envelope" programs have been created in some states and counties to try to reduce misunderstanding between drivers with disabilities and police, during traffic stops. @communicationfirst.bsky.social created a survey to hear what you think about these programs:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I fear the impact Kennedys message will have on the self image of autistic people.

His work says autistics are human beings corrupted by chemicals. Aberrations.

This is hurtful myth to internalize for parents and children and obscures that autism is natural inheritance we pass down to each other.

Exclusive | RFK Jr., HHS to Link Autism to Tylenol Use in Pregnancy and Folate Deficiencies Kennedy’s autism report, touted by Trump, will suggest that using the pain reliever during pregnancy may be linked to the developmental disorder.

This essentially is sending #autism discussions back sixty years back to the days when society blamed unloving mothers for their children becoming #ActuallyAutistic. It's going to inflict endless guilt among moms across the country.
www.wsj.com/health/healt...

NEW @heardtell.bsky.social grown folk talk correcting revisionist history of Autism, RFK Jr, & dark parts of advocay w/@ericmgarcia.bsky.social
iTunes podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...
Spotify open.spotify.com/episode/5lmQ...
YouTube youtu.be/E_zpffelqpc
Substack open.substack.com/pub/heardtel...

One year on, and I still see you everywhere.
I love you, my friend.
Thank you.

@stevesilberman.bsky.social
#neurotribes

Autism and Neurodiversity: A Vision for a More Equitable Future Autistic children tend to be taught to fit into neurotypical molds, instead of being taught about neurodiversity & what being autistic means.

We lost @stevesilberman.bsky.social 1 year ago.

Steve wrote #NeuroTribes after asking, "why is it [mainstream autism] concerns are so divorced from the real problems that the people on the front lines of autism—autistic people & their families—were facing day to day?”

tinyurl.com/NDequitableFuture

Autistic joy is an autistic commonality. And I worry about autistic people like my son who—because they thrive with intensive supports and have a communication disability—have their autistic joy dismissed, ignored, misidentified, or neglected.

#autism #neurodiversity #autistic

Communication energy drain | measuring autistic burnout | disclose at work? Thinking Person's Guide to Autism Newsletter (TPGA) is a weekly roundup of autism-related science, news, and culture that you won’t find anywhere else. This information is curated by the TPGA editoria...

The TPGA newsletter is live! This week, topics include autistic communication energy drain & measuring autistic burnout—plus a roundup of autism-related science, news, & culture that you won’t find anywhere else. Written by @ejwillingham.bsky.social; please subscribe:

buttondown.com/TPGA/archive...

We're Not Broken “This book is a message from autistic people to their parents, friends, teachers, coworkers and doctors showing what life is like on the spectrum. It’s also...

My first book We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation came out four years ago this month. It simultaneously feels like it came out yesterday and a century ago. I did it in hopes that people would take the needs of #ActuallyAutistic people seriously 1/
www.harpercollins.com/products/wer...

Some parents defend stories that violate their autistic children’s privacy, saying they have the right to be “honest”—but it is not honest to tell a story about two people while only including one person’s perspective.

#autism #parenting #neurodiversity

Now would be a good time to buy my book We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation, which explores how cranks and hucksters exploited the increase in autism diagnoses to promote disinformation and stigma around #ActuallyAutistic people.
www.harpercollins.com/products/wer...

I am grateful to be living in a home that is so often filled with JOYFUL noise. #NormalizeStimming #autism #neurodiversity

“When an oppressed group such as disabled people is forced to join a registry, we end up targets for abuse, not for assistance. And RFK Jr. has given us a real reason to fear such abuse.”

"If my attention is focused on something else, I may not be able to take in what you’re saying. If I’m focusing on what you’re saying, I may not be able to do anything else (or I may need to do something else to absorb excess attention)." @fergus.oolong.co.uk:
thinkingautismguide.com/2019/02/star...

What RFK Jr. Doesn’t Understand About Autism Starting with his claims of an “autism epidemic”.

RFK Jr. says we're in an “autism epidemic.” Some families feel seen by his attention; others feel exploited. On “Radio Atlantic,” @hannarosin.bsky.social talks with Eric Garcia, the author of “We're Not Broken,” about how RFK Jr. has split the autism community.

Frontiers | Sensory–movement underpinnings of lifelong neurodivergence: getting a grip on autism

#INSAR2025 keynote by Karen Adolph on movement and autism - as I cited her in my new autism as a lifelong sensory-movement neurodiversity paper: all behavior is motor activity and looking at caregivers' faces is rare among young autistic and non-autistic children.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/int...