Most everyone can agree that research is difficult, or at least daunting. How do you know if you’ve done all the research you need? Where do you find the answers to your hyper-specific questions? If you’re researching to write a member of a minority group, like autistic people, how do you know for sure that you have all the information to write them accurately and without offense?
That last question in particular can be difficult, especially for autistic people. Autism has many diagnostic requirements and components. Autistic people often have different life experiences than allistic, or non-autistic, people. And autism is a culture, with its own vocabulary, memes, and inside jokes.
Most importantly, autism’s a condition that affects the brain. Autistic people won’t interpret or experience the plot events in your story the same way allistic people do.
There’s more that can make finding good resources particularly hard. A lot of people think or pretend they’re experts on autism, spreading false information. Groups like autism moms, people who claim you can “cure” autism, and other false experts who aren’t taking the autistic person’s point of view into consideration at all.
With all that false information out there, here’s how to tell if an autism resource will give you correct and compassionate information:
1. Autism’s Not Portrayed as a Disease
A good autism resource won’t talk about autism as if it’s a disease that needs to be cured. Its traits or, as bad sources will call them, “symptoms,” can’t be done away with, and attempting to do so is harmful or even traumatic to the autistic person.
Good sources will refer to autism as a “condition” or sometimes a “disability,” but not a “disorder.” Overall, autism will be talked about as a neutral or positive condition that just requires extra support (unless, occasionally, this is specifically an autistic person talking about their own point of view of their own specific autism—their views on their own disability are valid—however, a negative portrayal of autism should generally not be used in media, at least media created by an allistic person).
2. Autistic People Are Respected
A good autism resource will just in general speak about autistic people with respect. They will treat autistic people as if they have valuable agency and know their autism better than the allistic people in their lives.
One harmful resource that I named earlier is “autism moms.” These are moms who base their identity around being a victim of their autistic children. You will frequently find these women posting about their autistic children in vulnerable moments on social media without their permission, taking advantage of their autism for Internet clout, and talking about how mothers of autistic children are a “special breed” and “extra tough.” If their autistic children ever found these social media posts, the content would make them feel like a burden and violated. Autism moms do not portray autism very kindly and don’t respect their children’s voices. Which brings me to my next point…
3. Autistic Voices Are Listened To
A good autism resource will listen to autistic voices. For example, an article will mention the writer is autistic, or when you look into an organization, it says they have autistic people on their leadership board. People can’t be an authority on autism if they themselves are not autistic, or they have done a ton of research and education, while hitting all the points on this list.
4. The Source Doesn’t Use the Puzzle Piece
The puzzle piece is a symbol for autism started by Autism Speaks, an autism hate organization that you should still not get any of your autism research from (here is an article why). The puzzle piece symbolizes that autistic people, in Autism Speaks’s point of view, have a “piece” missing from them due to their autism.
Obviously, that is harmful and untrue. If you see the puzzle piece on a website promising autism resources, they either (a) actively believe there’s a piece missing from autistic people and they need to be fixed or (b) don’t know what it means out of ignorance, meaning they haven’t done their research. Either way, you should not trust these sources for quality information.
5. The Source Doesn’t Insist on Wrong Language
Most autistic people prefer being referred to as that—“autistic people,” instead of “people with autism.” There are some people with autism who do prefer the latter term, but if anyone is insisting that you should always say “person with autism” because “they are not their autism,” you should seriously call their autism knowledge into question, as this would show they’re not listening to autistic voices and believe autism is a disease.
A good resource might use more than one term for autistic people (“autistic people,” “people with autism,” “people on the spectrum,” etc.), as they’re likely doing it to be inclusive. But if they say “people with autism” is the only right way to refer to autistic people, they can’t be trusted to give information on the autistic experience.
The best autism resources are autism-positive and listen to autistic voices. They will help you write a character that portrays the condition well and accurately and doesn’t use harmful stereotypes. Of course, you should hire a sensitivity reader once you’ve completed your concept or first draft (sign up for my email list to learn how you know any of your projects needs a sensitivity reader), but doing as much learning as you can before that will help the sensitivity reader be able to focus more on little details rather than large-scale errors.
And with this guide, you’ll know which of those autism resources are worth using.
I myself am a sensitivity reader for autism, along with anxiety, OCD, and other related topics. I also offer paid question-answer sessions on them. Learn more on both here. I also have more articles about writing autistic characters here. Happy writing!
This really answered my problem, thank you!