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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · 7d

Probably the most important perspective on the "profound autism" debate I've read to date. Because it's written by a disabled autistic man who would absolutely qualify for the diagnosis if it were ever made into a thing.

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · 10d

Giving neurodivergent teenagers extra time in exams for accessibility reasons is "unhealthy", according to a neurologist writing in The Times.

Yes, a neurologist. Personally, I'm more interested in what *educators* have to say about the topic.

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Reposted by Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird

Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 21d

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Just One Day at a Time @just1dayatatime.bsky.social · Sep 29

#Autism

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Sep 26

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the kind words. :)

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Sep 26

I often get pushback when I make points like this, from those dying to ask “but what about the *really* disabled autistic people?”… all assuming I don’t live with a disabled autistic teenager.
I do, by the way, and she’s awesome. And she deserves better than people using her as an anti-ND argument.

Autistic people have always existed. Disabled people have always existed.
But the acceptance of autistic and disabled people waxes and wanes depending on who’s got the microphone.
Which means, if we go back to the dark days of seeing people as tragedy cases, then that’s a failure of wider society, not autism or disability.

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Sep 25

Thanks Russel! Forgot to crosspost it here. :)

Russel D McLean/R.D. McLean @russeldmclean.bsky.social · Sep 23

An old post from the always excellent @chrisbonnello.bsky.social, but especially appropriate today - on the alleged "causes" of autism as told to to people with autism back in 2018. Forget yer Tylenol (altho it does get a mention), who knew Peppa Pig was a root cause...? autisticnotweird.com/causes/

I asked my followers to share the most ridiculous “autism causes” they’d ever heard. Brace yourselves.

From Peppa Pig to power lines, the internet loves blaming things for our existence. Here are the most ridiculous ones we've heard.

autisticnotweird.com

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Tom Walsh @tewalsh340.bsky.social · Sep 23

Make it make sense. Autism was first discovered in 1911, and Tylenol was introduced in 1955.

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Sep 17

If we're all a little autistic, why is the world so cruel to autistic people?

The phrase "we're all a little autistic" doesn't just trivialise autistic struggles- it's often weaponised against us. Several followers have told me their psychologists even used the line to deny them a valid diagnosis.

Blue and red stick figures talking:
Red: "Aren’t we all technically on the autism spectrum somewhere?"
Blue: "Not really. If you take a chemistry test and score 0.1%, should you call yourself a chemist?"
Red: "But if the spectrum technically includes everyone, doesn’t that mean we’re all a little autistic?"
Blue: "No."
Red: "How do you know?"
Blue: "Mostly because if everyone were a little autistic, the world would be more accepting of autistic people."
Red: "...Oh."
Blue: "Yeah. We wouldn’t be having to fight for other people’s acceptance."

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Reposted by Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird

Peel Autism Resource 🇨🇦 @peelautismresource.bsky.social · Aug 26

Further reading from @chrisbonnello.bsky.social:

autisticnotweird.com/teaching/

autisticnotweird.com/building-rel...

#OntEd #autism #SpecEd #EduSky

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Sep 11

Shoutout to all the non-autistic people who make sincere efforts to listen and learn autistic people's perspectives, just as a matter of principle, despite society not really expecting them to.

Title: The Double Empathy Problem illustrated
First panel: Red stick-figure looking at blue stick-figure: "This autistic person struggles with empathy, because they can't tell how I'm feeling."
Second panel, a few minutes later: Red stick-figure looking at dysregulated blue stick-figure: "I don't get it - they're melting down over nothing!"
Caption: Autistic people do NOT generally lack empathy. But autistic and non-autistic people communicate differently, which means everyone needs to do the kind of learning, listening and 'translating' that's currently only expected of autistic people.

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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · Sep 3

enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Aug 26

Tomorrow I'm delivering training to a staff team at a college.
And whilst thinking it through, I was reminded of this outstanding quote I once heard in a speech by Paul Owen, then-principal of Dover Technical College.

Black text on white background:

“I absolutely refuse to categorise an event as a ‘behaviour incident’ before I’ve established whether or not the student’s needs were being met at the time.”

Paul Owen, principal of Dover Technical College

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Aug 13

Thanks for sharing! Much appreciated.

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Aug 13

Relationships underpin absolutely everything as a teacher. Not just academic performance, but attendance and effective safeguarding too.

Peel Autism Resource 🇨🇦 @peelautismresource.bsky.social · Aug 12

Attention educators:

"There’s no point in your school saying 'the welfare of our students is paramount' if you’re not making it easier for them to actually trust you with their welfare."

Credit @chrisbonnello.bsky.social

#EduSky #OntEd #autism #AutismAcceptance #neurodiversity

Angry Autism Ally Mum @angryallyautismmum.bsky.social · Jul 22

♾️ ⬇️ #autisticvoices
When I was a teacher in a school for autistic students, it was well-no... #actuallyautistic

Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Aug 13

Thanks a lot for sharing!

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Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · Aug 9

There’s so much that’s awful in here and it barely touches the tip of the iceberg.

Effin' Birds @effinbirds.com · Aug 9

Strong read this morning in the Observer on the collapse of Unbound, featuring @alexdecampi.bsky.social, @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social and myself.

observer.co.uk/news/busines...

Death of a publishing dream: how the Unbound revolution b...

The literary disrupters enjoyed great success with their crowdfunding model, signing authors that other publishers overlooked. And then the money ran out…

observer.co.uk

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Aug 8

The Underdogs series is ready for the next stage of its journey. If you're an agent or publisher interested in representing a (completed) heartfelt neurodivergent YA dystopia saga, please do get in touch.
chrisbonnello.com/underdogs

Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · Aug 8

Are you an agent or a publisher looking to add to your list? There are FANTASTIC authors left in the lurch by Unbound who need homes for their existing bools and for sequels / new books. A thread, grouped by genre. Please reskeet!

Here’s YA spec fic & fantasy:

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Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird @chrisbonnello.bsky.social · Aug 1

The Unbound/Boundless chapter has now come to a predictably ugly end. The morals of the story being 1) have some basic competence when it comes to money, and 2) pay the people who feed you.

Yes, Unbound - without authors, publishing companies are nothing.

And fancy that. Now you're nothing.

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Reposted by Chris Bonnello - Autistic Not Weird

Autistic Realms (Helen Edgar) @autisticrealms.bsky.social · Jul 22

FREE EBOOK DOWNLOAD!
Being Your Authentic Autistic Self:
Top 10 Tips
Inspired by the webinar delivered by
Chris Bonnello for The PDA Space
Click here to get your copy:
https://autisticrealms.com/product/being-your-authentic-autistic-self-top-10-tips/

Being Your Authentic Autistic Self Top 10 Tips

Being Your Authentic Autistic Self Top 10 Tips FREE DOWNLOAD Inspired by the webinar delivered by Chris Bonnello for The PDA Space

autisticrealms.com

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Larry_in_WI @larry1504.bsky.social · Jul 22

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Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · Jul 18

“If we truly want to support dysregulated students, especially neurodivergent ones, we need to stop putting the burden of managing big emotions solely on them and instead take a hard look at the environments we create.” From @againstrestraint.com:

endseclusion.org/2025/07/10/n... #neurodiversity