{"id":26847,"date":"2022-08-08T13:14:41","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T20:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=26847"},"modified":"2022-08-08T16:48:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T23:48:45","slug":"cartoon-things-not-to-say-to-autistic-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=26847","title":{"rendered":"Cartoon: Things To Stop Saying To Autistic People"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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This cartoon is another collab between me and Becky Hawkins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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If you like these cartoons then these cartoons like you too. They sit up at night thinking about you, but not in a creepy way. But they do it all the time, and that is a little bit creepy. Thinking… thinking… thinking… Maybe if you supported them <\/a>they’d stop? But when I put it that way it sounds a bit like blackmail. Um, never mind.<\/p>\n

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A reader emailed me a while ago to say that he really appreciated the cartoons I\u2019ve done about disability issues – about ableism, really. (And that was striking to me, because at that time I think I\u2019d done only a few cartoons about ableism, plus another couple that touched briefly on it.)<\/p>\n

(I haven\u2018t done many more since then, alas. You can see all of them at this link<\/a>, if you\u2019re curious.)<\/p>\n

The reader, who identified himself as autistic, mentioned that he\u2019d really like to read a cartoon by me focusing on issues experienced by autistic people. I said what I always say when I get requests like that – \u201dThat could be a really good idea for a cartoon, but I can\u2019t control where my inspiration goes. But I\u2019ll see if an idea comes up.\u201d<\/p>\n

For me, inspiration often comes from listening to people complain. So I began listening, both by lurking on relevant public forums, and by talking to some of the autistic people I know. Some complaints about things neurotypical people say to or about autistic people waaaaay too often began occurring again and again, and presto: A comic strip. (Honestly, there was enough material for two comic strips, so you may see a sequel someday).<\/p>\n

Once this strip is public, I\u2019ll search through my email and try to find the person who wrote me, so I can point the strip out to them. I hope they\u2019ll be pleased. (Defaulting to “they” because I don’t remember what pronouns they prefer.)<\/p>\n

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I was planning to draw this one myself, but Becky saw it in my scripts folder and asked if she could do it, because (she said) drawing eight jerks would be fun. I couldn\u2019t argue with that logic! And she did her usual great job. I especially like the way she used limited color this time (because I love comics done with limited color, as I\u2019m sure many readers have noticed).<\/p>\n

It was Becky\u2019s idea to have the \u201cHave you tried Yoga\u201d character go on and on and on and on, appearing against a background of endless words. I loved that idea, and I love Becky\u2019s drawing in that panel – all that chunky jewelry looks great.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON<\/strong><\/p>\n

This cartoon has nine panels, arranged in a 3×3 grid. The central panel has nothing in it but large, cheerful letters, which say:<\/p>\n

THINGS TO STOP SAYING TO AUTISTIC PEOPLE<\/p>\n

Each panel features a different character speaking directly to the reader.<\/p>\n

PANEL 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

A young person with a jeans vest over a white shirt with torn short sleeves – essentially looking like a modern person who for some reason is dressing like a 50s greaser – is speaking to the reader with a wide-eyed, sincere expression, one palm held up.<\/p>\n

GREASER: A kid at my son\u2019s school is autistic! I feel so BAD for the parents.<\/p>\n

PANEL 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

A middle-aged man wearing a suit and tie, with a beard that screams \u201cI am an intellectual,\u201d is looking a little puzzled, one hand stroking his beard.<\/p>\n

MAN: You don\u2019t LOOK autistic.<\/p>\n

PANEL 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

A balding man with white hair is holding out a hand in a \u201cplease stop that\u201d gesture.<\/p>\n

MAN: Could you stop flapping your hands? It\u2019s weird.<\/p>\n

PANEL 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

A woman with carefully-messy-styled hair and wearing a full makeup job is holding her hands with their palms against each other in front of her chin. She\u2019s smiling very large.<\/p>\n

WOMAN: Autistic? That\u2019s VERY fashionable these days.<\/p>\n

PANEL 5<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the central panel, which has nothing in it but a caption, in large, cheerful letters.<\/p>\n

CAPTION: THINGS TO STOP SAYING TO AUTISTIC PEOPLE<\/p>\n

PANEL 6<\/strong><\/p>\n

A man with an enormous beard, and nice glasses, glares suspiciously at the reader, with arms akimbo.<\/p>\n

MAN: My niece is autistic and noisy rooms don\u2019t bother HER.<\/p>\n

PANEL 7<\/strong><\/p>\n

A middle-aged woman with a somewhat hippy-ish vibe is smiling and talking to the viewer. She has fluffed-out white or blonde hair, and is wearing at least three rings, six bracelets, and four necklaces, nearly all of which are large and chunky. \u00a0She\u2019s speaking so much that it forms a wall of words behind her, most of which we can\u2019t make out because she\u2019s in the way, but we can read enough to get the gist of it.<\/p>\n

WOMAN: Have you tried yoga? Not eating sugar? Not eating dairy? Sun\u2026 celery juice? \u00a0\u2026matory diet? \u2026 Acupunct\u2026. Quitting sm\u2026. Float?<\/p>\n

PANEL 8<\/strong><\/p>\n

A young guy carrying a drink with a straw is grinning and pointing to himself proudly with a thumb.<\/p>\n

GUY: I know ALL about autism. I\u2019ve seen \u201cRain Man\u201d AND \u201cBig Bang Theory\u201d!<\/p>\n

PANEL 9<\/strong><\/p>\n

A middle aged woman leans forward towards us, a concerned expression on her face. She\u2018s dressed nicely in a jacket over a blouse and a simple necklace. She\u2019s got one hand aside her mouth, as if she\u2019s whispering to us.<\/p>\n

WOMAN: Have you just TRIED acting NORMAL?<\/p>\n

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This cartoon on Patreon<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This cartoon is another collab between me and Becky Hawkins. If you like these cartoons then these cartoons like you too. They sit up at night thinking about you, but not in a creepy way. But they do it all … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,239,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartooning-comics","category-disability-issues","category-disabled-rights-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26847"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26851,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26847\/revisions\/26851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}