Sarah Kurchak @fodderfigure Twitter profile

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Sarah Kurchak

6 months

My first book officially came out four years ago today. It’s been a weird ride. I’ll always wonder what could have been in a different timeline. But I am genuinely grateful for every single person who read it. Even the folks who hated it.

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Last Seen Profiles

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

Imagine my disappointment when this was not a deep dive into the differences in how neurodivergent people might engage with and make art, but a look at how neurotypicals are mean sluts and neurodivergents are authentic and wholesome.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

8 years

These looks like stills from a film about a man who takes his weak nana to see the water one last time.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

If people are open to talking about autism vs mansplaining now, I'll add my own less pressing but still pertinent take: As an autistic woman who's had every interest and expertise explained to her at length, I don't care either way. The impact on me is the same.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

I'm not sure more recently realized/diagnosed ND people are aware of just how new this ND aesthetic is. When I revealed the cover of my first book in early 2020, I had people writing me angry essays about how poorly I'd represented autistic people by having pink hair.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

"Autistic people are immune to propaganda" is something that people who have bought into their own propaganda about autistic superiority like to say.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

7 months

My fellow late diagnosed autistics, I am begging you to actually listen to more people who were diagnosed as children. Our fantasies about what could have been do NOT resembles their realities in any way. Please don't erase what they've gone through.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 months

The Good Doctor ends with the autistic doctor giving a TED talk while random people in the audience watch and smile with the charmed but slightly condescending expression you might reserve for a dog who has learned how to count.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

This look and colour scheme you're seeing on Instagram and TikTok now is only a few years old and it only represents people who are thriving on visual-based platforms. (And is everyone dressing this way being true to themselves? Or are some trying to fit in with other NDs now?)

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

There's always so much concern for the hypothetical autistic man who wants to share his interests, never for the hypothetical person, usually a woman, who also has an interest in the topic and is expected to sit there and act like this is all new to her.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

2 months

I know the popular school of thought in online autistic circles is that only evil neurotypicals read things into what you're saying, but I've had some fellow autistics interpret what I'm saying in ways that I couldn't even have imagined, let alone intended.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

I'm sorry to be so painfully old again but, back in my day, judging people based on their appearance was considered superficial.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

I just finished the video and there's not even any discussion of the fact that many neurodivergent people dress to manage to their sensory issues more than anything else.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

@InfiniteEcho97 I feel like so much of this content just winds up taking us out of whatever boxes we might have been in before and cramming us into new ones.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

1 year

The bittersweet autistic experience of the rest of the world finding out about a fun fact related to a special interest of yours that you've been trying to tell everyone for years. I'm so glad you care now! It's cool, right? But why did you never want to hear it from me?

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

fwiw, the only thing you can tell about my value system based on how I dress is that I believe in paying artists I believe in, whether that's independent designers, musicians, or wrestlers.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

til that it's superficial/neurotypical to care or talk about what your partner does for work, but authetic/neurodivergent to wear an anime t-shirt.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 years

Hey abled millennials! I have a request: If you read that Buzzfeed piece about burnout and identified with it, can you please take a moment to stop and wonder what it must be like for us disabled people to face up to these same standards that you're struggling with?

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

And if you find yourself struggling with this at all, think about it this way: How would you feel if I just started monologuing to you right now about your special interest? Like you couldn't possibly know anything about it or have your own ideas?

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

9 months

Ah yes, the gym. A famously welcoming environment for people who are really struggling.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

11 months

It's a pretty common phenomenon to get diagnosed with autism, have people in your family be weird about it, and then find yourself going back through your family line and realizing you probably weren't the only one. I don't think a meme about that is pathologizing.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

2 years

Discontinuing products is anti-autistic.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

Instead of lecturing them or quizzing them, talk to them. And then—and this is key—you also have to listen and care about what they say on the topic in return.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 months

Fascinated by the number of reels I’ve seen with recently diagnosed “high masking” women who say that the hardest part of unmasking is learning to be comfortable with people disliking you. … people liked you?

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

We talk a lot about presuming competence in autistic circles. If you are genuinely excited to talk about something you care about with someone else who looks like they might, too, then you can apply it here. Reach out to them as a peer.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

Hey, normal people? I know you mean well sometimes. But when you make a BIG DEAL out of a fact that a normal kid was nice to an autistic kid? Turning basic decency toward us into an act of heroism? That... doesn't really make us feel wanted or welcome.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

7 months

The autistic twitter learning curve

BART

@SFBART

7 months

Starting today, you'll hear the voices of some of BART’s biggest fans playing over our 🔊 PA system. Local youth with autism recently recorded special announcements that will be playing in 35 stations through April, which is #AutismAcceptanceMonth

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

Fuck all TERFs. But especially fuck TERFs who couch their bile in feigned concern for autistics, thus portraying trans people as predators AND autistic people as naive half-persons who can't possibly know themselves.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

I own a (somewhat irrational) number of Judas Priest shirts. I wear them out. If a man says he likes my shirt, I will reflexively reply "Thanks, I've interviewed Rob Halford three times." I'm not trying to be an asshole. That's just the only preemptive strike that works.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

@natgoeshome I have some sympathy for the initial reaction, because they probably grew up being told they were not like other girls in a derogatory sense and they're now trying to capitalize on that to make themselves feel better. But whatever is happening now is not the way.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

And if a person responds weirdly or cooly to your outreach, maybe they're not an asshole, maybe they just have their own history with this stuff.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

11 months

I've seen a couple of popular reels by beloved autistic influencers lately that haven't been sitting right with me. One suggested that feeling and expressing empathy was a form of masking. Another suggested that seeing shades of grey was a symptom of masking.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

I worked as a music journalist in the 2000s. I wrote about MMA in the 2010s. I was a personal trainer for a bunch of that time. I'm a wrestling fan. Do you have any clue how tired I am??

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

What special treatment and fun times do people think someone who self-diagnoses as autistic gets access to, anyway? All of you get is a little permission to see yourself a certain way and try to take care of yourself accordingly when no other resources are available to you.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

I haven't told anyone what to do here. I'm not your boss. I'm not your mom. I have not advocated for any punishment or behaviour in response. I made one friendly suggestion for better engagement if you want that. All I want is the ability to be annoyed by what annoys me.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

2 months

It's hardly the end of the world. Autistics are human. Human beings will make mistakes and misunderstand each other. But it does make the ridiculous mythologizing of the perfectly innocent autistic angel that much more annoying.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

2 months

And half of the time I can't even attempt to explain myself, because they refuse to entertain the idea that other perspectives might exist. Sometimes they get mad at me for not acting in line with the version of me they've made up in their head, too.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

7 months

My hot take on autism and self-diagnosis is that I think it actually is possible that an asshole or two will exploit it for their own ends, but I think that’s a small price to pay for how it can help so many underserved and unrecognized autistic people out there.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

I think my official take on the is-autism-a-superpower debate is: It's fucked to ask a population whose disability often includes communication difficulties and social issues to have to ponder *and perfectly articulate* the meaning of their existence on an almost daily basis.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

22 days

This is often presented as a 100% righteous and powerful thing. And it can be a good thing and can lead to people challenging authority. But it can also lead to, say, deciding that another person's boundaries are nonsense that you don't have to respect.

ADHD Memes

@ADHDForReal

22 days

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

autistic person: *exists* some self-righteous rando: actually, it's person with autism.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

And even then, some guys will still try it.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

I'm sure watching a bunch of vicious adults study and pick apart the speaking patterns and body language of a 16 year old autistic girl will be great for autistic people's mental health and ability to do literally anything in public without having a goddamn panic attack.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

If you follow lots of autistic people and find yourself wondering why some don't tweet about every pressing issue. It's probably not because they don't care. It's more likely that they're just too exhausted and/or dead inside.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

7 months

Not everyone who dislikes the term "neurospicy" is neurotypical.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

Well, that about sums up what Sia's MUSIC did for autistic people.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 months

@misanthropemime "Aw, it thinks it's people!"

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

For #AutismAwarenessDay and #AutismAcceptanceMonth , here's a brief thread on things that non-autistic people discovered in the past year that autistic people have known — and often suffered — all along.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

Holy fuck. Maddie Ziegler didn't watch just any videos about autism on YouTube to prepare her for the role in Sia's film. She watched videos of autistic children having meltdowns.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

7 months

Think about what you're saying when you talk about what could have been. You wish that there were better resources for all of us, not that you could have been diagnosed with the resources that actually existed when you were young.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

An update for those of you who are not extremely online autistics: some parents of autistic children are currently trying to discredit autistic adults on here based on the argument that autistic people can't speak multiple languages. Which is a thing they just completely made up.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

2 years

Takeshita going back to America.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

If you're not autistic and you're following autistic people on social media for education, awareness, or whatever, I hope you pay attention to how many people mention that they feel they have to provide tangible value to others to justify their existence. (1/2)

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

There are bigger fish to fry, but I just want to say that Autism Moms who post cutesy things about how parenting an autistic child prepared them for social distancing and COVID-19 are not my favourite people right now.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

@artiecarden_ We need more dirtbag representation! It's interesting that you bring up subcultures, too, because that's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. Some of the stuff that people desperately want t ascribe to me being a self-loathing autistic is just 90s altrock influences

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 months

I wish I knew how to explain to my fellow nd people that "I was born with something that makes me inherently superior to others!" never, ever leads to good things. Even when the original sentiment is intended to prop up a marginalized population.

HumanBeingAwkward

@humanbeingawk

4 months

It’s literally neurodivergent to be honest. That tells you all you need to know.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

I recently saw a tweet bemoaning that big autistic accounts don't provide enough value on here. I can't imagine I qualify as big in that world, but I just want everyone to know that I'm not here to provide value.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 years

Abled people love plastic straw bans because it involves two of their favourite things: empty gestures and getting to pretend their hatred of disabled people is actually some sort of morality issue.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

7 years

I'd like to suggest a new rule: Every time you feel the urge to tell a marginalized writer to "Keep writing!!!" you first have to ask yourself what you could be doing to ensure that they have the emotional and monetary resources to do so.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

11 months

I'm deeply troubled by the idea that feeling anything for others or seeing any nuance is inauthentic and potentially harmful to the whole autism community.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

Friendly reminder that not all autistic people experience empathy, let alone too much of it, and that doesn't make them any worse or better than those of us who do. And any messaging that doesn't acknowledge this doesn't break harmful stereotypes, it just makes new ones.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

Because there's nothing traumatic about going undiagnosed and misunderstood for your whole life. And no stats on autistic women being at risk for abuse.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

8 months

This is especially infuriating because people who are seeking these services are trying to do exactly what people against self diagnosis keep saying they want: get tested and diagnosed.

Dan Sohege 🧡

@stand_for_all

8 months

It is incredibly hard to even get an autism assessment. I was diagnosed 15 years ago. I doubt nowadays I'd even manage to get seen. Self diagnosis is the only option for many people. It doesn't invalidate their support needs, or mean they don't need help.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 years

I walked into a party, downed a glass and a half of prosecco, deemed it too loud and chaotic and left without talking to anyone after fifteen minutes. THIS is an inspirational autism story.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

Autistic culture is spending 90% of your time saying "I'm not saying that..." while trying to explain what you are saying because you're hyper aware and anxious about how you've been misinterpreted in the past and are desperate to cover all of your bases.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

Non-autistic people coming out of lockdown are like "omg! I don't even know how to have a conversation anymore. I'm not sure what to say. I'm so awkward!"

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

7 months

A fun social experiment I recently discovered by accident: 1. Mention that you write about autism, but not your connection to it. 2. Later in the conversation, mention that you are autistic. 3. Observe.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

And here's the part where, once again, we become the mean, reactionary autistic people who are bullying the nice artist who has the best of intensions.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 years

I really, really don't understand why everyone doesn't love wrestling.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

11 months

I have no desire to shame anyone who doesn't feel empathy or has black and white thinking. But I really don't see how running in the opposite direction and suggesting that anyone who has different experiences is a harmful liar helps anyone, either.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

That thing where non-autistic people say "let's grab a coffee sometime!" and then I look like a fool for thinking they actually want to grab a coffee and trying to schedule something.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

There are plenty of nuanced takes on ADHD and autism on this app every day. I see them! I appreciate them. But they don't do the numbers that the bite-sized generalizations do.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

Whenever someone expresses a desire for autistic people understand how hard it is/was for their parents to raise them (yes, this is a thing), I wonder what they want us to do with the knowledge of our unique and terrible burden upon our loved ones if/when we acquire it.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

"Are you mad at me?" is autistic culture.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

Can someone hire an autistic writer to tackle the open hatred that Greta Thunberg receives, by the way? It can't be separated from the dehumanization that autistic people face, and I don't think non-autistics are equipped to explore this properly.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

Videos that parents filmed of their children's most vulnerable moments. Not only out there for the world to see, but also to become fodder for non-autistic people's vanity projects.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

None of these people trying to use disability as a gotcha in discussions about abortion have ever talked to a disabled person or even thought about one as an actual human being. The vast majority I know do not consider forced birth the solution to ANY of our concerns.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

@SarahMarieOB You've nailed it. I definitely went through a phase where I looked at "normies" like this when I was recovering from the worst of my bullying. I'm glad that I did it on my own and not when I was starting to work with and talk for a whole group, though.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

Now that I’ve had more time to process, it hurts that so many of you could only see me as an evil scold who is robbing men of autistic joy, not as someone who has had her own autistic joy repeatedly crushed and dismissed, and who doesn’t like when her fellow autistics add to it.

Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

6 months

If people are open to talking about autism vs mansplaining now, I'll add my own less pressing but still pertinent take: As an autistic woman who's had every interest and expertise explained to her at length, I don't care either way. The impact on me is the same.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

2 years

Part of being an autistic elder (for lack of a better term) is being thrilled to see the generations under you getting slightly better chances than you ever had while quietly weeping for your own missed opportunities in a corner somewhere.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

When I wrote this, and received a wave of responses from people who were absolutely SHOCKED that such a thing was happening, I thought I'd reach my peak exhaustion with non-autistic reactions to bleach "treatments." Turns out I hadn't.

Fake autism treatments show the lengths parents will go to “cure” their kids

It’s not just dangerous. It’s insulting to autistic people like me.

www.vox.com

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

Today's level of autism is: crying because my 10 year old electric kettle has started leaking and "it's one of my best friends."

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

If you go out for dinner and you really want to talk about autism, here are a few things to keep in mind: - autistic adults exist - they also go out for dinner - they might even be seated next to you! - their sensory issues might make ignoring your discussion difficult

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 months

As much as I hate self promotion, I have to plug my book here. If you liked this thread, you'll probably enjoy it. "Scandalous" pink hair and all.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

Imagine your response to a story about a human being who died as a result of prejudice being "yeah, well, she's fine and shouldn't receive more attention than my actually tragic son."

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

You’re in her DMs. She messaged me and I read it right away and meant to get back and then I don’t know what happened, but apparently that was a year ago and now I don’t know how to reply, so I guess we’ll just never talk again.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

I'm back in TIME, having more nuanced opinions about autism and pop culture:

Sia's Golden Globe-Nominated Music Isn’t Just Offensive. It’s Bad Art—and the Distinction Matters

Many have criticized the movie, which stars a non-autistic actor as a nonspeaking autistic character. But it's a mistake to chalk the criticisms all up to offense

time.com

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

I am an autistic person and a writer. As the latter, I spend more and more of my time thinking about how I can use my skills to make people see the humanity in the former. So when I see my craft being used to further dehumanize autistic people, it upsets me on multiple levels.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

What if we just stopped asking autistic people whether they consider their autism a gift or not? It's an impossible question to answer, anyway. No one asked to be born and we're all trapped in lives that we didn't ask for or plan for. Maybe autism isn't the issue here.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

7 months

I’m going to start a promotion for married women over 40.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 months

Fun story: in the middle of that exchange with the person who dislikes my work today, my father looked me in the eye and showed zero recognition for the first time. I knew this was coming, but I didn’t think it would be this fast. Not that anything can prepare you.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

The sheer amount of trauma that autistic people can — or have been forced to — express as practical, straightforward matters sometimes takes my breath away.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

5 years

Apparently today is the 10 year anniversary of my autism diagnosis. That snuck up on me. Anyway, here's how I shared the news with everyone other than my parents and then-fiance, missing words and all.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

As autism awareness month approaches, one thing I'd like people to keep in mind is that just because you can learn from following autistic people on twitter doesn't mean that we here solely for the purposes of your education.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

11 months

Especially when the whole discourse around masking these days could really use some nuance.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

There's absolutely no way I can say this that isn't going to sound gatekeepy and jealous, but screw it: I worry about people who quickly amass followings on social media within a few years—or even months—of realizing they're autistic. For their sakes as well as the rest of ours.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

2 months

Steve Silberman was a writer for whom autistic people were never just a subject. We were his peers and his friends. Many autistic writers-including me-owe a great deal to his support. He will be missed so much.

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

General Scott Pilgrim discourse is like "The culture has changed, there are many aspects of this movie that might not fly today (insert possible dig at Michael Cera)." Toronto Scott Pilgrim discourse is like "NONE OF THESE LOCATIONS EXIST ANYMORE I HATE THIS FUCKING CITY."

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

3 years

I wrote about the legacy of Atypical for TIME:

Atypical Fell Short as Both Autistic Representation and Entertainment. At Least It Was Eclipsed...

The Netflix dramedy about an autistic teenager was far from a game changer, but a new crop of autistic-informed entertainment has emerged in the four years since it debuted

time.com

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Sarah Kurchak

@fodderfigure

4 years

How on earth is "but have you ever considered the risk of overdiagnosis" a nuanced or new take? People have been saying it to me since I was diagnosed with autism 12 years ago and it wasn't new then.

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