I’m really not supposed to be here. I’m currently not well enough to be here. But this Sia movie has been brought to my attention and I’d like to briefly explain why many autistic people are upset about it before logging off again 1/

Every time a non-autistic person makes a project about us for art, it sets us back in numerous ways. The first is obvious - that it inevitably, no matter how hard it tries, mistranslates the experience of being autistic. This is harmful to us because it puts disinformation out 2/

into the world. This not only damages the way the world views us, creates more stigma around us & paints us as some fascinating alien species, but it also means fewer autistic people understand themselves enough to seek diagnosis. Why would they when movie autism looks 3/

totally different? I don’t recognise myself in any of the autistic characters written and played by non-autistic people. It’s the reason I dismissed the idea that I was autistic out of hand at first. 4/

Also, every time a neurotypical person makes an autism project, they are taking up space. I have had multiple autistic-led projects rejected by various platforms on the basis that they’ve ‘done’ the autism thing. Every time this has been a neurotypical project. 5/

I’m not saying MY projects were it, but every single autistic creator I know has a story like this. It means there’s no room left in the world for our own stories, for our real experiences to be heard. It also means broadcasters reject autism projects on the basis 6/

that they don’t ‘ring true’. Our own, lived experiences don’t ring true. Why? Because they don’t resemble movie autism. The myth becomes so solidified in the minds of those who created it that all they can do is perpetuate it. 7/

So please - please - PLEASE - if you, a neurotypical person, want to do an autistic project because we fascinate you or you have some sort of artistic curiosity or whatever, I beg you - don’t. There are so many stories you can tell without doing us damage. Let us tell ours. 8/

And also please remember that autistic people will have had to fight and work infinitely harder to get to the top of creative professions. Imagine slogging your guts out to get there to find someone else has told the one story that's truly yours and got it horribly wrong. End/

P.S. I don’t hold out much hope for a movie about autism made by someone who supports an organisation most autistic adults reject as a damaging cure project, is cruel to autistic actors who tweet her & responds to criticism by yelling at the disabled people she’s representing.