Does anyone know if there's a term for when low support needs autistics essentially erase the struggles/existence of high support needs autistics with social model of disability approaches? I see this happening a bit with auti-supremacists/in advocacy spaces that are dominated by low support needs.

I'm actually very much reminded of this scene from X-men 3, where Rogue, a poor touch starved teenager who murders anyone she touches, asks if there's a cure, and Storm, a badass who can create storms says there's no need for a cure. www.youtube.com/watch?v=h84g...

X Men 3 - Empaths need no cure; Embrace your Super Power...

YouTube video by Life Is Grey

youtube.com

Peter/Roll for Kindness (Autism advocacy TTRPG GM, M.Ed.)@rollforkindness.bsky.social · 2d ago

I've recently been doing some reading about autism from disability scholars, and one of the biggest failures, IMO, is the relative erasure of high support needs autistics from the discourse. While this is generally a fairly well known problem, the issue is that parents become the spokespeople.

I've recently been doing some reading about autism from disability scholars, and one of the biggest failures, IMO, is the relative erasure of high support needs autistics from the discourse. While this is generally a fairly well known problem, the issue is that parents become the spokespeople.

I'm doing a talk with WA Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and Connie Graham next month on pathways to legislative advocacy for neurodivergents. Please share this in your networks- as not enough people are talking about positive pathways to legislative advocacy. RSVP here: www.ryther.org/rsvp-ay-event

In the disability nonprofit world, a recent trend- Critical experts leaving. Doing disability nonprofit work is grueling, low paid, and necessary work- you're often the person who actually picks up the phone when nobody else does, cut through the red tape and actually prioritize the person's needs.

Something that I find interesting is how, in the early days of advocacy, there were stories of disparate groups uniting under common grounds to support each other. Now, a lot of these groups have spawned nonprofit orgs, which are often in constant knife fights... Over grant funding.

It constantly amazes me that there's disability advocates out there who support Trump when he's literally paving the way for reinstitutionalization. apnews.com/article/trum...

Trump's actions signal a move toward institutionalizing people with disabilities, advocates warn

For decades, disabled people have fought for their rights to go to school and live alongside peers without disabilities.

apnews.com

Just finished guest lecturing at the University of Washington, in their Speech language pathology department. Goal, achieved.

I was at a neurodiversity conference yesterday, and there was a panel on AI and neurodivergence. None of the panelists ID'd as neurodivergent, and all were advocating AI as a good thing for ND people. I raised my hand and talked about the huge loss of revenue for the ND population due to AI.

Ok but for real, if you're interested in applied RPGs, this conference is fantastic. Back before Twitter went to hell, there used to be a great community of applied RPG people, and we were constantly chatting and doing cool stuff. This felt like a return to that, and that we're hungry to reconnect.

Peter/Roll for Kindness (Autism advocacy TTRPG GM, M.Ed.)@rollforkindness.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Apparently the talk at the Games Based Education and Therapy conference I did was actually in the backrooms

Apparently the talk at the Games Based Education and Therapy conference I did was actually in the backrooms

I'm at the Origins game fair, presenting on disability advocacy, RPGs, and social skills. I'll be largely attending talks, and presenting Saturday, but say hi if you're here!

www.npr.org/2026/06/16/n... Really bad news on the special education front. This administration genuinely hates people with disabilities.

Trump further guts Education Dept. by shifting oversight of special ed, civil rights

The moves to the federal departments of Health and Human Services and Justice, respectively, would further dismantle an agency that President Donald Trump has vowed to close.

npr.org

ICARS United Nations Evidence Survey is live. For families in England whose child experienced restraint, seclusion, isolation, removal, use of force, recording failures, detriment or discrimination in school. Closes Aug 2nd 2026. Safari on Mac issues? Try Chrome/another browser.

The combined trans/autistic panic is destroying medical privacy for everyone.

Darius Tahir@dariustahir.bsky.social · 2mo ago

RFK Jr. and his allies want to get huge numbers of medical records together -- eventually comprising most Americans -- so that they can pursue autism research. Public health leaders are balking. Amanda Seitz and I, @cnn.com: www.cnn.com/2026/06/04/h...

Oh, look, WFH is accessibility: www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Work from Home and Disability Employment

(June 2026) - There has been a dramatic rise in disability employment since the pandemic, while work from home (WFH) has risen fourfold. This paper asks whether the two are causally related. Controlli...

aeaweb.org

New calendar page: this cat remembers the Alamo.

I attended a disability resource fair that I had hoped to table at, but they were waitlisted on spots. I get there, and the ridiculous AI therapy org with the gaudy AI art characters had literally *multiple* tables. And my org, that does peer advocacy skill building groups, didn't get a spot. Ugh.

Also, something that comes to mind is just the fact that being a helper in many cases is *a skill.* There's a reason social workers have masters degrees. Meanwhile ICE hires 18 year olds. It takes a lot of work and expertise to grow and preserve a forest. It takes very little to burn it all down.

Peter/Roll for Kindness (Autism advocacy TTRPG GM, M.Ed.)@rollforkindness.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I'm attending a meetup for mental health services providers, and one of the people had to leave and came back in tears because masked ICE agents just snatched a client in the parking lot. The contrast between the helpers discussing housing funding, and goons literal vanishing people. Just sick.

I'm attending a meetup for mental health services providers, and one of the people had to leave and came back in tears because masked ICE agents just snatched a client in the parking lot. The contrast between the helpers discussing housing funding, and goons literal vanishing people. Just sick.

A lot of the differences in how people view autism is captured in how they frame the diagnosis. To adults getting diagnosed, a diagnosis is usually something that provides clarity, relief, and context, as well as the beginnings of therapeutic interventions and life changes. (cont.)

And because I apparently can never just have one job, I am now a community advisor for the Canopy Neurodiversity Foundation. Very excited to be contributing to the work they do.

This reminds me of when I was working for a disability nonprofit and Amazon was giving early Alexas to disabled people for free. While I initially brought up a lot of concerns, the people who received them couldn't stop raving about how much they made things more accessible, and that's what matters.

Chris Hopper Accessibility Consulting@chrishopper.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🧵🧵🧵 I hate Meta as much as the next chronically online human but this tech has legitimately changed lives.

aka "most impaired rating", a very important concept when dealing with disabilities, especially when trying to advocate for onesself with no executive function

Peter/Roll for Kindness (Autism advocacy TTRPG GM, M.Ed.)@rollforkindness.bsky.social · 3mo ago

As a disability advocate who did community outreach, one of the things we'd tell parents/supporting people/disabled folks, is to describe your *worst day* when requesting services. It's the same idea. In a world of shortages and waitlists, you need to stand out.

Something people need to understand is that, within a medical model of #disability, diagnosis serves one purpose: To provide a framework for services that cost money. The DSM is, at it's core, just as much an insurance manual as it is a diagnostic guide.

I recall back in like, 2009 there was a whole thing about fake nerds vs real nerds, and I think a lot of the incel movement and real toxic parts of the man-o-sphere can be traced to that. What's sad was, a lot of the 'real nerds' were cast as simply autistic. But that wasn't the narrative.

This is *fantastic* and absolutely critical work.

Gerald Roche @geraldroche.bsky.social · 7mo ago

My article 'Five Key Concepts for Autistic Linguistic Justice' is now free to read in @autisminadulthood.bsky.social. For the curious or time poor, here's a short thread on the main ideas. doi.org/10.1177/2573...

Photo from Neurodiverse NW, put on by Ryther, just a fun opportunity to network and support neurodivergent programs through Aspiring Youth. Also nice to see fellow social skills DM Adam Davis, we've been in the applied RPG space for... A long time.