Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird

Probably the most important perspective on the "profound autism" debate I've read to date. Because it's written by a disabled autistic man who would absolutely qualify for the diagnosis if it were ever made into a thing.

Giving neurodivergent teenagers extra time in exams for accessibility reasons is "unhealthy", according to a neurologist writing in The Times.

Yes, a neurologist. Personally, I'm more interested in what *educators* have to say about the topic.

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

The real tragedy is that as autism rates increased for years, the support for individuals and their families never did. We have yet to see universal healthcare, funding, education, therapies, respite, life skills training, employment opportunities that would accommodate and help them when research says that is what gives them the best outcome in life.

#Autism

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the kind words. :)

Autistic people have always existed. Disabled people have always existed. But the acceptance of autistic and disabled people waxes and wanes depending on who’s got the microphone. Which means, if we go back to the dark days of seeing people as tragedy cases, then that’s a failure of wider society, not autism or disability.

I often get pushback when I make points like this, from those dying to ask “but what about the *really* disabled autistic people?”… all assuming I don’t live with a disabled autistic teenager.
I do, by the way, and she’s awesome. And she deserves better than people using her as an anti-ND argument.

Thanks Russel! Forgot to crosspost it here. :)

Make it make sense. Autism was first discovered in 1911, and Tylenol was introduced in 1955.

Blue and red stick figures talking: Red: "Aren’t we all technically on the autism spectrum somewhere?" Blue: "Not really. If you take a chemistry test and score 0.1%, should you call yourself a chemist?" Red: "But if the spectrum technically includes everyone, doesn’t that mean we’re all a little autistic?" Blue: "No." Red: "How do you know?" Blue: "Mostly because if everyone were a little autistic, the world would be more accepting of autistic people." Red: "...Oh." Blue: "Yeah. We wouldn’t be having to fight for other people’s acceptance."

If we're all a little autistic, why is the world so cruel to autistic people?

The phrase "we're all a little autistic" doesn't just trivialise autistic struggles- it's often weaponised against us. Several followers have told me their psychologists even used the line to deny them a valid diagnosis.

Further reading from @chrisbonnello.bsky.social:

autisticnotweird.com/teaching/

autisticnotweird.com/building-rel...

#OntEd #autism #SpecEd #EduSky

Title: The Double Empathy Problem illustrated First panel: Red stick-figure looking at blue stick-figure: "This autistic person struggles with empathy, because they can't tell how I'm feeling." Second panel, a few minutes later: Red stick-figure looking at dysregulated blue stick-figure: "I don't get it - they're melting down over nothing!" Caption: Autistic people do NOT generally lack empathy. But autistic and non-autistic people communicate differently, which means everyone needs to do the kind of learning, listening and 'translating' that's currently only expected of autistic people.

Shoutout to all the non-autistic people who make sincere efforts to listen and learn autistic people's perspectives, just as a matter of principle, despite society not really expecting them to.

enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits

Black text on white background: “I absolutely refuse to categorise an event as a ‘behaviour incident’ before I’ve established whether or not the student’s needs were being met at the time.” Paul Owen, principal of Dover Technical College

Tomorrow I'm delivering training to a staff team at a college.
And whilst thinking it through, I was reminded of this outstanding quote I once heard in a speech by Paul Owen, then-principal of Dover Technical College.

Thanks for sharing! Much appreciated.

Relationships underpin absolutely everything as a teacher. Not just academic performance, but attendance and effective safeguarding too.

Thanks a lot for sharing!

There’s so much that’s awful in here and it barely touches the tip of the iceberg.

The Underdogs series is ready for the next stage of its journey. If you're an agent or publisher interested in representing a (completed) heartfelt neurodivergent YA dystopia saga, please do get in touch.
chrisbonnello.com/underdogs

The Unbound/Boundless chapter has now come to a predictably ugly end. The morals of the story being 1) have some basic competence when it comes to money, and 2) pay the people who feed you.

Yes, Unbound - without authors, publishing companies are nothing.

And fancy that. Now you're nothing.

Being Your Authentic Autistic Self Top 10 Tips Being Your Authentic Autistic Self Top 10 Tips FREE DOWNLOAD Inspired by the webinar delivered by Chris Bonnello for  The PDA Space

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Neurodivergent Students Don’t Need a Calm Corner, They a Whole Classroom Rooted in Calm, Connection, and Compassion “Just make a calm-down space in your room!” they say, as if emotional regulation can be solved with a bean bag chair, a glitter jar, and a cute sign that says “breathe.” But here’s what so many people...

“If we truly want to support dysregulated students, especially neurodivergent ones, we need to stop putting the burden of managing big emotions solely on them and instead take a hard look at the environments we create.” From @againstrestraint.com:

endseclusion.org/2025/07/10/n... #neurodiversity

"It's easier to blame a child than to blame a system." Chris Bonnello, neurodiversity advocate and speaker

I use this line in my teacher training all the time. It's sad.

Thanks for sharing! I'd almost forgotten about this one.

Totally forgot to post this on BlueSky. Thanks Caroline!

More to carry home on the train, but so worth it.

I love the underdogs series and decided to buy my best friend Shannon the series at the autism show as she's autistic too, then realised my autistic cousin may also love them! Can't wait for them both to read them. Lovely seeing you again @chrisbonnello.bsky.social
#autistic #neurodivergent #ADHD

Honestly I can't believe how many books you and Sarah bought from me today. 😂😍 Thanks a lot!

Annual Event 2025: Nathanael Lessore, Chris Bonnello, and Bex Hogan Interview with three UKYA authors

Over on @ukyaspotlight.bsky.social: Interview with Nathanael Lessore, Chris Bonnello, and Bex Hogan

#UKYA #UKYASpotlight @chrisbonnello.bsky.social @bexhogan.bsky.social @zephyrbooks.bsky.social
@hotkeybooks.bsky.social @neemtreepress.bsky.social

ukyaspotlight.co.uk/2025/07/01/a...

Annual Event 2025: Nathanael Lessore, Chris Bonnello, and Bex Hogan Interview with three UKYA authors

#UKYASpotlight Annual Event 2025: Interview with Nathanael Lessore, Chris Bonnello, and Bex Hogan

#UKYA #UKYASpotlight @chrisbonnello.bsky.social @bexhogan.bsky.social @zephyrbooks.bsky.social @hotkeybooks.bsky.social @neemtreepress.bsky.social

ukyaspotlight.co.uk/2025/07/01/a...

Oh wow, thanks a lot for letting me know! Sorry to hear about your burnout and I hope you're feeling better now. Looking forward to seeing you in Manchester- and I hope Shannon (great name for an Underdogs reader) enjoys them in due course too! 😀