Discussion

so, we have two different groups now. @actuallyautistic and @allautistics. I understand that not all autistic people were there when the discussion took place, that resulted in the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag.
In short: A lot of NTparents took over the discussion and steered it in a direction that was toxic to autistic people themselves, talking over them, not with them in a massively ableist way. Promoting harmful stuff like ABA and the like. A lot of that took place on Twitter. Hence the tag to make sure we speak to each other, not to people that want to help us eradicate the autism from ourselves or any such nonsense.
To new people it sounds a bit exclusive though. Hence the #AllAutistics hashtag, that plopped up. ActuallyAutistic is meant to be inclusive of all autistics, regardless whether they have a diagnose or whether they know for sure. As long as they are in it for themselves. And is also fine for people that want info and learn directly from the horses mouth, cus they have autistic loved ones, kids etc. (many blood related people are some kind of neurodivergent too, anyways, whether they know it or not). it says "actually" too exclude people that would be disrespectful towards Autstic people. That's all. But it's understandable that it does sound exclusive to some, without explanation. The new people are in that vulnerable phase where they question themselves a lot. Am I really autistic or am I just an imposter. If you haven't been diagnosed as a kid, you have probably had this phase and it can take years and maybe it never ends. I still have these moments of" Ohh whow, I actually have this trait also. It just looks different in me". Well . It always looks different. Cus we aren't all white males with stereotype autism and its highly individualized.There's a ton of autistic people running around that aren't diagnosed and probably never will be. Your chance at being diagnosed as a woman is maybe one in four, depending on where you live, your status, your skin color, your traits. Some traits are more often leading to diagnose than others. Imposter syndrome is the norm not the exception. That's why we often hear" if you wonder whether you are autistic or not, you most probably are". NT rarely wonder about this. And we've all been through this stage. And BTW no one cares if you change your mind or if you're insecure. It's absolutely fine. You're invited.
So. I think we should have one. having two is inconvenient. And most people still hang out in the ActuallyAutistic- one. So either you all feel invited or we think of a name, that includes both, the history and the new people that have arrived. Just sayin'. I know it's probably gonna solve itself by one of them attracting more people and then being the remaining one, but I just wanted to repeat about the history and I don't want new people to get confused over this. Just so you know: There was no disagreement. It's just a question of history moving on and flow of information from old to new not always being perfect. If we need a change of defining terminology that's fine, but let's not get confused or feel divided ok?
Maybe it's ok. to have two, maybe the AllAutistics helps find people that are in the same state of finding out. Whatever helps is fine. I'm just writing this out so no one has to feel confused or not welcome. And BTW, there is a reason why people write hashtags in CamelBack., that's much more readable to screenreaders. Love to you all.
Edit: I missed out on the #AutisticMe hashtag and the @autisticme . Sorry folks.