namethatghostling:

surprising positives that have come from #BoycottToSiri:

• getting to see a ton of autistic people being vocal about their upset and demanding to be listened to and respected. rock on my dudes.
• the voices of autistic writers in particular being amplified which is especially great because of how little recognition they usually get.
• actuallyautistic advocates and activists using the boycott as a jumping off point to talk about really important issues that otherwise might not get the same publicity.
• autistic parents and kids of autistic parents speaking out against eugenics and forced sterilization.
• autistic parents becoming more visible in general!! i never really had any idea how many autistic parents there were because i, like many autistic people, was raised with the mindset that we were inherently unfit for parenting as a whole. i legitimately don’t think i even realized how wrong that concept was until now because it was just so ingrained into my understanding of the world, which is all kinds of fucked up and all too common.
• some of the reviews and commentary on its contents have made me realize how common certain experiences with abuse are for autistic people, and after years of being gaslighted and struggling to let myself even acknowledge my trauma never mind heal from it, it’s really validating to know that a) i did experience what i experienced b) those things weren’t the Nothing allistics claimed they were; they were indeed acts of abuse c) other people have experienced the same thing and have been able to make steps towards recovery.
• now whenever someone asks what an Autism Mom is we have a clear and easily recognizable example along with a lengthy list of thoroughly documented Don’ts for parents of autistic children.
• expanding on that, to siri is just such a perfect example of every reason to take ableism against autistic people seriously. allistics, yall have no excuse not to educate yourself because this- THIS- is what your ignorance leads to. you have no reason to act surprised when people call your bullshit out because apparently when we slack off you go and publish a whole fuckin book about the extensive emotional abuse of your autistic son.
• tl;dr to siri is disgusting and it sucks big time that it exists, but it’s also created an important discussion and it makes me overwhelmingly proud to see these awesome autistic voices rising up to take part in it.

allistics can like/reblog but don’t comment