My feature for the Sunday Times

~75 percent of all research spending goes toward finding the root causes of autism and the best way to "treat" autistic people...only 6 percent of its budget on "research to improve services and supports for people with [autism spectrum disorder]."~

~It is much more difficult to determine how many autistic adults there are because most testing methods are designed for children.~

~Autistic people do not need someone to decide if their lives are worth living, they need loving parents who will not inflict harm on them no matter what..parents must recognize when their own desires come at the expense of autistic people's wellbeing.~

~"Autism is a way of being. It is not possible to separate the person from the autism" [Sinclair] said. "When parents say, 'I wish my child did not have autism,' what they're really saying is 'I wish the autistic child I have did not exist.'~

~A lot of other programs are trying to turn autistic students into human beings rather than starting from the premise that they already are.~

~To be disabled, chronically ill, or autistic is to be constantly aware of your mind and your body and how the world limits them.~

~To this day, women and girls - not to mention trans and nonbinary people - are overwhelmingly underrepresented in studies about autism, leaving them underdiagnosed and ignored. But overlooking their stories often has horrific consequences that make their lives that much more difficult.~

~What clinicians see is the masking. They assume that you're nonautistic by virtue of the fact that you've developed a compensating or a passing behavior.~

~Autistic people of color recognize that as we try to navigate our identities, others simply identify us by our skin color, which can lead to dangerous or deadly consequences.~

~Many people don't get how running your fingers under cold water can make you feel completely alive.~