# data[].attributes.headline
List of Influential Native Americans that students might be interested in learning more about:

# data[].attributes.subject
List of Influential Native Americans that students might be interested in learning more about:

# data[].attributes.body
Ada Deer, the first woman to head the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs

Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the Interior (Pueblo of Laguna)

Joy Harjo, the nation’s first Native American poet laureate (Muscogee (Creek) Nation)

John Herrington, former NASA astronaut and the first Native American to travel into space (Chickasaw Nation)

Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first American Indian woman in the United States to receive a medical degree

Temryss Lane, former professional soccer player

Mary Golda Ross, the first woman engineer in the history of Lockheed

Maria Tallchief, one of America’s first great prima ballerinas

Jim Thorpe, the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S.

John Trudell, a poet, recording artist, actor, and speaker

Frank Waln, an award-winning hip hop artist and music producer

Sean Sherman, chef, cookbook author, and promoter of Indigenous cuisine

Bethany Yellowtail: of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, is a Native American fashion designer and CEO of her clothing line, B. Yellowtail. She includes her Native American traditions in contemporary clothing.

Billy Mills: Ogala Lakota (Sioux), Billy Mills was an Olympic runner. He won a gold medal in the 10,000-meter run at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. President Obama awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2012.

Sacagawea: accompanied the famous explorers, Lewis and Clark on their journey from the Northern Great Plains to the Pacific Northwest. She acted as an interpreter for the trip. In 2000, the U.S. Mint honored her accomplishments with the Sacagawea dollar coin. (Shoshone)

John Kinsel Sr.: was a World War II Navajo Code Talker. The Navajo Code Talkers used their tribal language to send secret messages during World War II.  He was awarded the Purple Heart and Congressional Silver Medal for his service. (Navajo Nation)

Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux) was a Native American chief. He helped the Great Plains Sioux tribes defeat General Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Squanto (Tisquantum): Patuxet Tribe, Squanto was an interpreter for the Pilgrim settlers. He helped the settlers during their first harsh winter in America.

Irena Bedard (Inupiaq/Yupik/Cree): Irena Bedard is an actress, director, and producer. She has starred in movies, television shows, and theatre. She is best known as the voice of Pocahontas in the cartoon movie.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ASL Resources for Native American Heritage Month - American Society for Deaf Children

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
November is Native American Heritage Month. See ASL videos that celebrate the culture and contributions of America's indigenous peoples.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.7. Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5.a. Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors in context.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.9. Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.

The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation inhabiting over 1.5 million acres in northeastern Arizona. The tribe has a rich connection with the landscape, place, and environment, where most Hopi people call home. The Hopi name for their homeland is "Hopitutskwa." Part of the Colorado Plateau, this region is known for its high deserts, scattered forests, stark mesas, deep canyons, as well as for the Grand Canyon. The Hopi have lived here for centuries.

Today, some Hopi people continue the traditional subsistence practice of dry land farming, especially to grow specific corn varieties that are highly valued for their spiritual and practical significance. Each variety of corn is used to make different traditional foods. This challenging task-growing corn in a dry, unirrigated, short-growing season environment-requires an intimate knowledge of the land, environment, crops, weather, and the ecology of the high desert. A profound knowledge of the northeastern Arizona environment pervades Hopi culture and language. A rich reverence and respect for corn cultivation is apparent in the art, poetry, songs, celebrations and culture of the Hopi people. The metaphor "corn is life" or "corn is our children" is often used to explain the dynamic Hopi relationship with corn and dry land farming.

Taken together, three Hopi language forms: place names; poetry; and song and traditional dance; can be an avenue to explore the centuries-old cultural relationship the Hopi people have with their land and the process of growing corn. Such rich descriptions allow readers and listeners to imagine and envision the landscape and environment of Arizona's high desert. The language of place found in the place names, poems, song, and dance expressions open a window into Hopi culture and act as a springboard for further explorations into diverse relationships to landscape, environment and place.

The Language of Place: Extended Background PDF provides valuable contextual background information on these topics:

Hopi Homeland

Corn in Hopi Culture

Corn as Crop for Hopi

Corn as Art and Essence of Hopi

Hopi Agricultural Practices - Cultural and Spiritual Significance

Language of Place Forms in Hopi Culture:

Place Names

Poetry

Song and Traditional Dance

National Museum of the American Indian (images of Hopi corn-based artifacts and art):

Corn pendant necklace

Corn maiden necklace

Hopi Vase

Painting

The following websites sponsored by the Hopi Tribe, its affiliated educational partners, as well as the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, offer additional information to supplement your classroom study of the Hopi and include images of villages, corn fields, and high desert environment:

The following picture books may be useful references:

Challenge students to research a poem or song that explores relationships between people and place.

Note: The Poetry Foundation offers a poem sampler, Native American Poetry and Culture, which contains a selection of poets, poems, and articles-many deal with place and landscape. Here are some options from the Poetry Foundation sampler that may work with your students:

Students should analyze the poem they have selected to write a short (3-5 paragraphs) explanation of the poem's sense of place.

In preparation for their writing, have them complete the following:

1. Summarize the poem. What is it about? What is the setting? Who are the actors?

2. Provide some context about the poem. Who is the author? When was this written? Where is the author from?

3. Identify and explain examples of figurative language in the poem, quote it and explain what the author means or implies.

4. Explain what is important to the author in this poem. What does he or she value? Why? How do you know?

5. Discuss how the poet reflects his/her experience of place in the poem. How does the author express the place's significance?

6. Finally, ask students to sketch or draw the poem, carefully trying to capture the imagery or setting the author describes.

Creative Writing Option
Ask students to write their own poetry or songs about a landscape or place that is important to them. Poems should include:

Vivid imagery: a sense of what it looks like, sounds like, feels like to be in that place

Connections between the poet (or other people) and the place described in the poem

Figurative language: similes, metaphors, and other types of figurative language to enrich the sense of place

Artwork: illustrations, sketches of the place or landscape being described

Option 1

Hopi corn is available from heritage seed companies. Large and small grocery stores often sell products made from blue, white, yellow, and red corn. Challenge students to learn more about Hopi corn, its varieties, and the traditional (and nontraditional) foods that are made with heritage, native corn varieties. Cook at home or in class with recipes using blue corn. Taste-test many of the commercially available foods made from native corn varieties.

Assignments could include:

Research and prepare a traditional Hopi dish using blue corn (many resources online for general searches of "Hopi blue corn recipes");

Complete a scavenger hunt of your local grocery store to identify as many commercially available foods made from native corn varieties. Conduct a taste test with a few varieties and record your responses;

Cook with your class! The recipe for blue corn cakes is easy to follow and could be prepared in class.

Option 2
Hopi culture has many elements that have continued or remained constant over time and many elements that have changed. Educational resources available on Crow Canyon Archaeological Center's website support students as they research how Pueblo culture, which led in part to Hopi culture, has changed over the course of time.

Pueblo Indian History for Kids includes an online, interactive timeline where students can travel back in time before the Pueblo people of the southwest started farming. It guides students through the many changes Pueblo people, including the Hopi, have experienced.

Video Perspectives on Pueblo History and Culture provides insight into the Pueblo peoples' oral tradition and examines how it helps keep their deep cultural heritage alive and shape their historical perspectives. The videos offer an archaeological understanding of Pueblo history, based on scientific method, including different-but complementary-perspectives.

People of the Mesa Verde Region delivers information on this region, which is divided among the three states-Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah-where more than 20,000 American Indians live today. The population of this region also consists of many non-Indians. All contribute to the complex fabric of community life, which reflects a unique blend of age-old traditions and 21st-century American culture.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Language of Place: Hopi Place Names, Poetry, Traditional Dance and Song

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A curriculum unit of three lessons in which students explore Hopi place names, poetry, song, and traditional dance to better understand the ways Hopi people connect with the land and environment through language. The unit is centered on the practice of growing corn.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Activity 1. Listening to a Native American Song from the Western Shoshone Tribe

Objective: Students will learn to listen closely and notice aspects of a song when they cannot understand the words.

To introduce your students to the rhythm and sound of a Native American song, ask them to listen to the PBS audio recording of Corbin Harney of the Western Shoshone tribe singing "Water Song." This song is in Harney's native language.

As they listen, ask them to write down what they hear, e.g., a drum, repeating sounds, or rhythms. Have them listen to the song a second time and again write down what they hear. [Note to teacher: In the audio, Harney explains the song before he sings it. Please, do not play the explanation before your students hear the song, itself. You will play it for them later. On the recording the drumming and singing start at 1:30 and continue through 4:20 (when the narration resumes.)]

Activity 2: Sharing What You Hear in "Water Song"

Objectives: Students will synthesize information to come to a conclusion.

Ask your students to get in small groups where they will share what they heard in "Water Song." Each group should come up with an agreed upon list of what they heard in the song, including how it was structured, as well as the sounds and rhythms. Ask them to assign one person to represent the group's findings in a larger discussion.

Ask each appointed group representative to contribute her group's findings to the whole class. Write these findings on the board in the front of the room. What items appear most often on the board? Circle those items, and create a separate list of the ones mentioned most often. What might this list tell us about some of the characteristics of a Western Shoshone song?

Conduct a whole-class discussion of what your students can learn about this Western Shoshone song, even though they don't understand the words.

After this discussion, play Corbin Harney's introduction to the song. [Note to teacher: Harney's narration opens the recording and continues through 1:30 (where the drumming and singing comes in through 4:20.) The narration picks up again at 4:21. ]

Ask your students: What more can you learn about the song from Corbin Harney's explanation?

Activity 3. Reading the Poem "Remember"

Objective: Students will complete a close reading of "Remember" by Joy Harjo, paying attention to its poetic structure.

Project in the front of the classroom the poem "Remember." Ask your students to read the poem silently. As they read, they should write down phrases, images, and words that jump out at them. This includes words and phrases they might not know. Prompt your students to notice how Joy Harjo structures her lines.

Ask two students to read the poem, one after the other, out loud to the class. Tell them that the way the words are placed on the page and which words are repeated should influence the emphasis they place on words and phrases when they are reading the poem out loud. The listening students should add what they hear from the oral readings to their list of what they noticed when they silently read the poem.

Vocabulary: Have your students keep a running list on the front board of the words they have read and heard that they do not understand (not counting the Western Shoshone words to "Water Song" unless you, one of your students, or someone in your community understands the language). You can either conduct a separate vocabulary lesson on these words where students try to figure out their meaning from context and connections or review the vocabulary as you progress through the other activities.

Activity 4. Watching Joy Harjo Read "Remember"

Objective: Students will notice the difference between experiencing a poem on a page and experiencing a poet reading her poem.

Tell your students that while they are viewing the video of Joy Harjo reading her poem, they are to record on paper what they notice in the poem that is new and different for them. What do they notice about the way Joy Harjo reads the poem? How do her voice and her facial expression reflect the poem and add to it?

Show the video of Joy Harjo reading her poem.

Activity 5. Small-Group Work with "Remember"

Objective: Students will work collaboratively to synthesize findings to compare and contrast the poems.

Ask your students to get back in their small groups to share what they have noticed. They should synthesize their findings into one list and choose another person from the group to share this list with the whole class.

In addition, while they are in their groups, ask them to think about how the class synthesis of characteristics from "Water Song" might relate to what they noticed in the poem "Remember." How does the position of the words on the page influence the rhythm of the way the poem is read?

Activity 6. Gleaning Meaning from Poetic Structure and Content with "Remember"

Objective: Students will create a shared meaning of the poem by synthesizing what they have noticed.

Hold a whole-class discussion. Start by having the representatives from each small group (Activity 2) share their group lists, recording the lists on the front board.

In the discussion, move from talking about the details that were noticed to what those details might mean in the poem. Make sure your students address the structure of the poem, as well as its content. They should look for how the words are placed on the page, as well as metaphoric language.

As with the Western Shoshone song, ask your students about which details are mentioned most often and circle them on the board. Create a list of the most commonly mentioned details. Students can use examples from the list of details on the board as evidence to support their thoughts about the poem's meaning.

Ask your students how the structure of the poem is similar to, or different from, the structure of "Water Song." What have they learned about the rhythm of the two pieces? Although Joy Harjo and Corbin Harney come from different tribes, what seems to be similar about their worldview? As always, ask your students to provide details from the poem and the song to support their answers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This lesson plan is the ninth in the "Incredible Bridges: Poets Creating Community" series. It provides a video recording of the poet, Joy Harjo, reading the poem "Remember." The companion lesson contains a sequence of activities for use with secondary students before, during, and after reading to help them enter and experience the poem.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
During November, we celebrate the history, culture, and contributions of Native Peoples. To help educators with their curriculum plans, we've compiled Thanksgiving lessons and resources on learning about the tribes indigenous to North America.

Educators should be mindful of cultural appropriation when teaching about other cultures and understand that Native American students in class may experience lessons differently than non-Native students.

Lesson Plans

Student-Centered Digital Learning Activities
Check out these digital education tools, lesson plans, and resources available for free and downloadable from the National Indian Education Association.

Interdisciplinary Stories, Webinars, Films, and Lesson Plans
The Global Oneness Project offers a library of multimedia stories comprised of award-winning films, photo essays, and essays, many with companion curriculum and discussion guides.

Amplify the Voices of Contemporary Native Peoples in Your Classroom
The Lesson Plans section of Illuminative's site contains several digital education tools, activities, and resources about Native American art, culture, history, and contemporary life. Students will learn about contemporary Indigenous changemakers fighting against invisibility and their many important contributions to this country.

Thanksgiving Lesson Plans from a Native American Perspective

A Story of Survival: The Wampanoag and the English
A Thanksgiving Lesson Plan Booklet from a Native American Perspective (Oklahoma City Public Schools)

Harvest Ceremony: Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth, A Study Guide (National Museum of the American Indian)

American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving, Grades 4-8 (NMAI)

Additional Lesson Plan Units

Prehistoric Native American Lesson Plan: Pottery-making Methods ( PDF, 295 KB, 5 pgs.)
Students in grades 3-12 experiment with three methods ancient people used to make pottery before the invention of the pottery wheel.

Background Resources

Native American Heritage Month
Resources provided by the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Features audio and video files.

A History of Native Voting Rights
Provides a brief history of the difficulties Native Americans have faced in voting since the passage of the 14 th Amendment.

T he National Museum of the American Indian Native Knowledge 360 Educational Resources
Choose from featured resources in history, civics, geography, and STEM, or search for resources by language, nation, subject, grade, and topic.

1491
Charles C. Mann, author of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus and 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, presents current evidence about population and agricultural advancement in the Western Hemisphere prior to European arrival.

American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2021
Statistical data.

Native Now: The Dos and Don'ts of Talking Respectfully about and with Native People from IllumiNative (PDF)

NEA's Land Acknowledgement Guide (PDF)
Land Acknowledgements are a reminder that every major city, town, and municipality benefits from the dispossession of Indigenous land and people. It is a formal recognition of that painful reality and history and a small first step in truth, healing, and reconciliation. This guide outlines why land acknowledgements are important, how to approach them, and includes further actions to support Indigenous communities.

Printables & Posters

Art for Action: You Are on Native Land poster

American Indian History Timeline Events, policies, legislation and laws related to Indian land tenure from 1598 to the present.
Poster gallery from the U.S. Air Force
Video

Meet Jim Thorpe, a Real-Life Native American Superhero (grades 9-12)
Jim Thorpe, a.k.a. Wa-Tho-Huk (meaning Bright Path) was an Olympic-winning athlete, actor, and humanitarian. Learn more about his life and find opportunities to support Native American people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month | NEA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore Native American culture during November or any time during the school year with the following lessons, activities, and resources.

# data[].attributes.headline
History of African Jewish Communities - not well recognized

# data[].attributes.subject
History of African Jewish Communities - not well recognized

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/israel/familylemba.html#:~:text=The%20Lemba%2C%20The%20Black%20Jews%20of%20Southern%20Africa&text=This%20Bantu%2Dspeaking%20group%20claimed,and%20Semitic%2Dsounding%20clan%20names.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/jewish-communities-in-north-africa

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58917825

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
African Jewish communities include:

Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews who primarily live in the Maghreb of North Africa, including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia, as well as Sudan and Egypt. Some were established early in the diaspora; others after the expulsion from Iberia in the late 15th century.

South African Jews, who are mostly Ashkenazi Jews descended from pre-Holocaust immigrant Lithuanian Jews.

Beta Israel living primarily in the Amhara and Tigray regions of Ethiopia and sparsely in Eritrea.

Berber Jews, the majority of whom were assimilated and converted to Islam, especially during the historical persecutions of the Almohadic Caliphate in the Middle Ages. The modern population of Berber Jews in Africa now numbers about 8,000 people in Morocco, with the majority having emigrated to Israel since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, along with smaller numbers scattered throughout Europe and North America.

Historical communities which no longer exist in Africa due to assimilation, such as the Jews of Bilad el-Sudan in West Africa, who existed before the introduction of Islam to the region during the 14th century.

Various relatively modern groups throughout Africa, most of whom claim some form of a Judaic or Israelite identity, and/or ancestry.

The most ancient communities of African Jews are the Ethiopian, West African Jews, Sephardi Jews, and Mizrahi Jews of North Africa and the Horn of Africa.

In the seventh century, many Spanish Jews fled from the persecution which was occurring under the rule of the Visigoths and migrated to North Africa, where they made their homes in the Byzantine-dominated cities along the Mediterranean coast. Others arrived after the expulsion from Iberia. Remnants of longstanding Jewish communities remain in Morocco, Tunisia, and the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla. There is a much-diminished but still vibrant community on the island of Djerba in Tunisia. Since 1948 and the war to establish Israel, which aroused hostility in Muslim lands, most other North African Jews emigrated to Israel.

Of the seventh-century immigrants, some moved inland and proselytized among the Berber tribes. A number of tribes, including the Jarawa, Uled Jari, and some tribes of the Daggatun people, converted to Judaism. Ibn Khaldun reported that Kahina, a female Berber warlord who led the resistance against the Muslim Arab conquests of North Africa in the 680s and 690s, was a Jew of the Jarawa tribe. With the defeat of the Berber rebellion, none of the Jewish communities was initially forced to convert to Islam.

In 1975, the Israeli religious authorities and government recognized the Beta Israel of Ethiopia as a legally Jewish community. Hundreds of persons who wanted to emigrate to Israel were air-lifted under the leadership of Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Begin had obtained an official ruling from the Israeli Sephardi Chief Rabbi (or Rishon LeTzion) Ovadia Yosef that the Beta Israel were descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes. Rabbis believed they were probably descendants of the Tribe of Dan; rabbinical responsa discussing issues related to the people date back hundreds of years. With this endorsement, in later decades tens of thousands of Beta Israel Jews were air-lifted to Israel. Significant immigration to Israel continues into the 21st century, producing an Ethiopian Jewish community of around 81,000 immigrants, who with their 39,000 children born in Israel itself, numbered around 120,000 by early 2009.

Due to certain aspects of Orthodox Jewish marital laws, Rabbi Yosef ruled that upon arrival in Israel, the Beta Israel had to undergo a pro forma conversion to Judaism. They had to declare their allegiance to a way of life and the Jewish people, in conformity with practices followed by Orthodox Rabbinical Judaism. He did not demand the normal formal requirements that the halacha imposes on potential gentile proselytes, (such as a brit milah or immersion in a mikveh). Few Ashkenazi rabbinic authorities consider the conversions to be actual conversions, not pro forma.

Over time, due to their community's isolation from those in Europe and the Middle East, the practices of the Beta Israel developed to differ significantly from those of other forms of Judaism. In Ethiopia, the Beta Israel community was for the most part isolated from the Talmud. They did have their own oral law. In some cases, they had practices similar to those of Karaite Judaism, and in others more similar to rabbinical Judaism.

In many instances their religious elders, or priestly class, known as kessim or qessotch, interpreted the Biblical Law of the Tanakh in a way similar to the rabbinite Jewish communities in other parts of the world. In that sense, the Beta Israel had a tradition analogous to that of the Talmud, although at times at variance with the practices and teachings of other Jewish communities.

One significant difference is that the Beta Israel lacked the festivals of Purim and Hanukkah, probably because they branched off from the main body of Judaism before these non-Biblical holidays began to be commemorated. Today, most members of the Beta Israel community living in Israel do observe these holidays.

They are a community in transition. Some of the kessim accept the rabbinic/Talmudic tradition that is practiced by non-Ethiopian Orthodox Jews. Many of the younger generation of Ethiopian-Israelis have been educated in yeshivas and received rabbinical ordination ( semikha). A certain segment of traditionalist kessim insist on maintaining their separate and distinct form of Judaism, as it had been practiced in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Many of the Ethiopian Jewish youth who have immigrated to Israel or been born there have assimilated either to the dominant form of Orthodox Judaism, or to a secular lifestyle.

The Beit Avraham of Ethiopia have some 50,000 members. This community also claims Jewish heritage. Several scholars think that they broke off from the Beta Israel community several centuries ago, hid their Jewish customs, and outwardly adopted Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.

Beit Avraham have traditionally been on the lower rungs of Ethiopian social life. They have held occupations similar to those of the Beta Israel, such as crafts. Recently, the Beit Avraham community has attempted to reach out to the world Jewish community. They formed the Ethiopian North Shewa Zionist Organization in an attempt to save their Jewish identity. This group identifies as the Falashmura. As they do not have reliable proof of Jewish ancestry, Israeli religious authorities and other religious Jewish communities require them to complete a formal conversion to be recognized as Jews. Those who do so are considered converts.

The Yibir are a tribe that lives in Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, and northern Kenya. Though they have been Muslim for centuries, some of them assert they are descendants of Hebrews who arrived in the Horn of Africa long before the arrival of Somali nomads. These individuals assert that Yibir means "Hebrew" in their language.

Outside the Yibir, there is essentially no known current or historic Jewish community in Somalia.

The historical presence of Jewish communities in Africa is well-attested to. Today, the descendants of these Jews live in nations such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, and many other areas. According to the 17th century Tarikh al-Fattash and the Tarikh al-Sudan, several Jewish communities existed as parts of the Ghana, Mali, and later Songhai empires. One such community was formed by a group of Egyptian Jews, who allegedly traveled by way of the Sahel corridor through Chad into Mali. Manuscript C of the Tarikh al-Fattash described a community called the Bani Israel; in 1402, it lived in Tindirma, possessed 333 wells, and had seven princes as well as an army.

Another such community was that of the Zuwa ruler of Koukiya (located at the Niger River). His name was known only as Zuwa Alyaman, meaning "He comes from Yemen". According to an isolated local legend, Zuwa Alyaman was a member of one of the Jewish communities transported from Yemen by Abyssinians in the 6th century CE after the defeat of Dhu Nuwas. Zuwa Alyaman was said to have traveled into West Africa along with his brother. They established a community in Kukiya at the banks of the Niger River downstream from Gao. According to the Tarikh al-Sudan, after Zuwa Alyaman, there were 14 Zuwa rulers of Gao before the rise of Islam in the second half of the eleventh century.

Other sources stated that other Jewish communities in the region developed from people who migrated from Morocco and Egypt; others later came from Portugal. Some communities were said to have been populated by certain Berber Jews, like a group of Tuareg known as Dawsahak or Iddao Ishaak ("children of Isaac"). They speak a language related to Songhai, live in Ménaka Region in northeastern Mali and were formerly herders for Tuareg nobles. In addition, some migrated into the area away from the Muslim rule of North Africa.

The well-known 16th Century geographer Leo Africanus - an Andalusian Berber convert to Christianity - mentions a mysterious small village of African Jews southwest of Timbuktu, who traded in exotic spices, weapons, and poisons.[citation needed ]

The largest influx of Jews to Africa came after the Spanish Inquisition after the Fall of Granada and the end of Islamic Spain. The mass exodus and expulsion of the Iberian Jews began in 1492, Sicilian Jews were affected soon afterwards. Many of these Sephardi Jews settled primarily in the Maghreb under Muslim and Ottoman patronage. Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Algeria as well as Egypt became home to significant Jewish communities. These communities were later incorporated into the Ottoman millet system as Africanized Ottoman Jews, bound by the laws of the Talmud and Torah but with allegiance to the Caliph of Constantinople.

The Nyambo are a tribe that lives in Tanzania, northern Tanzania, and Southern Uganda as Ankole. Though they have been Christians for centuries, they assert they are descendants of Hebrews who arrived in the Horn of Africa long before the arrival of Somali nomads. Some say that Nyambo means "Hebrew" in their language.

In the 14th century many Moors and Jews, fleeing persecution in Spain, migrated south to the Timbuktu area, at that time part of the Songhai Empire. Among them was the Kehath (Ka'ti) family, descended from Ismael Jan Kot Al-yahudi of Scheida, Morocco. Sons of this prominent family founded three villages that still exist near Timbuktu- Kirshamba, Haybomo, and Kongougara. In 1492, Askia Muhammed came to power in the previously tolerant region of Timbuktu and decreed that Jews must convert to Islam or leave; Judaism became illegal in Songhai, as it did in Catholic Spain that same year. As the historian Leo Africanus wrote in 1526: "The king (Askia) is a declared enemy of the Jews. He will not allow any to live in the city. If he hears it said that a Berber merchant frequents them or does business with them, he confiscates his goods."

The Kehath family converted with the rest of the non-Muslim population. The Cohens, descended from the Moroccan Islamicized Jewish trader El-Hadj Abd-al-Salam al Kuhin, arrived in the Timbuktu area in the 18th century, and the Abana family came in the first half of the 19th century. According to Prof. Michel Abitbol, at the Center for the Research of Moroccan Jewry in Israel, in the late 19th century Rabbi Mordoche Aby Serour traveled to Timbuktu several times as a not-too-successful trader in ostrich feathers and ivory. Ismael Diadie Haidara, a historian from Timbuktu, has found old Hebrew texts among the city's historical records. He has also researched his own past and discovered that he is descended from the Moroccan Jewish traders of the Abana family. As he interviewed elders in the villages of his relatives, he has discovered that knowledge of the family's Jewish identity has been preserved, in secret, out of fear of persecution.

São Tomé e Príncipe

King Manuel I of Portugal exiled about 2,000 Jewish children under the age of ten, to São Tomé and Príncipe around 1500. Most died, but in the early 17th century "the local bishop noted with disgust that there were still Jewish observances on the island and returned to Portugal because of his frustration with them."[unreliable source? ] Although Jewish practices faded over subsequent centuries, there are people in São Tomé and Príncipe who are aware of partial descent from this population. Similarly, a number of Portuguese ethnic Jews were exiled to Sao Tome after forced conversions to Roman Catholicism. From São Tomé and by other means groups of Jews settled down the west coast of Africa, as far south as Loango.

Rabbi Yisrael Oriel, formerly Bodol Ngimbus-Ngimbus, was born into the Ba-Saa tribe. He says there were historically Jews in the area and that the word "Ba-Saa" is from the Hebrew for 'on a journey' and means "blessing". Rabbi Oriel claims to be a Levite descended from Moses and reportedly made aliya in 1988, and he was then apparently ordained as a rabbi by the Sephardic Chief Rabbi and appointed rabbi to Nigerian Jews.

Rabbi Oriel claims that in 1920 there were 400,000 'Israelites' in Cameroon, but by 1962 the number had decreased to 167,000 due to conversions to Christianity and Islam. He said that although these tribes had not been accepted halachically, he believes that he can prove their Jewish status from medieval rabbinic sources.

The father of Yaphet Kotto, an American actor, was a Cameroonian Jew. Kotto identified as Jewish.[citation needed ]

Côte d'Ivoire

Communities have been forming in Côte d'Ivoire in recent years and have been slowly growing throughout the region. The capitol city of Abidjan has two synagogues, each with a population of about 40-70 congregants. In addition, large groups of indigenous peoples referred to as Danites claim descent from the lost tribe of Dan and many from this ethnic group have shown interest in Judaic practices.

From the eighteenth century on what is now Ghana was a favorite locus for theories positing Israelite origins for various ethnic groups in the area. These theories were widespread and were taken up by powerful people in the twentieth century. The House of Israel community of Sefwi Wiawso, Sefwi Sui has identified as Jewish since the early 1970s. The Ga-Dangme tribe in the southern Region of Ghana assert that their ancestors are descendants of the tribe Gad and Dan who migrated south through Egypt. They observe many Hebraic traditions such as circumcision of their male child; they also cannot name their male child until he has been circumcised. They also have many ancient Jewish names that are traditional names.[citation needed ]

Theories suggesting Israelite origins particularly of the Masai abounded in the nineteenth century and were gradually absorbed into religious and societal practices throughout the area. The chief proponent of Masai Israelite origins was a German officer Moritz Merkel whose detailed research is still in use today. Of the many Judaic manifestations in the religious sphere is a small emergent community in Laikipia County, Kenya, which has abandoned Christianity and taken up Judaism. There are an estimated 5,000 of them at the present time. Although at first Messianic, they concluded that their beliefs were incompatible with Christianity and are now waiting to be instructed in traditional Judaism. Some of the younger children of this community have been sent to the Abayudaya schools in Uganda to be instructed in Judaism and other subjects. Luos in Kenya are another of the groups considered by some to be of Israelite origin. They claim to have migrated hundreds of years ago from the north along the river Nile from Egypt through South Sudan and then into Kenya.

In early modern times it was widely believed that Israelites had settled in Madagascar. Works by the French scholar Alfred Grandidier and Augustus Keane, the British professor of Hindustani at University College, London provided what they saw as conclusive proof of these ancient connections. These ideas were absorbed into the national consciousness of the people of Madagascar. In 2010 a small community of Malagasies began practicing normative Judaism, and three separate communities formed, each embracing a different version of Jewish spiritual practice. In May 2016, 121 members of the Malagasy Jewish community were converted in accordance with traditional Jewish rituals; appearing before a beit din and submerged in a mikvah. The conversion, organized with the help of the Jewish organization Kulanu, was presided over by three Orthodox rabbis.

Since the eighteenth century, there have been claims which state that the Igbo are of Jewish origin. At the present time, the existence of Israelite associations is mainly attributed to the Igbo, many of whom claim Israelite origins. Most of the Jews of Nigeria can be found among the Igbo ethnic group. Certain Nigerian communities with Judaic practices have been receiving help from individual Israelis and American Jews who work in Nigeria with outreach organizations like Kulanu. The number of Igbos in Nigeria who identify as Jews has been estimated to number around 4,000 (2016), along with 70 synagogues. Many have converted from Christianity. Other sources give a higher estimate, claiming that some 30,000 Igbos were practicing some form of Judaism in 2008.

For centuries, it was believed that Jews inhabited the central portions of Africa. Some Africans were keen to adopt Judaism in recent times. One of these was Samei Kakungulu, one of the most remarkable Ugandans of his generation, a brilliant military strategist and a man who had a great amount of spiritual and intellectual curiosity. In 1919, having declared that "we now will be known as Jews," he was circumcised along with his first son, whom he called Yuda. His second son was subsequently circumcised on the eighth day, in the Jewish fashion, and he was named Nimrod. In 1922, Kakungulu published a 90-page book, which was essentially a guide to Judaism. He died a Jew (albeit one with a residual belief in Jesus) and his followers in Mbale, who are known as the Abayudaya, continued to practice Judaism, despite the persecution which they were subjected to during the rule of Idi Amin, when many of them converted to Christianity or Islam, and today, they are some thousand strong. In the twenty first century, the Abayudaya are considered observant practitioners of Judaism, many of them have undergone formal Orthodox conversions, and they have forged strong links with Jewish communities in the United States and Israel, along with increasingly strong links with Black Jewish communities in Africa and elsewhere. In a relatively new movement, the Abayudaya of Uganda have converted to Judaism since 1917, influenced by the American William Saunders Crowdy, who claimed that African Americans were descended from the Jews.

A number of European Jews settled in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). At its peak in the early 1960s, there were 1,000 Jews living in the country, many in Livingstone. The number began to fall after independence and there were estimated to be around 50 remaining by 2012.

The Zimbabwe Jewish Community was mainly of British citizenship, whose arrival coincides with the first white colonists in the 1890s. At its peak in the early 1970s, it numbered some 7,500 people (80% were of Ashkenazi descent), who lived primarily in the two communities of Salisbury and Bulawayo. Smaller rural communities also existed for short periods in Que Que, Umtali and Gatooma. The community declined in part due to age, but most Jewish residents in Zimbabwe left after violence and social disruption. In 2007, the local Jewish community had declined to 270. The community had strong links with Israel. In 2003, the Bulawayo Shul was burnt down in an anti-Semitic act of violence.

The Lemba People

The Lemba,"wa-Remba", or "Mwenye" are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group which is native to Zimbabwe and South Africa, with smaller, little-known branches in Mozambique and Malawi. According to Tudor Parfitt, when he first worked in the field among the Lemba in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi in the 1980s, they numbered an estimated 50,000. They speak the same Bantu languages which their geographic neighbours speak and they also bare a physical resemblance to their geographic neighbors, but some of their religious practices and beliefs are similar to Jewish and Islamic practices and beliefs. According to Parfitt, the Lemba claim that they once had a book which described their traditions but it was lost.

Parfitt has suggested that the name "Lemba" may originate in chilemba, a Swahili word for the turbans which are worn by some Bantu men, or it may originate from lembi, a Bantu term for a "non-African" or a "respected foreigner". Magdel le Roux says that the name VaRemba may be translated as "the people who refuse" - probably in the context of "not eating with others" (according to one of her interviewees). In Zimbabwe and South Africa, the people prefer the name Mwenye.

They have a tradition of ancient Jewish or South Arabian descent through their male line. Genetic Y-DNA analyses in the 2000s have established a partially Middle-Eastern origin for a portion of the male Lemba population. More recent research argues that DNA studies do not support claims of a specifically Jewish genetic heritage.

According to the 2011 census carried out by Statistics Mauritius, there are 43 Jews in Mauritius.

1. שרון שלום, ^ מסיני לאתיופיה: עולמה ההלכתי והרעיוני של יהדות אתיופיה, כולל "שולחן האורית" - מדריך הלכתי לביתא ישראל, עורך אברהם ונגרובר, ידיעות ספרים, 2012

2. ^ "Ethiopia: Beit Avraham", Black Jews Official website, visited 22 November 2006

3. Bader, Christian. Les Yibro: Mages somali, Paris 2000, 129-144

4. Browne-Davies, Nigel, 'Jewish Merchants in Sierra Leone, 1831‐1934,' Journal of Sierra Leone Studies, Volume 6, Edition 2, pp 3-110, URL: ^ http://thejournalofsierraleonestudies.com/downloads/Version11.pdf

5. ^ People-in-County Profile: Dawsahak; D. J. Philips, Peoples on the Move, Pasadena, CA, 2001.

6. ^ The Renewal of Jewish Identity in Timbuktu by Karen Primack, on Kulanu's website. Viewed 22 November 2006. Archived 29 October 2005 at the Wayback Machine

7. Silva Horta, P. Mark and J. da ^ The Forgotten Diaspora: Jewish Communities in West Africa and the Making of the Atlantic World, (New York 2011); Parfitt, Tudor (2020) Hybrid Hate: Conflations of Anti-Black Racism and Anti-Semitism from the Renaissance to the Third Reich. New York: Oxford University Press.

8. Sussman, Bonita Nathan. "Kulanu: Developing Judaism in Cote d'Ivoire and Gabon". www.kulanu.org. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017.

9. Additional communities have emerged in Kasuku near the western part of the country after splitting off from Messianic movements. ^ Kenyan Hebrew converts celebrate Easter in style from the Kenyan Sunday Times newspaper. Accessed 22 November 2006.

10. "^ Kenyan political exile finds Jewish home, soul in S.F.", accessed from JewishSanFrancisco.com Archived 2 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine on 22 November 2006.

11. Josefson, Deborah (5 June 2016). "In remote Madagascar, a new community chooses to be Jewish". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

12. Parfitt, Tudor (2002) ^ The Lost Tribes of Israel: the History of a Myth. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson; Parfitt, Tudor Black Jews in Africa and the Americas, Harvard University Press (2013) pp.106-113.

13. ^ Kulanu website, especially relevant is the Nigeria page, which treats the Igbo question more extensively.

14. Sam Kestenbaum, 'Meet the Igbo, Nigeria's Lost Jewish Tribe,' The Forward 24 January 2016.

15. ^ Bruder, Edith (2008). The Black Jews of Africa: History, Religion, Identity. Oxford University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0195333565.

16. Henry Lubega, ^ "Mbale's Jews" Archived 17 May 2004 at the Wayback Machine, Uganda Mission, accessed 22 November 2006.

17. ^ Tutton, Mark (19 January 2012). "The forgotten story of Zambia's Jewish settlers". CNN.

18. Parfitt, Tudor. (2002), "The Lemba: An African Judaising Tribe", in Judaising Movements: Studies in the Margins of Judaism, edited by Parfitt, Tudor and Trevisan-Semi, E., London: Routledge Curzon, pp. 42-43

19. le Roux, Magdel (2003). The Lemba - A Lost Tribe of Israel in Southern Africa?. Pretoria: University of South Africa. pp. 209-224, 24, 37.

20. ^ Shimoni, Gideon (2003). Community and Conscience: the Jews in Apartheid South Africa. United States of America: Brandeis University Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-58465-329-5.

21. ^ Le Roux, Magdel (1999). "'Lost Tribes1 of Israel' in Africa? Some Observations on Judaising Movements in Africa, with Specific Reference to the Lemba in Southern Africa2". Religion and Theology. 6 (2): 111-139. doi:10.1163/157430199X00100.

22. ^ van Warmelo, N.J. (1966). "Zur Sprache und Herkunft der Lemba". Hamburger Beiträge zur Afrika-Kunde. Deutsches Institut für Afrika-Forschung. 5: 273, 278, 281-282.

23. ^ Spurdle, AB; Jenkins, T (November 1996), "The origins of the Lemba "Black Jews" of southern Africa: evidence from p12F2 and other Y-chromosome markers.", Am. J. Hum. Genet., 59 (5): 1126-33, PMC , PMID 8900243

24. ^ Kleiman, Yaakov (2004). DNA and Tradition - Hc: The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrews. Devora Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 1-930143-89-3.

25. Tofanelli Sergio, Taglioli Luca, Bertoncini Stefania, Francalacci Paolo, ^ Klyosov Anatole, Pagani Luca, "Mitochondrial and Y chromosome haplotype motifs as diagnostic markers of Jewish ancestry: a reconsideration", Frontiers in Genetics Volume 5, 2014, [1] DOI=10.3389/fgene.2014.00384

26. ^ Himla Soodyall; Jennifer G. R Kromberg (29 October 2015). "Human Genetics and Genomics and Sociocultural Beliefs and Practices in South Africa". In Kumar, Dhavendra; Chadwick, Ruth (eds.). Genomics and Society: Ethical, Legal, Cultural and Socioeconomic Implications. Academic Press/Elsevier. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-12-420195-8.

Blady, Ken: Jewish Communities in Exotic Places, Jerusalem, Jason Aronson.

Bruder, Édith: Black Jews of Africa, Oxford 2008.

Kurinsky, Samuel: Jews in Africa: Ancient Black African Relations, Fact Paper 19-II.

Dierk Lange: "Origin of the Yoruba and the "Lost Tribes of Israel", Anthropos, 106, 2011, 579-595.

Parfitt, Tudor (2002) The Lost Tribes of Israel: the History of a Myth. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

Parfitt, Tudor (2013) Black Jews in Africa and the Americas, Harvard University Press.

Parfitt, Tudor (2020) Hybrid Hate: Conflations of Anti-Black Racism and Anti-Semitism from the Renaissance to the Third Reich. New York: Oxford University Press.

Parfitt, Tudor and Egorova, Y. (2005) Genetics, Mass Media, and Identity: A Case Study of the Genetic Research on the Lemba and Bene Israel. London: Routledge.

Rosenthal, Monroe and Isaac Mozeson: Wars of the Jews: A Military History from Biblical to Modern Times, New York, Hipporcrene Books, 1990.

Sand, Jay: "The Jews of Africa", Image Magazine, 5 May 2009

Williams, Joseph J.: Hebrewisms of West Africa: From Nile to Niger With the Jews, Ney York, The Dial Press, 1931.

History of the Zimbabwe Jewish Community

Israel, Jonathan I. "The Jews of Spanish North Africa (1580-1669)" in Diasporas within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the World of Maritime Empires (1540-1740). Leiden: Brill 2002, pp. 151-184.

Israel, Jonathan I. "Piracy, Trade and Religion: The Jewish Role in the Rise of the Muslim Corsair Republic of Saleh (1624-1666)" in Diasporas within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the World of Maritime Empires (1540-1740). Leiden: Brill 2002, pp. 291-312.

Israel, Jonathan I. "Tangiers, Sephardic Jewry and English Imperial Ambitions in the Maghreb (1661-1684)" in Diasporas within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the World of Maritime Empires (1540-1740). Leiden: Brill 2002, pp. 421-448.

Jews in Africa: Part 1 The Berbers and the Jews, by Sam Timinsky (Hebrew History Federation)

Tarikh es Soudan, Paris, 1900, by Abderrahman ben-Abdall es-Sadi (trad. O. Houdas)

The Jews of Timbuktu, Washington Jewish Week, 30 December 1999, by Rick Gold

Les Juifs à Tombouctou, or Jews of Timbuktu, Recueil de sources écrites relatives au commerce juif à Tombouctou au XIXe siècle, Editions Donniya, Bamako, 1999 by Professor Ismael Diadie Haidara

Mark, Peter and José da Silva Horta, The Forgotten Diaspora: Jewish Communities in West Africa and the Making of the Atlantic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2011.

Joseph Eidelberg "Bambara (A PROTO-HEBREW LANGUAGE?)" https://josepheidelberg.com/blog/

Remy Ilona: Igbos, Jews in Africa?, (Volume 1), Mega Press Limited, Abuja, Nigeria, 2004.

Charles K. Meek: Northern Tribes of Nigeria, Volume 1, Oxford, p. 66.

Kannan K. Nair: Origins and Development of Efik Settlements in Southeastern Nigeria. 1Ohio University, Center for International, 1975.

Eze Okafor-Ogbaji: Jews of Nigeria: The Aro Empire,

Stigma "Gojjam": The Abyssinian Pariah Orits, Guihon Books, University of Geneva, 1993, by Muse Tegegne

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
History of the Jews in Africa - Wikipedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
African Jewish communities include: Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews who primarily live in the Maghreb of North Africa, including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia, as well as Sudan and Egypt. Some were established early in the diaspora; others after the expulsion from Iberia in the late 15th century.

# data[].attributes.body
I use this every year.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OT2GCL-EEEAOmfHqAJtIMDb-OffO8Zso6phfKb4pI_c/edit?usp=sharing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Elana Rubin Explains What "Pansexual" Means | InQueery | them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"I ask for the movement to continue, for the movement to grow, because last week I got a phone call from Altoona, Pennsylvania, and my election gave somebody else, one more person, hope... You gotta give 'em hope." - Harvey Milk

What is Harvey Milk Day?
Harvey Milk Day is a day to educate your school about an extraordinary leader whose courageous work to end discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in the 1970s set the stage for many of the civil rights advances we see today.
Who was Harvey Milk?
Harvey Milk was an activist, organizer, and the first openly gay man elected to public office in the country as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the late 1970s. Harvey Milk came out and started organizing against discrimination of gay and lesbian business owners in the Castro District of San Francisco, and against the Briggs Initiative (this was an initiative on the California state ballot in 1978 that would have banned gays and lesbians from working in California schools). Milk was responsible for passing gay rights ordinances for the city of San Francisco and served eleven months in office before he was assassinated on November 27, 1978, along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. We celebrate Harvey Milk Day on his birthday, May 22.
New Resources for Teachers
The California Safe Schools Coalition, GSA Network, and Our Family Coalition have come together to create a website for educators to access curriculum about Harvey Milk.

The website features a new Harvey Milk Day curriculum suitable for teaching high school students, in addition to existing curriculum already in use in elementary schools. This includes a short educational biography of Harvey Milk, curricula organized by grade level, resources and links for Harvey Milk books and movies, and the ability for teachers to submit curricula they have developed for their own classes and others.

For more information, please visit: www.safeschoolscoalition.org/harveymilkday/

GSAs: How can you celebrate Harvey Milk Day?

See how GSAs across California celebrate Harvey Milk Day.

Inform:

Ask your school to have an announcement on the PA system about Harvey Milk Day. Include who he was, what he did, and why remembering him is important for you and your school.

Hold an assembly to celebrate Harvey Milk, and use it as a time to educate your peers about LGBT issues and the impact that Harvey Milk had on our community.

Invite speakers who can either talk about Harvey Milk's impact in the 1970s or the relevance of his work today.

Encourage your teachers to have a class discussion on Harvey Milk and the LGBT civil rights movement. In History or Social Sciences classes, you may ask to devote either a portion or an entire class to talking about past LGBT community leaders and other civil rights leaders from the 1970s.

Have an LGBT teach in, take over the cafeteria or study hall and teach about Harvey Milk and other LGBT leaders.

Consider working with other students or groups on campus to expand Harvey Milk Day into an entire "Forgotten History Week." Have discussions, show movies, or make posters about other important historical leaders who seem to have been forgotten.

Show the movies "The Times of Harvey Milk," "Castro" (which aired on PBS), or "Milk" to your GSA, in a History or Social Sciences class, or to the whole school and hold a discussion afterward. Consider screening one of these movies after school, during lunch, or making it into a weeklong series.

Mobilize:

Create a poster campaign for your school (you can use the GLBT History Month site at www.glbthistorymonth.com for more information). Make posters highlighting Harvey Milk and bring attention to other figures in the LGBT and other civil rights movements.

Make buttons, stickers, or t-shirts expressing support for Harvey Milk and the LGBT community.

Write an article for your school paper about Harvey Milk and what his story means to you.

More Tips for Planning & Having a Successful Harvey Milk Day

Before

Make a Plan: Your GSA should prepare for how exactly you want to approach the day and what you want it to consist of.

Create a Timeline: After deciding on your club's goal, you should make a timeline so that everyone knows what needs to be done. Be sure to include who is in charge of each item and when it needs to be finished.

Get More People Involved: Try to get as many people as possible aware of the event and involved in participating. You could do that by sending out e-mail announcements, advertising in the school newspaper, putting up flyers and posters, and of course by word of mouth.

Get Teachers/Administrators/Staff Involved: Find out if staff are interested in participating and schedule a meeting with your principal!

Build Coalitions/Build Bridges: Consider including other school clubs that may be interested in collaborating on the event.

Issue a Press Release: Let the local media know about what you are doing to honor Harvey Milk. Describe the events at your school, history of the event, and use some quotes from GSA members about why you are doing the event. Be sure to include a phone number for how a reporter can reach your group to follow-up for interviews.

Be Prepared! Have a meeting to discuss positive ways to handle harassment from non-participants. Be prepared to have spokespersons from your group who can speak about the event.

During

Announce the Event: Post an announcement in the daily bulletin or through the PA system at school explaining the event and requesting that all staff and students be respectful of the students participating in the project.

Coordinate Volunteers: Ask people to help setup your event. Make sure that you have enough people for setup, monitoring the event, and cleanup.

Provide Resources: Have a resource spot or staffed table where people can find info about your GSA or other LGBTQ groups and resources.

Organize Visual Displays: Organize a visual display such as having your participants wear a sticker or T-shirt, or put up posters all over campus explaining the event.

After

Continue the Education: Host a discussion about how to raise awareness about Harvey Milk and other LGBT activists every day as opposed to one day out of the year.

Evaluate the Day: Evaluate the successes of the day and discuss what improvements could be made for next year.

Additional Resources

Frequently Asked Questions about Harvey Milk Day

What is law for Harvey Milk Day?

In 2009, the State of California officially designated May 22 as "Harvey Milk Day." Education Code section 37222 now recognizes May 22 as Harvey Milk Day, and says that "public schools and educational institutions are encouraged to observe those days and to conduct suitable commemorative exercises . . . remembering the life of Harvey Milk, recognizing his accomplishments, and familiarizing pupils with the contributions he made to this state." Download a copy of the law here.
What does this mean for your school?
The law does not require your school to celebrate Harvey Milk Day, but the law should allow you (as a teacher or a student) to celebrate the day in a variety of ways.
I'm a teacher and I'd like to talk about Harvey Milk in a class:
If you teach a subject in which discussion of Harvey Milk would be appropriate (such as History or Social Sciences) or if you are teaching students in a neutral context such as homeroom, then you should be able to add in a discussion of Harvey Milk as a celebration of Harvey Milk Day.
I'm a student and I'd like to do a presentation about Harvey Milk in a class:
Your teacher will need to give you permission to do a special presentation, but you should use the law to argue that such a presentation is appropriate. If Harvey Milk fits into an assignment you already have (such as an assignment to write about an historical figure), then you must be allowed to do the assignment on Harvey Milk - including a presentation.
My GSA would like to commemorate Harvey Milk Day publicly at school - in an assembly or by showing a movie:
You should ask your school to sponsor the assembly or the movie, and you should show them the law to explain why they should sponsor. If your school refuses, you should check the rules as to how clubs can call assemblies/show movies - the school must apply the same rules to the GSA as to any other non-curricular student club.
My GSA would like to put up posters about our planned commemoration of Harvey Milk Day:
You should try to get special permission from your school to put up posters about the commemoration, showing your school the law. If your school doesn't give you special permission, it still has to let you put up posters in the same places that other non-curricular clubs can put up posters (so, if the drama club can put up posters for a play, you can put up posters for your Harvey Milk Day commemoration).
For more information:
On your free speech and other rights, look at this guide.

If your school is not letting you celebrate Harvey Milk Day, please contact GSA Network for additional assistance.
Thanks to the ACLU of Northern California for answering these questions about Harvey Milk Day

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"I ask for the movement to continue, for the movement to grow, because last week I got a phone call from Altoona, Pennsylvania, and my election gave somebody else, one more person, hope... You gotta give 'em hope." - Harvey Milk What is Harvey Milk Day?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shamir Explains the History of the Word 'Agender' | InQueery | them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Date: May 2, 2021

Location: Around the World!

All over the world, more and more children are growing up in families where one or both of their parents identify as LGBTQ+. Yet, each of these "rainbow families" has very different lived equality experiences, often depending not only on what country they live in but what street they live on. In some countries, our families enjoy equal rights and social recognition but in far too many others both parents and their children face overt discrimination and have to live under a constant threat of violence.

By celebrating International Family Equality Day (IFED), Family Equality and our partners across the globe raise awareness among politicians and the general public about the need for equal treatment and recognition for all families, regardless of the sexual orientation or gender identity of their family's members.

Learn more about IFED

Find more information about the growth of International Family Equality Day around the world at the IFED website.

International Family Equality Day 2021
Theme: Families - Being Our Authentic Best
Learn more about the 2021 celebration here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
International Family Equality Day - Family Equality

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Date: May 2, 2021 Location: Around the World! All over the world, more and more children are growing up in families where one or both of their parents identify as LGBTQ+. Yet, each of these "rainbow families" has very different lived equality experiences, often depending not only on what country they live in but what street they live on.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health is the organization’s third annual, cross-sectional national survey of LGBTQ youth across the United States. We hope this report elevates the voices and experiences of diverse LGBTQ youth, providing insights that can be used by r…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Jeanne Manford, mother of a gay son, was a co-founder of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in 1973.

Miriam Ben-Shalom, an openly lesbian sergeant in the U.S. Army, spent decades fighting for LGBT rights in the military.

Retired Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts served as the first openly gay member of the U.S. House of Representatives, coming out in 1987.

Joy Ladin, a poet, author, and Yeshiva University professor, is the first openly transgender person employed at an Orthodox Jewish institution.

Harvey Milk was a pioneering leader and one of the the first openly gay people elected to public office, and was assassinated a year after taking office.

Faygele ben Miriam, also known as John Singer, together with Paul Barwick, attempted to get the first same-sex marriage license in Seattle in 1971.

Author Leslea Newman's often-banned Heather Has Two Mommies was the first children's book to portray lesbian families in a positive way.

Edie Windsor successfully sued the U.S. government for recognition of her Canadian marriage to her late wife, Thea Spyer, ultimately overturning the "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) with her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan.

LGBT Achievements in Judaism

Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST), established in 1973, is the world's largest LGBT synagogue, led by Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum since 1992.

Rabbi Rebecca Alpert and Dr. Judith Plaskow have advocated through scholarship for feminist and LGBT-inclusive liturgy and ritual.

Rabbi Steven Greenberg, educated at Yeshiva University and author of Wrestling with God and Men, is considered the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi.

Trembling Before G-d, a 2001 film by Sandi Simcha Dubowski, was the first film to explore the lives of LGBT Orthodox Jews.

Rabbi Reuven Zelman became the first openly transgender rabbinical student in 2003, and in 2006, Rabbi Elliot Kukla became the first openly transgender rabbi, both at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Congregation Shaar Zahav of San Francisco published Siddur Shaar Zahav, the first Jewish LGBT prayer book, in 2009.

In 2015, Rabbi Denise Eger became the first openly gay or lesbian rabbi to head the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Georgette Kennebrae and Sandra Lawson are both African American, openly lesbian rabbinical students at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, with ordination set respectively for 2017 and 2018.

On the shelves

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Celebrating Jewish LGBT Pride | The New York Public Library

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Jeanne Manford, mother of a gay son, was a co-founder of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in 1973. Miriam Ben-Shalom, an openly lesbian sergeant in the U.S. Army, spent decades fighting for LGBT rights in the military. Retired Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts served as the first openly gay member of the U.S.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Students thrive when they see positive reflections of themselves in their curriculum. For Asian LGBTQ students, this means learning about and honoring history, people, and events related to their intersectional identity as both Asian/Pacific Islander and LGBTQ.

Throughout Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, GLSEN's National Student Council members Sarah Bunn and Marcus Breed used GLSEN's Instagram to share the queer API icons who've made an impact on their lives. See their posts below and add your own icon to the conversation with #APIqueericons on Twitter or Instagram. Don't forget to tag GLSEN!

Although May is officially API heritage Month, Asian and Pacific Islander LGBTQ identities should be part of an inclusive school curriculum all year round. Visit glsen.org/aapi for more info and resources about supporting Asian LGBTQ students.

For more icons, resources, and a timeline of AAPI queer historical events, visit glsen.org/aapi!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Queer Asian and Pacific Islander Icons Who Make an Impact on LGBTQ Youth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Students thrive when they see positive reflections of themselves in their curriculum. For Asian LGBTQ students, this means learning about and honoring history, people, and events related to their intersectional identity as both Asian/Pacific Islander and LGBTQ.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
About the awards

Honoring East And Southeast Asian Titles for Children and Young Adults

National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the Committee on Teaching about Asia (CTA) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and Asia for Educators (AFE) at Columbia University sponsor the annual Freeman Book Awards for new young adult and children's literature. The awards recognize quality books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of East and Southeast Asia. Awards are given in two categories: Children's and Young Adult on the several countries of East and Southeast Asia.

Learn More Submission Guidelines

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
About the awards National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the Committee on Teaching about Asia (CTA) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and Asia for Educators (AFE) at Columbia University sponsor the annual Freeman Book Awards for new young adult and children's literature.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Featured Book Resources for Teaching about East Asia

The lists below include recommended titles of children's and young adult literature .

Young Adult / Middle School Literature

Young Adult / High School Literature

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The lists below include recommended titles of children's and young adult literature . Young Adult / Middle School Literature Young Adult / High School Literature

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Our (Upgraded) EAGLE has Landed!

We are very excited to let you know that the upgrade of our EAGLE website was a success! The EAGLE (East Asia Gateway for Linking Educators), is NCTA’s online teacher-oriented database of books, movies, curriculum materials, photographs and lesson plans on East Asia. The new and improved EAGLE will now have greater functionality, including a more intuitive and adaptive search function for books, materials, and lesson plans. We have also bolstered the material Reviews to make it easier for educators to share their insights on the usefulness and classroom appropriateness of the materials in the EAGLE. As a reminder, all of the lesson plans and photographs on the EAGLE are free for you to download and use.

If you already have an account on the EAGLE, then the next time you visit and log in you'll need to reset your password. It won't take more than two minutes.

If you don't have an account, then there's never been a better time to sign up for one!

Welcome to the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia (NCTA) at the University of Pittsburgh

For over 20 years, the nationwide network of NCTA sites has worked with thousands of K-12 educators to provide high-quality professional development opportunities. Funded by the Freeman Foundation, NCTA gets teachers quickly up to speed on the histories, arts, cultures, politics, languages and literatures of East Asia, with a particular focus on China, Japan and Korea.  The core of our professional development opportunities are our 36-hour seminars for educators, taught by university faculty throughout our eleven state region of Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. In addition to our core seminars, we also host other professional development opportunities, such as workshops, webinars, online book discussions, and study tours to East Asia. We look forward to working with you.

Upcoming Events

New to NCTA?

The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) funded by the Freeman Foundation and launched in 1998, is a nationwide initiative to... New to NCTA?

Find a seminar in your state

The NCTA coordinating site at Pitt serves an 11 state region from Maryland to Minnesota. If you are  K-12 educator looking for a seminar about... Find A Seminar in Your State!

NCTA National

NCTA at Pitt is just one of the coordinating sites within the Unites States. NCTA is a nationwide initiative, supported by the Freeman Foundation,... Visit NCTA National Site

Benefits for K-12 Educators

Benefits for K-12 teachers who complete all the requirements of the NCTA seminars vary according to the type of NCTA seminar taken (the 30-hours... Benefits for Teachers

Study in Asia

NCTA alumni are eligible for a variety of summer experiences in East Asia sponsored by both the University of Pittsburgh coordinating site and the... Learn More

EAGLE

The East Asia Gateway for Linking Educators (EAGLE) Is an online database of materials for NCTA teachers, a media collection database, and the blog... Learn More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We are very excited to let you know that the upgrade of our EAGLE website was a success! The EAGLE (East Asia Gateway for Linking Educators), is NCTA’s online teacher-oriented database of books, movies, curriculum materials, photographs and lesson plans on East Asia. The new and improved EAGLE will…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
From modern classics to new releases, these stellar Asian, Pacific Islander and Asian American books belong on your to-read list

Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature. We may earn a commission from your purchases.

Must-read Asian and Asian American books

Growing up in the 1990s in the United States, I never saw myself represented as the main character. I assumed people who looked like me and my Korean American immigrant family were destined to be sidekicks or punchlines to jokes. But diverse representation is crucial to both learning about perspectives that are different from our own and teaching our communities that our stories and voices matter. For the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, the increasing number of Asian American books, Asian movies and Asian American podcasts seem to get us closer to what Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen calls "narrative plentitude"-a world in which there are many stories (both good and bad) about many different kinds of people, a world in which looking beyond stereotypes and ending anti-Asian racism is possible.

Yet despite a surge in such stories over the past several years, we're not quite there yet. There's still much work to be done. Asian American literature is an enormous category spanning multiple genres and cultures, many of which are still experiencing "narrative scarcity." After all, we are not a monolith; the AAPI community encompasses hundreds of ethnic groups of East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander descent.

For 2023, we've compiled 35 books for you that are indicative of the multitudes of these stories, from critically acclaimed bestsellers to culturally significant groundbreakers. May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and while you can help the Asian American community by supporting Asian-owned companies, it's also the perfect time to start reading books by AAPI authors, if you haven't yet. If you like this roundup, be sure to check out our lists of the best books, books by Black authors, books by Latinx authors, Native American books and children's books about diversity!
Join the free for great reads, monthly discussions, author Q&As and a community of book lovers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
25 Books by Asian and Pacific Islander Authors Everyone Should Read

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From modern classics to new releases, these stellar Asian, Pacific Islander and Asian American books belong on your to-read list Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature. We may earn a commission from your purchases. Growing up in the 1990s in the United States, I never saw myself represented as the main character.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
May is Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month-a celebration of Asian and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Much like Black History and Women's History celebrations, APA Heritage Month originated in...

Read about Fred Korematsu and other famous Asian Americans. Find out the history of the fortune cookie, chopsticks, tea, Feng Shui, manga, anime, and more.

Find out about the origins of APA Heritage Month, view a timeline of Asian-American History, get information about Japanese relocation centers and famous firsts of Asian Americans, and more.

As immigrants from Asia or the Pacific Islands arrived in the U.S., they often moved into already established ethnic communities where common language and culture made them feel at home. Read about these enclaves.

Test your knowledge of Asian-American history, leaders, entertainers, and influences with these quizzes and crosswords.

Find population and demographic information and immigration statistics and read about Asian languages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
May is Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month-a celebration of Asian and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Much like Black History and Women's History celebrations, APA Heritage Month originated in... Read about Fred Korematsu and other famous Asian Americans. Find out the history of the fortune cookie, chopsticks, tea, Feng Shui, manga, anime, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Defense Department pays tribute to the contributions and dedicated service of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, past and present, in defense of the nation during May and throughout the year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Defense Department pays tribute to the contributions and dedicated service of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, past and present, in defense of the nation during May and throughout the year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Asian Americans is a five-hour film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse, and more divided, while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate and personal lives, the series will cast a new lens on U.S.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
AAPI Heritage Month for kids: 9 fun activities for learning and celebrating

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teach kids the importance of Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Heritage Month with these engaging and meaningful books, movies and other creative ideas and activities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids.

This Teacher's Guide offers a collection of lessons and resources for K-12 social studies, literature, and arts classrooms that center around the experiences, achievements, and perspectives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across U.S. history.
(Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center)
Visit the site

Image credit: Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2022 - For Teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Paying tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America's history and are instrumental in its future success.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The book list includes titles on Asian Americans and Asia for children, young adults, and educators.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Word of Mouth: Asian American Artists Sharing Recipes features original recipes and stories from 23 Asian American and Asian diasporic artists from across the United States with contributions ranging from Los Angeles-based performance artist Kristina Wong's "Recipe for Political Action: The Auntie Sewing Squad" to New Orleans-based painter Francis Wong's family's Chinese restaurant recipe for stir fry Szechuan alligator. Conceived during the twin pressures of spring 2020 COVID-19 lockdown and in response to the rise in anti-Asian bigotry, this cookbook features original recipe illustrations by Laura Kina and Jave Yoshimoto as well as by contributing artists HyeGyeong Choi, heather c. lou, and Mia Matlock. Nathan Kawanishi is the cookbook graphic designer. Yvonne Fang is the web designer and programmer for the VAAAM special exhibition.

Each recipe comes with a backstory from the artist reflecting how their Asian American cuisine has been impacted by histories of war, migration, relocation, labor, and mixing and how we have used food to care, connect, build, and sustain diverse communities in our personal lives and artistic practices. Along with each recipe, is a featured artwork and the artist's bio. The artists included in this book represent a diverse range of emerging, mid-career, and established artists.

Taking inspiration from community cookbooks many of us grew up with, this artists' cookbook archives a specific moment of uncertainty during the pandemic when some of us, with the luxury of working remotely, found ourselves finding solace in food and spending inordinate amounts of time in the kitchen to keep our hands and minds busy. Others faced economic and food insecurity and yet still found the capacity to use their creativity to feed others in need and provide mutual aid. This pandemic cookbook project was a way to stay in touch, meet new artists, and build community during a time of isolation, grief, and loss.
About the authors: Laura Kina and Jave Yoshimoto were summer 2019 Artists-In-Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans during Hurricane Barry but the real storm would come during summer 2020 when they both experienced major health and personal traumas. They share a love of painting, cooking, and eating with other artists to get through tough times.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Word of Mouth - Asian American Artists Sharing Recipes - Virtual Asian-American Artists Museum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Word of Mouth: Asian American Artists Sharing Recipes features original recipes and stories from 23 Asian American and Asian diasporic artists from across the United States with contributions ranging from Los Angeles-based performance artist Kristina Wong's "Recipe for Political Action: The Auntie Sewing Squad" to New Orleans-based painter Francis Wong's family's Chinese restaurant recipe for stir fry Szechuan alligator.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
So you read Kelly Yang's book and loved it - now you're on the hunt for books like Front Desk? Welcome!

Recommending readalikes can be a tricky process, but as I said in the first post in this series, I enjoy the process of finding similar threads running through even books that appear different on the surface. Today's pick is Kelly Yang's Front Desk, a bestselling book about an immigrant Chinese girl who often mans the front desk at the motel where her parents work. Mia is also passionate about writing and achieves several seemingly impossible goals throughout the story.

Front Desk is the first in a series of three books. The next two books are Three Keys and Room to Dream, which are definitely books to read if you loved Front Desk.

Front Desk | Three Keys | Room to Dream

Here's my readalike criterion: Each book I recommend must have at least three strong similarities with the beloved title. For this post, I've included books featuring strong female (and one male) protagonists immigrating from a foreign country, with a creative passion, and finding new friends and a sense of belonging, while advocating for an issue close to their hearts.

9 Books Like Front Desk

Here are 9 books like Front Desk:

Measuring Up
Published: October 27, 2020
Twelve-year-old Cici has just moved from Taiwan to Seattle, and the only thing she wants more than to fit in at her new school is to celebrate her grandmother, A-má's, seventieth birthday together.

Since she can't go to A-má, Cici cooks up a plan to bring A-má to her by winning the grand prize in a kids' cooking contest to pay for A-má's plane ticket! There's just one problem: Cici only knows how to cook Taiwanese food.

And after her pickled cucumber debacle at lunch, she's determined to channel her inner Julia Child. Can Cici find a winning recipe to reunite with A-má, a way to fit in with her new friends, and somehow find herself too?

It Ain't So Awful, Falafel
Published: May 3, 2016
Zomorod (Cindy) Yousefzadeh is the new kid on the block . . . for the fourth time. California's Newport Beach is her family's latest perch, and she's determined to shuck her brainy loner persona and start afresh with a new Brady Bunch name-Cindy. It's the late 1970s, and fitting in becomes more difficult as Iran makes U.S. headlines with protests, revolution, and finally the taking of American hostages. Even mood rings and puka shell necklaces can't distract Cindy from the anti-Iran sentiments that creep way too close to home. A poignant yet lighthearted middle grade debut from the author of the best-selling Funny in Farsi.

Other Word for Home
Published: May 28, 2019
Jude never thought she'd be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.

At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven't quite prepared her for starting school in the US-and her new label of "Middle Eastern," an identity she's never known before.

But this life also brings unexpected surprises-there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.

Unsettled
Published: May 11, 2021
When her family moves from Pakistan to Peachtree City, all Nurah wants is to blend in, yet she stands out for all the wrong reasons. Nurah's accent, floral-print kurtas, and tea-colored skin make her feel excluded, until she meets Stahr at swimming tryouts.

And in the water Nurah doesn't want to blend in. She wants to win medals like her star athlete brother, Owais-who is going through struggles of his own in the U.S. Yet when sibling rivalry gets in the way, she makes a split-second decision of betrayal that changes their fates.

Ultimately Nurah slowly gains confidence in the form of strong swimming arms, and also gains the courage to stand up to bullies, fight for what she believes in, and find her place.

Lety Out Loud
Published: February 26, 2019
Can Lety find her voice before it's too late?Lety Muñoz's first language is Spanish, and she likes to take her time putting her words together. She loves volunteering at the Furry Friends Animal Shelter because the dogs and cats there don't care if she can't always find the right word.When the shelter needs a volunteer to write animal profiles, Lety jumps at the chance.

But grumpy classmate Hunter also wants to write profiles - so now they have to work as a team. Hunter's not much of a team player, though. He devises a secret competition to decide who will be the official shelter scribe. Whoever helps get their animals adopted the fastest wins. The loser scoops dog food.Lety reluctantly agrees, but she's worried that if the shelter finds out about the contest, they'll kick her out of the volunteer program. Then she'll never be able to adopt Spike, her favorite dog at the shelter!A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2019A New York Public Library Best Book of 2019A 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Award Book

Indian No More
Published: December 10, 2019
Regina Petit's family has always been Umpqua, and living on the Grand Ronde reservation is all ten-year-old Regina has ever known. Her biggest worry is that Sasquatch may actually exist out in the forest. But when the federal government signs a bill into law that says Regina's tribe no longer exists, Regina becomes "Indian no more" overnight-even though she was given a number by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that counted her as Indian, even though she lives with her tribe and practices tribal customs, and even though her ancestors were Indian for countless generations.

With no good jobs available in Oregon, Regina's father signs the family up for the Indian Relocation program and moves them to Los Angeles. Regina finds a whole new world in her neighborhood on 58th Place. She's never met kids of other races, and they've never met a real Indian. For the first time in her life, Regina comes face to face with the viciousness of racism, personally and toward her new friends.

Meanwhile, her father believes that if he works hard, their family will be treated just like white Americans. But it's not that easy. It's 1957 during the Civil Rights Era. The family struggles without their tribal community and land. At least Regina has her grandmother, Chich, and her stories. At least they are all together.

In this moving middle-grade novel drawing upon Umpqua author Charlene Willing McManis's own tribal history, Regina must find out: Who is Regina Petit? Is she Indian? Is she American? And will she and her family ever be okay?

Pie in the Sky
Published: May 14, 2019
When Jingwen moves to a new country, he feels like he's landed on Mars. School is torture, making friends is impossible since he doesn't speak English, and he's often stuck looking after his (extremely irritating) little brother, Yanghao.

To distract himself from the loneliness, Jingwen daydreams about making all the cakes on the menu of Pie in the Sky, the bakery his father had planned to open before he unexpectedly passed away. The only problem is his mother has laid down one major rule: the brothers are not to use the oven while she's at work. As Jingwen and Yanghao bake elaborate cakes, they'll have to cook up elaborate excuses to keep the cake making a secret from Mama.

The Turtle of Oman
Published: August 26, 2014
This accessible, exquisite novel shines with gentle humor and explores themes of moving, family, nature, and immigration. It tells the story of Aref Al-Amri, who must say good-bye to everything and everyone he loves in his hometown of Muscat, Oman, as his family prepares to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan. This is acclaimed poet and National Book Award Finalist Naomi Shihab Nye's first novel set in the Middle East since her acclaimed Habibi.

Aref Al-Amri does not want to leave Oman. He does not want to leave his elementary school, his friends, or his beloved grandfather, Siddi. He does not want to live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his parents will go to graduate school. His mother is desperate for him to pack his suitcase, but he refuses. Finally, she calls Siddi for help. But rather than pack, Aref and Siddi go on a series of adventures. They visit the camp of a thousand stars deep in the desert, they sleep on Siddi's roof, they fish in the Gulf of Oman and dream about going to India, and they travel to the nature reserve to watch the sea turtles. At each stop, Siddi finds a small stone that he later slips into Aref's suitcase-mementos of home.

Naomi Shihab Nye's warmth, attention to detail, and belief in the power of empathy and connection shines from every page. Features black-and-white spot art and decorations by Betsy Peterschmidt.

Bounce Back
Published: October 19, 2021
Lilico's life in Japan is going well. She has great friends and is the captain of the school's basketball team. She's happy!

Then comes her parents' news: they're moving to America! Before she knows it, Lilico finds herself in Brooklyn, New York, forced to start all over. And that won't be easy with her closest friends thousands of miles away or a school bully who immediately dislikes her.

Luckily, anime-loving Nala and Henry eventually befriend Lilico and with help from them―along with her guardian spirit who looks a lot like her cat, Nico―Lilico just might figure out where she fits in.
Which of these books have you read and enjoyed? I'm looking forward to reading the third book in the Front Desk series!
Find More Readalikes

Pin This Post - Books Like Front Desk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
9 Books Like Front Desk (Books to Read If You Loved Front Desk)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
So you read Kelly Yang's book and loved it - now you're on the hunt for books like Front Desk? Welcome! Recommending readalikes can be a tricky process, but as I said in the first post in this series, I enjoy the process of finding similar threads running through even books that appear different on the surface.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Join us for a peek behind the screens - brand-new virtual tours led by Asian Art Museum curators showcase favorite objects, uncover hidden histories, and give you a taste of all we offer, from the oldest artworks in San Francisco to the city's best new murals.

Grab your preferred device, curl up on the couch, and embark on an illuminating tour through different museum galleries. With YouTube as your portal, and a specialist to guide you, you'll have close-up encounters with works from our world-famous collection, revisit recent exhibitions, and preview new contemporary installations.

Focusing on a single subject at a time, each 20-minute tour is led by an expert who shares insights into millennia of craft and creativity and reveals the stories behind the art.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Art Escapes: Virtual Tours Through Asia - Asian Art Museum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Join us for a peek behind the screens - brand-new virtual tours led by Asian Art Museum curators showcase favorite objects, uncover hidden histories, and give you a taste of all we offer, from the oldest artworks in San Francisco to the city's best new murals.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Chef Peter Chang Visits Paint Branch High School - AAPI Heritage Month 2023

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America's history and are instrumental in its future success.

Brought to you by:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2023

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Paying tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America's history and are instrumental in its future success.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
National Arab American Heritage Month

During the month of April, the Arab America Foundation formally recognizes the achievements of Arab Americans through the celebration of National Arab American Heritage Month (NAAHM). Across the country, cultural institutions, school districts, municipalities, state legislatures, public servants, and non-profit organizations issue proclamations and engage in special events that celebrate our community's rich heritage and numerous contributions to society.

Arab America and the Arab America Foundation launched the National Arab American Heritage Month initiative in 2017, with just a handful of states recognizing the initiative. Each year, our grass-roots network of over 250 Arab American volunteers in 26 states gathers hundreds of proclamations from their states, counties, municipalities, and local school districts. If you would like to join a state team please contact Dr. Amal David .

The President of the United States recognized the month of April as National Arab American Heritage Month with a special commemorative letter to our organization. In 2022, Congress, the U.S. Department of State, and 45 state governors issued proclamations commemorating the initiative. Additionally, the following states have passed permanent legislation designating the month of April as NAAHM: Illinois; Indiana (Senate). Oregon; Virginia; and
President Joe Biden Issues Historic Proclamation Recognizing National Arab American Heritage Month-April 2023 Letter from President Biden Congratulating Arab America and Arab America Foundation U.S. State Department Issues Statement Proclaiming National Arab American Heritage Month Proclamations Issued for National Arab American Heritage Month in April 2023 (Updated Daily)
In assisting companies and organizations to fulfill their DEI goals, our Educator's Curriculum Kit highlights the history of Arab migration to America, geographic understanding of the Arab world, Arab American diversity in faith and language, interesting customs and traditions, issues affecting our community, and our many achievements in business, politics, education, and more. We also offer DEI Certification with a virtual or in-person workshop for employees. If you have questions about our curriculum kit or are interested in our DEI certification workshop, call 877-272-2944 or email Dr. Amal David.

In April of each year, the Arab America Foundation hosts a national event in Washington DC commemorating National Arab American Heritage Month. The event is attended by members of Congress, state and local leaders, and members of the Arab American community. The event highlights the Arab heritage and culture featuring: arts, cuisine, music, and dance. For sponsorship information regarding future events, contact Warren David.
National Arab American Heritage Month Commemoration Event, Wednesday, April 26, 2023, Washington DC Click Here for Sponsorship and DEI Opportunities Press Release, National Arab American Heritage Month 2023 The Origin of National Arab American Heritage Month: History and Legacy Suggested Corporate DEI Activities and Best Practices for National Arab American Heritage Month Recognition of National Arab American Heritage Month Goes Mainstream!
Past Events
National Arab American Heritage Month Event, April 2022 National Arab American Heritage Month Event, April 2021 National Arab American Heritage Month Event, April 2020 National Arab American Heritage Month Event, April 2019 National Arab American Heritage Month Event, April 2018 National Arab American Heritage Month Event, April 2017
Educational Resources
NAAHM 2023 Educator's Curriculum Kit Download National Arab American Heritage Month 2023 Logo Download National Arab American Heritage Month Banner Click Here for Sponsorship and DEI Opportunities
Proclamation Resources
2023 Arab American Heritage Month Proclamation Kit 2023 Arab American Heritage Month Legislative Kit

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
National Arab American Heritage Month - Arab America Foundation %

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During the month of April, the Arab America Foundation formally recognizes the achievements of Arab Americans through the celebration of National Arab American Heritage Month (NAAHM). Across the country, cultural institutions, school districts, municipalities, state legislatures, public servants, and non-profit organizations issue proclamations and engage in special events that celebrate our community's rich heritage and numerous contributions to society.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Virtual Event

Tuesday, May 10

When Rabbis Bless Congress: The Great American Story of Jewish Prayers on Capitol Hill
Howard Mortman's When Rabbis Bless Congress is an unprecedented examination of 160 years of Jewish prayers delivered in the literal and figurative center of American democracy. With exhaustive research written in approachable prose, it tells the story of more than 400 rabbis giving over 600 prayers since the Civil War days. The book is an important addition to our understanding of Congress and Jewish contribution to America. Joining Mortman in conversation will be Brian Lamb, founder and former CEO of C-SPAN.

Special Event

May 11

Live at the Library!-Writers, Radicals, and Rugelach: Yiddish Culture
This illustrated lecture journeys into the world and flavors of East European Jewish culture, as it was recreated in America. Starting in late-nineteenth century Europe, we accompany thousands of Yiddish speakers on their dramatic trip across the sea to the United States. The Live at the Library series invites visitors to enjoy the Library and its collections in new formats. It regularly features special conversations, music, performances, films and workshops that showcase the broad range of holdings at the national library. (Library of Congress)

Documentary Film & Discussion

May 16

Film Screening: "Jews of the Wild West"
This is the story of how Jewish Americans helped to shape the West. The documentary incorporates interviews, historic photographs, and archival materials from LC's collections. The documentarian will be available on zoom to answer questions after the hour and twenty-minute screening. (Library of Congress)

Online Event

May 18

Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War: The Union Army
What was it like to be Jewish in Lincoln's armies? The Union army was as diverse as the embattled nation it sought to preserve, comprising a unique mixture of ethnicities, religions, and identities. Adam D. Mendelsohn draws for the first time upon the vast database of verified listings of Jewish soldiers serving in the Civil War as well as letters, diaries, and newspapers to examine the collective experience of Jewish soldiers. (National Archives)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tuesday, May 10 When Rabbis Bless Congress: The Great American Story of Jewish Prayers on Capitol Hill Howard Mortman's When Rabbis Bless Congress is an unprecedented examination of 160 years of Jewish prayers delivered in the literal and figurative center of American democracy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teaching Twice-Exceptional Learners in Today's Classroom
Twice-exceptional (2e) learners have often been misunderstood, disciplined, unchallenged, and left behind. Even as awareness of 2e students has grown, educators are still in need of practical tools to recognize and support their twice-exceptional students. This book answers that need, providing teachers with accessible information about twice-exceptional diagnoses and suggested accommodations, modifications, and collaboration with other educational professionals.

Raising Twice-Exceptional children: A Handbook for Praents of Neurodivergent Kids
Just because a child is gifted doesn't mean they don't have other types of neurodivergence, like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and more. Conversely, even children with one of these diagnoses can be cognitively gifted. Raising Twice-Exceptional Children provides parents with a roadmap to understand the complex makeup of their "gifted-plus," or twice-exceptional, child or teen.

Subscribe

The Neurodiversity Podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, or you can always listen here on our website. The very best way you can support us is to subscribe or follow us, and leave a review whenever possible.

You can go straight to our page within your platform of choice below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A podcast about gifted children and adults, intelligence, twice-exceptional people, general interest psychology, and other "mind matters."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ever since adolescence, I've wanted to spend my life building people. Whether in terms of confidence, intellect, life skills, or all the other ways a person can be built up, I've wanted to be the kind of person who makes others stronger.

Teaching hasn't always felt like the right place for me to do that, but it's probably where I've done the most good. I've enjoyed plenty of opportunities to help and guide young people to become their best selves, although sometimes I've had to reconcile my idealism with a system that assesses us solely on how well we can put facts into students' brains - preferably in ways that could be expressed on an exam paper. (Special education, it has to be said, has suited my personality so much better. And not just because I'm autistic myself.)

If you want to work with autistic students and truly be a positive influence for them, there are ample opportunities to do so in teaching. The trick is to find a school where the welfare of the students truly does come first, rather than a school that simply writes " the welfare of our students is paramount " in the school policy, while sending fines to parents of children with anxiety-fuelled school refusal (and yes, I have seen this happen).

My own experience of teaching autistic students does range a fair bit - from special needs tuition (mathematics, creative writing and general mentoring), mainstream primary teaching, private maths tuition and chess lessons, to being lead writer on a creative writing course for autistic students, as well as the Skype consultations I now provide through Autistic Not Weird. I even do staff training in schools, when there's not a pandemic keeping everyone busy. [ All links on Autistic Not Weird open in new tabs so they won't interrupt your reading.]

But with all that said, I refuse to call myself an expert. And my professional advice to you is to be wary of anyone who does claim to be "an expert on autistic people". (I'm autistic myself and I'm only an expert on myself, although I do have some in-depth knowledge of those who trust me enough to let me into their world.)

So when I offer you tips that I've learned through both personal and professional experience, bear in mind that because it comes from a range of settings, it would be wise to adapt anything you read to suit your own context. You know your school and your students, and I don't.
[Important disclaimer: there will be no reference in this article to any of my current students, or to my current school, or any former students of mine who are still under the age of eighteen. This is to avoid any conflict of interest between my teaching life and my advocacy through Autistic Not Weird.] [Oh, and another disclaimer: no doubt there'll be people who read the title and say "they're not 'autistic students'- they're 'students with autism'!" And I get it: I was once told by the system to think that way too. But I need to tell you that person-first language (e.g. "person with autism" is an outdated concept, following the emerging consensus that an overwhelming majority of us prefer identity-first language (i.e. "autistic person"). The National Autistic Society has switched to identity-first language, as has NHS England. Autistic-led organisations, of course, never had to switch in the first place. Further reading here.]
Anyway, off we go.

If you're giving serious thought to working with autistic students, you probably know this already. But it must be said first.

Because I'm going to begin with an embarrassing story of how I learned this lesson.

It was summer 2009, and I was given a teaching placement in a special school. I had only ever known two autistic children (to my knowledge), and I was six months away from learning about my own autism. Long story short, despite being autistic myself I was clueless about autism.

I was working in a class of teenagers aged 14-16, all of whom had substantial support needs and academic learning difficulties. One day we were lining up for assembly, but one boy (I'll pretend his name was Daniel) was still sat at his desk. I went up to him and said - slowly, so he could understand and process my words,

" Daniel, it's time to line up ".

He didn't move, so I repeated the sentence again. For a second time he didn't move; he just stayed where he was and put his fingers in his ears.

Already sensing it was a battle I wouldn't win, I went to the class teacher and asked (and honestly, it's embarrassing to look back on):

"Why isn't Daniel moving? I thought autistic people understood everything you say, even if they don't talk?"

The teacher gave the predictable response.

"Oh he understands every word you're saying. He's not moving because he's a sixteen-year-old lad who doesn't want to do what he's told."

I couldn't believe it didn't occur to me before it was pointed out. I came to realise the mistake that I was making - I was defining my students by their diagnoses, and treating their personalities as extra factors... rather than just getting to know the student like I'd always done in mainstream school placements.

Given that this happened twelve years ago, I don't mind people knowing. Learn from my ancient mistakes, everyone. Your students' autism may be a huge part of their identity, but their individuality comes first.

In nearly six years of autism advocacy, the quote of mine that's been furthest around the internet is this one:

A lot of what I have done in special education has been euphemistically called "restorative" work. In layman's terms, this means "undoing the damage done to them by their last mainstream school". Don't be the teacher who is so unwilling to accommodate autism, that people like me need to "restore" a person once they leave you.

This philosophy is at the centre at the work I do (and what everyone should do) when working with autistic students. The goal isn't to change their neurology, or destroy who they are to build a more normal and boring person. It's to help them to play to their strengths whilst addressing any weaknesses (or as we say in teaching, "areas for development"), whilst creating an environment that allows the student to see their identity in the most positive way possible.

Seriously, think about that last sentence. If you went day-to-day trying to change an autistic student into a non-autistic one, would that be allowing them to play to their strengths? Would it actually address their weaknesses? Would their self-perception of their autistic identity be a healthy one or a damaging one?

If you truly want to help an autistic person become the best autistic person they can be, meet them where they are. It is the foundation of all teaching, and this principle doesn't change just because the student is autistic.

On a similar topic, I also encourage you to have a professional distrust of ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis), and any other interventions which seek to change a child's "autistic behaviours" whilst ignoring their actual needs. For example: if an autistic child flaps their hands as a sign of distress, and an intervention provider makes them stop flapping their hands, the end result is a distressed child who can't communicate their stress.

(There's a wide range of resources out there explaining why ABA is objectively harmful, plenty written by autistic people ourselves. They only need a quick Google search. But to play the trump card quickly, I'll link you directly to the academic research that found "Respondents of all ages who were exposed to ABA were 86 percent more likely to meet the PTSD criteria than respondents who were not exposed to ABA".)

Compliance training (often mistaken as compliance 'therapy'- thanks to Naughty Autie for pointing this out) is a big and dangerous thing, often entering schools under the disguise of professional qualifications and fancypants terminology. But as an educational professional with a commitment to safeguarding children's wellbeing, you should professionally object to any intervention where the objective is to "make the child stop flapping their hands", rather than "discern what is distressing the child and help them develop coping strategies".

(Oh, and speaking of safeguarding - often the result of compliance training is that vulnerable children obey everything an adult tells them to do, even if it makes them deeply uncomfortable. If that gives you the chills, it should.)

When people in general talk about school policy (or company policy, or policy in general), it's usually in a negative way, or referring to them as obstacles. I don't like this attitude. School policies are supposed to be your friend, and if they're set up with the people's needs truly in mind, they can be enormously useful.

The schools I've worked in have often made a big deal about " a consistent staff approach" across the school. And I see their point: if some teachers have one set of rules and others have another set, it can be confusing and anxiety-inducing for an autistic child who never quite knows where they stand. (For me as a child, it was difficult enough to learn one set of largely unspoken rules, let alone learn the minutiae of every single teacher's own personal set of expectations.)

This is one of many areas where school policy can be important. Consistency matters. And this applies everywhere: can you imagine if a school didn't have a proper safeguarding policy, and simply told its staff to just generally do what they personally felt to be right? What if its health and safety policy was vague about what to do in a fire? What if schools didn't have anti-bullying policies (pretending for a moment that most schools actually stick to them)?

Following school policy is vital for the children's best interests (and your own as a professional). At the same time though, they are not beyond question. Whereas you can't violate school policy because you have personal disagreements with it, you can (and should) highlight areas where you believe them to not be working in the students' best interests.

For example, if the school's behaviour policy is proving to be an antagonising factor for the students (I've seen students absconding before, not out of common misbehaviour but because of stress/overwhelm caused by behaviour policies that didn't consider their emotional needs), then this should be addressed and the policy adapted.

You know that stereotype that says autistic people can't stand change? Well to an extent it is true - things are calmer and less anxiety-inducing when they're predictable (and if something's fun for us once, it's often fun for the thousandth time too!) - but don't make the mistake of thinking you'll be repeating the same school day all year, Groundhog Day style.

Your students will be in different moods depending on the day (you know, like humans in general!). Sometimes they'll walk in wanting to geek out with you about their biggest interest. Sometimes they'll walk in wanting to be left alone.

Sometimes your best-planned lessons will "fail", despite your teaching being excellent, because the students will find it too difficult to engage that day. Sometimes the opposite will happen. So be prepared to be flexible with your teaching approach.

Obviously, special education is so much better at doing this than mainstream. In my experience, mainstream schools are often pressured into doing things in one set way in order to comply with inflexible standards, while the prevailing attitude in special schools is "if it works for the student, then it works for the student".

What this means in a practical sense is this: if your lesson plan totally derails but your students gain something (and if you can evidence it, of course), then that's a win. I once started teaching a maths lesson to a stressed student who couldn't access the learning that morning, and it turned into a lesson about logic problems involving a chessboard. I may not have strictly followed the curriculum, but I could provide evidence that the students' problem-solving skills had developed during the lesson.

Yes, it's another obvious one. But read this bullet-point anyway.

Teachers are humans: and it's one thing to say how much you believe in your students when everything's going fine (or even in a job interview), but another to stand by it when your lessons turn to crap and nobody engages.

But stand by your belief in your students under all circumstances. Believe me, they can sense whether or not you think they're capable. (The ones with anxiety will often think you don't believe in them even if you do, because prior experience has encouraged them to think that way. See point #10 for how I try to avoid this happening with me.)

Because if your belief in your students falters, you end up with negative self-fulfilling prophecies. You end up being reluctant to teach certain topics to your students because of a subconscious assumption that they won't understand it.

Well, of course they won't understand it... if it's never taught to them.

To illustrate what I mean, have a look at this picture I made for Autistic Not Weird's Facebook page:

One common mantra in teaching is that high expectations yield high outcomes. This is true - even if they need to be high expectations with high levels of support (the bit which people sometimes forget).

There's a damaging assumption about special education that we don't confront enough: that if someone is in special education, it must be because they "failed" mainstream.

Which, if I may say so, is a load of bollocks. (But if we're playing the blame game, I'll happily make the case that mainstream failed them, not the other way round.)

Special education isn't a watered-down version of mainstream. It exists to meet the particular needs of particular students, who cannot generally be provided for within the mainstream system. So if you're a teacher with mainstream experience making a jump into special education (like I was), don't rely on what you know from mainstream teaching and assume it'll work in special education too. Anything you bring in from your prior experience will need adapting. (And a few years later, with your next set of students, it'll need adapting again. Because it's special education. It must be personalised.)

I don't remember where I heard this quote about anger, meltdowns, overwhelm etc, but it's stuck with me.

"If you think someone has gone straight from 0-60 without any warning, you've missed how long they've been at 59."

Autistic people can be absolute experts at masking. At doing what they're told and pretending that nothing feels wrong. Acting as if nothing's making them anxious while they're panicking on the inside.

Why? Because we know we'll be judged less if we don't stand out: a lesson learned in early childhood by those whose natural behaviours are "corrected" by adults who can't empathise with them.

So how can you tell if a student is secretly at 59? Well, here are two strategies.

1. Spot patterns. If all their meltdowns just happen to take place before a sports lesson, or at 11:45ish and they've not had breakfast, or about ten minutes after someone talks about dogs, then spot what the pattern is and take steps to make accommodations.

2. Create an environment where the student knows they can tell you their vulnerabilities without being judged or corrected. That way, the student might just tell you what makes them afraid.

Once you know their triggers, have a discussion with them at a time when they feel comfortable enough to have one. Make it clear to them that if they're allowed to communicate their needs when their anxiety is bubbling, and they won't be judged for feelings that are beyond their control.

Which leads nicely into my next point:

Autistic students, like humans in general, feel valued when they are listened to. I know, big surprise.

But for some reason, a prevailing attitude in society is that people with disabilities (or even differences) don't quite know what's best for themselves, and that it's ok to override their autonomy.

It's disgusting, but it happens. Some teaching staff will ignore a student's wishes while telling themselves it's "for the greater good of the student", when in reality it's just more convenient for the rest of the class.

So yes, actually have a discussion with the student, and ask them the following:

What makes you comfortable in school?

What makes you uncomfortable in school?

What helps when you feel stressed?

What do you enjoy?

Is there anything I can change about the way I teach that would help you to learn?

Is there anything you would want us to change about the school if we could?

And after that, actually do something that demonstrates that you have listened and valued their feedback. It's a simple strategy, and in line with general human decency, but it will mean a hell of a lot to the student.

Yes, this is true in basically every profession, and in every type of personal relationship too. But there are extra reasons why it's so important regarding vulnerable students.

Despite how well I've always got to know my students, I have never known everything about them. And my own perspective, like everyone's, is open to bias (by default, we always believe we're right). Discussing the students' needs with other staff members means seeking other people's perspectives on how best to help them. It's better to approach a situation with everyone's expertise than just your own.

And of course, safeguarding is a big thing. Legally there are aspects of this which must be shared, but I advise that you don't wait until a sensitive situation occurs before seeking the advice of senior staff.

(At the same time, of course, information governance is an important thing. Don't just spread information around about the students without thinking about why you're doing so.)

And finally, communication involves the students' families too. The young people at school may act very differently to the young person at home. With this in mind, sharing perspectives is hugely useful - and students do so much better when the home team and the school team are pulling in the same direction.

Also, including the parents will increase their faith in your school. Because sadly, the education system often treats parents like crap. Many of the parents I've worked with have been bruised by a system where it's cheaper to blame the parents than accommodate the child. I've known parents who are literally frightened of talking to school staff, due to a history of previous schools judging them or their vulnerable child, disbelieving them or holding their words against them (and their own school lives may have been awful too).

So yes, keep families involved for the obvious reason - to enable you to provide more accurately for their child - but also as a way of saying that you plan to work with them and not against them.

It's surprising how many teachers don't do this. I think a lot of us are nervous about being seen as 'unprofessional' by expressing our feelings.

But do you know what's actually unprofessional? Withholding opportunities to foster a student's social and emotional wellbeing by enabling them to see themselves as valued.

So, how do you get the balance right? On the one hand: autistic children, bullied children, vulnerable children... they need to know without doubt that they are cared about. On the other, you don't want to present yourself in a way that leads them to see you as a "social friend" rather than an older role model in a professional context.

(To put it another way: I would readily take a bullet to the chest for the students I work with. But I would not invite them to my birthday party. Because the best thing I can do for them is be the man they need me to be: a consistent, reliable and caring professional who's a stable and grounding positive influence.)

But I can assure you, there are ways of maintaining a professional teacher-student relationship without forbidding your students from knowing how much you value them as people. And personally, I've always been very direct: if a student has made me proud, I will tell them unambiguously that I'm proud of them. If I see an attitude in them that I like, e.g. caring for others, diligence even when struggling, casual bravery (and wow, I love seeing my students being brave), I will very directly point out that I'm pleased with them - in a way that fits in with their comfort zones of course, and in a manner they find encouraging rather than embarrassing.

I do this for three reasons:

1. I'm autistic. I communicate directly.

2. They're autistic. Little vague hints that I'm kind-of-sort-of a bit pleased with them won't be interpreted as meaningfully as I'd want.

3. Some of the autistic children you work with may have spent their formative years being downtrodden, insulted and made to feel worthless... and the people who said those things to them will have been very direct about it. If you want to supplant students' negative thoughts with positive ones, then be as direct and specific as those who wronged them.

It's been a while since I broke up my words with a picture, so here, have this one.

I've worked in mainstream and special schools that were wonderful, and I've spent time in mainstream and special schools that sucked. Want to know what the distinguishing factors were?

The good schools knew who I was. They knew my strengths, they knew what motivated me, and had the wisdom to know that teachers - like students - work harder and work better when they're doing something they love.

The bad schools expected us to adapt 100% to the vision of senior management, rather than seeing what skillset lay among their staff and adapting their approach to allow us opportunities to do what we're good at. Kind of like commanding a bunch of mathematicians to be plumbers, and wondering why they can't fix pipes using a protractor and a compass.

Finding a teaching post isn't just about finding a school that will employ you. There needs to be a culture in the school that you feel comfortable with, senior staff you feel supported by, and a school ethos that matches your own.

When we work with autistic students, we often encourage them to find strategies to look after their own wellbeing. But we often forget to consider our own.

I recently told an audience;

" If you're not worrying about your students on the drive home, you're not doing your job right ".

It was a very tongue-in-cheek way of saying that our job is so important that we can't pretend we can forget about it the moment we walk out the door. But at the same time, the compassion we feel for our students, if left unchecked, can lead to issues for ourselves.

I'm under no illusions about how emotionally connected I am to my work. I have a long history of lying awake at 2am hoping my kids will be alright when they become adults. This is just a natural consequence of caring; it only becomes problematic when we don't have healthy ways of addressing how we feel. Personally I've always had strong relationships with senior staff (and typically worked in schools where senior staff are approachable) as well as having private therapy to explore my mental adventures as well. This works for me.

Despite this article being mostly about my teaching, it's only one of my jobs (I'm also a blogger, speaker, novelist and creative writing tutor - who needs one job when you can have five?). Running Autistic Not Weird and its Facebook community of 130,000 [at time of writing, January 2021] also takes its share of my energy. And I came to realise how vulnerable I was a few years ago - when a follower sent me a video of a man killing himself, as "punishment" for me not responding to her email for three days (those three days being December 26, 27 and 28).

Since then, I've kept thinking of - and reflecting on, and evolving - strategies to make sure that I'm doing ok. Your mental workload is unlikely to get 'easier' as time goes by, but as you explore what works for you, you'll find ways of making it feel easier.

And these strategies must be entirely personal to you. What works for me works for me, whether it's playing videogames into the early hours at weekends, or hugging the people I love... or something more professional. Because like I said, I also receive private therapy... funded by my awesome Patreon supporters.
In summary:

1. See your students' individuality, instead of seeing a diagnosis and looking no further.

2. Understand that your autistic students need to become the best autistic people they can be, not second-rate non-autistic people.

3. Understand the value and importance of school policy, whilst knowing it can be changed if needed.

4. Be relentlessly and uncompromisingly flexible in all you do.

5. Have relentless and uncompromising faith in your students.

6. Special education isn't "below-par mainstream", it's special education. So don't replicate mainstream schooling.

7. Your students' vulnerabilities won't always be visible.

8. Ask students for their opinions, and take them seriously.

9. Communication means everything when looking after a child's best interests.

10. Let the students know, directly, how much they are cared about and believed in.

11. Find the right school for you as a teacher and as a person.

12. Develop methods to look after your own wellbeing too.

I hope this article has helped you, whether you want to go into teaching or just want to know more about it. Whatever your situation, anyone reading this is more than welcome to join Autistic Not Weird's Facebook community. And for those who feel my work is worth supporting, here's a link to my Patreon page where people help me keep doing my advocacy for a living, in exchange for various rewards.

Take care,

Chris Bonnello / Captain Quirk

-
Are you tired of characters with special needs being tokenised and based on stereotypes, or being the victims rather than the heroes? This novel series may interest you!
Underdogs, a near-future dystopia series where the heroes are teenagers with special needs, is a character-driven war story which pitches twelve people against an army of millions, balancing intense action with a deeply developed neurodiverse cast.

Book one can be found here:

Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon AU
Audible (audiobook version)
Book Depository
Review page on Goodreads

Chris Bonnello is a national and international autism speaker, available to lead talks and training sessions from the perspective of an autistic former teacher. For further information please click here (opens in new window).

Autistic Not Weird on Facebook

Autistic Not Weird on YouTube

Twitter | Instagram

Copyright © Chris Bonnello 2015-2022

Cover image credit: Taylor Wilcox on Unsplash.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
So, you want to teach autistic students? Here are 12 tips from an autistic teacher.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ever since adolescence, I've wanted to spend my life building people. Whether in terms of confidence, intellect, life skills, or all the other ways a person can be built up, I've wanted to be the kind of person who makes others stronger.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Articles, insight and advice from Chris Bonnello- author, former teacher, and international speaker on autism issues.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This article by Annie Kotowicz of Neurobeautiful explores Brontë's Jane Eyre as autistic. By interpreting Jane as an autistic character, readers can gain insight into the complex thinking that drives autistic actions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article by Annie Kotowicz of Neurobeautiful explores Brontë's Jane Eyre as autistic. By interpreting Jane as an autistic character, readers can gain insight into the complex thinking that drives autistic actions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Autism Awareness?

Autism Acceptance?

Autism Appreciation?

None of them work perfectly. It is true that Autism Appreciation and Acceptance seem far better than Autism Awareness, but it is also true that a large percentage of the population still lacks awareness of the realities of autism and neurodiversity.

Certainly, without being aware of autism, autistics, and what that all really means, someone cannot truly understand, accept, appreciate, or be an ally to autistic people. Awareness - real awareness - is needed, and acceptance and appreciation are progress, but being accepting and having an appreciation are all rather low bars to set- particularly for autistic stakeholders, family members, researchers, funding organizations, and policy makers.

One April, we were discussing the problem of labeling April 2nd as Autism Awareness, Acceptance, or Appreciation Day. As we pondered the dilemma, I (Dr. Amy Laurent) agreed with Dr. JÂcqûelyn Fede's thinking outlined above. There had to be something better than appreciation... right? In the midst of that discussion, JÂcqûelyn offered that if we were to have a day or week or month focused on autism, that it needed to be about leveling up.

In other words, it needed to be about meeting people where they were and encouraging them to take the next step to support autistic people. Progress and change were needed, not static goals! This really was an "A(u) -Ha" moment. We both knew it instantly. We quickly sketched a graphic that could represent this idea and the name of our partnership was born... Autism Level UP!

I often say, unabashedly and to anyone who will listen, the work that JÂcqûelyn and I do collaboratively is some of "my" very best. As a neurotypical occupational therapist, special educator, and developmental psychologist who has devoted the better part of her career to supporting autistic individuals, our partnership has been nothing short of revolutionary.

I have always strived to be a conscientious practitioner who attempts to understand, respect, and work within neurodevelopmental differences characteristic of autistic individuals. However, like pretty much every practicing professional, I was also trained in the context of deficit and disorder. Therefore, despite my thoughtful and reflective practice frameworks... those concepts were omnipresent and influenced my perceptions.

I definitely had (and have) room to grow and working day in and day out with JÂcqûelyn constantly helps me Level UP! Her candor often level sets me. Yes, as a professional I have much to offer and we agree the "power is in the partnership," but her lived experiences (as well as professional knowledge) are critical in guiding the nature of our work and ensuring it is aligned with autistic priorities.

I could go on (and on), but I would prefer you have the opportunity to learn from her. As such, I pass the keyboard to her...You are in for a real treat!

Level: Awareness

Awareness: If you're thinking about Rainman and Sheldon Cooper when you think about autism, and that is your entire knowledge base, you're probably at this level. If everything you know about autism is based upon a single individual (e.g., maybe your cousin's kid; that one kid you remember from high school; your neighbor's sister's daughter's college roommate... etc.), you're also probably at this level.

You may also be someone who is aware that you don't know much about autism at all, or someone who has had some college courses that focused on psychology, education, special education, and the like.

Newsflash and not-so-fun fact: in most cases that I have seen, the authors of those chapters and editors and publishers of those textbooks are still at the awareness level.

So how do you Level UP! from here? The very best thing you can do is to learn from the autistic community! Go straight to the source. There are a tremendous number of blogs, infographics, articles, videos, artistic pieces, and more that have been created by autistic people about their own experience, and these resources are available online. This is definitely where you should start.

Everything else you read, learn, and take in about autism should then be assessed critically and realistically based on what you know from the autistic community (you know...the people who live it).

Of course, you should also read about autism in terms of research and diagnostic criteria if you want, but prioritize learning about it from those who live it and ensure that you think critically about research and educational practice based on what you learn from autistic people!

One great resource is the social media hashtag #AskingAutistics. Here, you can pose questions to autistic people, or simply read the variety of things that are asked and the range of answers given by community members. This is a great way to learn about the kinds of things the general population wonders about autism and the kinds of challenges with which they seek help to support autistic people in their lives.

Most importantly to see how the autistic community responds and how diverse the perspectives of autistic people can be. This will give you great awareness of the true nature of the "spectrum" and is an important step towards leveling up!

Level: Acceptance

Acceptance: Acceptance can be wide ranging, indeed. Maybe you have been seeing and reading content from the autistic community, and it doesn't mesh with what you thought autism was at all.

Maybe you learned about autism in a psychology or education course or in medical school, and you're having a hard time reconciling what that one chapter in your textbook said with what you are learning from reading autistic accounts of their daily life.

Maybe you are a parent who has been directed only by professionals up to this point and are just beginning to find autistic voices online or in your community. Maybe you've dedicated your entire career to supporting autistics and listening to and wrestling with the autistic perspective has been an absolute game changer. Maybe you thought you were extremely aware and that you totally understood the "autistic experience," and this step is that you need to accept that you really cannot understand.

Acceptance is truly just letting real awareness win out over any preconceived notions you had. This is much easier said (or typed, in this case) than done. Cognitively, humans have a preference to seek out, attend to, and remember information that is consistent with their prior beliefs and to ignore, disregard, and forget information that is inconsistent with what they thought they knew.

It is hard to change your entire blueprint or schema for a concept, even if it is logical to do so. For example, obviously, an autistic person would know more about their own experience than a researcher who has potentially interacted only very superficially with autistic people, but making this happen in your brain will take time and effort.

It may be helpful to tackle simple, more concrete things first. For example, you may have learned from autistic people that a vast majority of the community prefers identity-first language (i.e., autistic person) over person-first language (i.e., person with/having autism).

This may be in contrast to what you thought or learned from a text book (you know, that we put the person first). Language is powerful - which is why autistic people care so much about this debate - so start there! Pay attention to the language you use.

You can also pay attention to the symbols you use. You may have also learned that a very large percentage of autistic people do not support the blue puzzle piece; in fact, many do not support the color blue and the puzzle piece generally when used to represent autism.

This one is easy! Don't buy things about autism that represent it with the puzzle piece! Don't "light it up BLUE!" Don't wear or put out things you have purchased in the past that represent autism this way.

Remember - acceptance is all about letting the new-and-improved information you have learned win out over the old and outdated stuff you had hanging around in your brain. It is an active process, and it is HARD, but there are some simple, concrete steps you can take up front- like attending to the language and symbolism you use around autism. There is also no shame in going back to step one to gather more information before you can accept - we cannot stress this enough. This journey is not a race!

Level: Appreciation

Appreciation: You cannot truly appreciate that which you do not authentically understand.

It is only once you have accepted the realities of autism that it can truly be appreciated. Here, we must emphasize that appreciation is not all about warm and fuzzy feels of goodness around autism. In fact, it really is not that at all.

Yes, of course it is wonderful to appreciate autistic people and to appreciate all that they have to offer to society, because we do indeed have so much to offer! However, it is also about recognizing and affirming real challenges autistic people face on a daily basis. It is appreciating the differences, strengths, challenges, needs, and context in which autistic people exist. Even the dictionary agrees (see below)!

There is an aspect of enjoying the good qualities - valuing, respecting, treasuring... even admiration! But appreciation is also a FULL understanding of a situation - awareness and realization. A full understanding is not just the rainbows and butterflies and unicorns (yeah... we've got unicorns; and nah...we aren't going to share those), but also the fires, storms, darkness and disabling mismatches between who we are and what society expects.

Appreciate our REALITY.

One other important point about appreciation is that true appreciation should result in an understanding that what is different is not necessarily a deficit or problem. Your appreciation of autism should not follow with some kind of frenetic moral obligation to help us fit into society or be just like you.

If you appreciate art, for example, would you EVER consider changing it, even if it is not how you, yourself, would have portrayed the same scene??

No.

And if you tried, security would have you out of that museum SO FAST. We don't have personal people buffers (damnit), so appreciate HOW we are different, how it meshes or not with society, and what that means for us.

Do not attempt to reprogram how we operate. A great step to Level UP! within the context of appreciation is turning those yearnings for change towards society... not towards "helping" us.

Level: Empowerment

Empowerment: The one-sided, warm-fuzzy, gooey-gushy form of "APPRECIATION" tends to lead more to things like inspiration porn - stories of usually well-intending humans who "go above and beyond" to invite an autistic person to prom or meet an autistic person's needs in public.

First of all, these stories perpetuate the idea that treating autistic people with respect and decency is newsworthy and deserving of some sort of superhero status. That's not good. Second of all, it does nothing to empower autistic people who are often portrayed in these stories as some poor, helpless, but very sweet soul reliant on the selflessness of the kindhearted few to allow them into your normie nonsense (like prom... just for example).

This is not at all empowering. The people who engage in this, perpetuate it, make news stories out of it, and promote it- and all the people who comment on such stories with 5,000 smiling/crying face and heart emojis- probably all need to see step one (awareness) ASAP.

Empowerment is supporting and following, and letting autistic people lead you. Empowerment is teaching autistic children about themselves and their needs and teaching their peers as well. And teaching autistic students and their peers that it is not just okay for an autistic person to make their needs known, but that it is encouraged!

Empowerment is arming autistic people with the knowledge, tools, and strategies to navigate the world as they are...it is certainly NOT letting them play along in your glorified night of dress up and dance. But, if you are truly at this point, then the idea of instilling knowledge, implementing support where needed, fostering autonomy, and validating autistic people as they are should be quite clear to you.

This is the step in the process where you start to become a true ally of autistic people. Being an ally is impossible without understanding the need to and how to f ollow and join in with the autistic community. You may come to this step and realize there is still so much for you to learn, and that is characteristic of understanding that you can't ever truly know the autistic experience.

You may find that you have a new, insatiable need to read more and more and more and to listen to or read as many autistic experiences as possible.

You may also find yourself disheartened. For all you have learned and as far as you have come, you probably realize how far society has to come and how flawed so much of what is taken as "real data," "best practice," or "evidence-based" really is. Remember, empowering autistic people is critical, but you can also empower neurotypical individuals to learn.

Please - keep going! We need you.

Level: Advocacy

Advocacy: Take action! Once you have REAL AWARENESS of autism that you have ACCEPTED as true and valid, and you APPRECIATE the reality of the autistic experience in the context of society without believing you can "totally understand it," or "know what it is to be autistic," and you are capable of EMPOWERING autistic people by facilitating access to knowledge about their needs and rights and effective tools and strategies to navigate the world as they are and/or by following the lead of autistic people on issues about them, you are in a prime position to be an amazing ADVOCATE and ally to the community.

In fact, we hope you do just that once you level up to this point. Sharing your journey - inclusive of what you did right and what you had wrong - is also incredibly powerful to help start spreading real awareness for others.

Of course, there is no end point in advocacy and there are many battles to be fought within this realm. Advocacy is simply the ultimate launching pad to truly make change for autistic people.

Game on.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
So, you want to Autism Level UP!? ...Game on!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Autism Awareness? Autism Acceptance? Autism Appreciation? None of them work perfectly. It is true that Autism Appreciation and Acceptance seem far better than Autism Awareness, but it is also true that a large percentage of the population still lacks awareness of the realities of autism and neurodiversity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
autism autistic "autism spectrum disorder" aspergers neurodiversity asd "ask an autistic" neurowonderful

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hi I'm Amythest! I make videos about what it's like to be Autistic. https://linktr.ee/neurowonderful

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ASAN November Newsletter Dear friend, As we've begun wrapping up the year, we're still hard at work here at ASAN! We've celebrated self-advocacy and looked back at the work we've done this year, and we've continued to work on the issues to come! Earlier this month, we celebrated ASAN's birthday at our 2023 ASAN Gala,...

Read More "

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network is a national grassroots disability rights organization run by and for Autistic Americans, advocating for systems change and ensuring that the voices of Autistic people are heard in policy debates and the halls of power. Our staff work to educate communities and improve public perceptions of autism. As a 501(c)(3)...

Read More "

ASAN October Newsletter Dear friend, It's the most boo-tiful time of year, but we're still fighting some of the scariest things our community deals with, like discriminatory health care systems, subminimum wage, and lack of supports. Here's what we've been working on this month. In September, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)...

Read More "

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Is it 'autistic person' or 'person with autism'?

How many autistic people are also LGBT+?

Has ABA improved in recent years?

Do parents of autistic people wish for a cure?

Do autistic people feel empathy or not?

With a subject as broad (and historically misunderstood) as autism, it's important to build an accurate and meaningful consensus about important topics. With this in mind, I ran a survey which intended to establish current attitudes towards a variety of autism-related issues, gathering opinions and experiences from a wide range of people - autistic people, parents/caregivers of autistic relatives, professionals working with autistic clients, and those with no direct link to autism.

Over eleven-thousand people answered the survey - two thirds of whom were autistic themselves - and in this article I will present their perspectives.

A few important things:

You are absolutely welcome to take screenshots of this article and share them wherever you see fit. (I had to disable copy/pasting on this site several years ago, when my other articles were being stolen literally every day.)

With that said, there is this publicly visible Dropbox link which contains all the graphs on this page.

Some graphs will be tough to read, but clicking on them reveals the full image.

As with all my articles, every link you click will open in a new tab/window so it won't interrupt your reading.

It's important that I acknowledge the following and thank them for their assistance with this survey:

1. The 11,212 respondents who took time out of their day to contribute to the survey's enormous data set.

2. Saided DePriest, for translating the entire survey into Spanish so it could reach a wider range of people.

3. A certain high-profile British academic in the field of autism, for sharing his feedback about the survey before its release - albeit in a personal capacity as opposed to granting official ethics approval, hence his anonymity here. (And before anyone asks, his initials were not SBC.)

4. Christine Jenkins, an autistic academic and consultant, for providing useful feedback before the survey's release.

5. And the members of Autistic Not Weird's Patreon supporters' group on Facebook, for their feedback too. The group is such a safe place to make mistakes and I'm deeply grateful for the supportive community it is.

On a similar note, I should mention that I worked on this survey entirely in a personal capacity, as opposed to being given any research grants.
Meaning, of course, that I did this for free.
(Yes, it's a bit ridiculous. And as an autistic academic said to me during her feedback, "I have never seen this level of effort done by one person.")

I'm an autistic advocate by trade, and am only able to advocate professionally through the power of online support. So if anyone believes this survey is worth a cup of coffee, please do consider supporting me via Ko-Fi.

For those who want to support me in the long run (in exchange for specific rewards/thank-yous - not least bonus content, and membership of the awesome group mentioned above!) please consider supporting me via Patreon as this is largely how I make my living as an autistic advocate.

And once again, to those who are already supporting me - both financially and in terms of my wellbeing (or both at the same time, since my Patreon supporters are directly funding my therapy!) - thank you as always.

-

Here are the links to each specific section, for those visiting this page looking for one particular topic.
About this survey
Life experiences of autistic people | Life experiences of parents/caregivers

Accessibility | Diagnostic pathways (and therapy)

The divide in the autism community | Intersectionality
Traits, co-occurring conditions and stressors
Attitudes towards autism | Vaccines | Language choices

Experiences of professionals | ABA | The cure question | Empathy
The TL;DR conclusions
So, let's begin.

-

This survey is an updated version of the one I ran in 2018, and since autism understanding is so rapidly evolving I felt it worth repeating the survey with more refined questions.

And, as with last time, I want to clarify with this survey is and what it isn't.

This article IS NOT intended to be a Gospel-truth representation of everyone associated with autism. 11,212 respondents may be enormous, and it covers an extreme range of people (in terms of geography, personal/professional backgrounds, connection to autism), but even then, it's impossible for an online survey to totally cover a population as vast as the worldwide autism community.

This article IS intended to be an honest representation of the respondents' attitudes to (and experiences of) autism.

This article IS NOT intended to be an academic paper and certainly not a PhD dissertation, although I'm reliably told that the data I collected could potentially lead to a paper if I were to take it further.

This article IS intended to be a straightforward analysis and interpretation of the data I have been given: as readably, clear, simple and accurate as I can make it.

And finally, this article IS NOT intended to be flawless and unquestionable. There are a few limitations that I'm already aware of, and probably others that I am not. For example, there was no practical way of enabling parents to fill out the parent/caregiver section multiple times for multiple children. There were smaller issues too, like option omissions (e.g. forgetting to list 'echolalia' as a trait option). There's also technically no way to prevent fraudulent answers - and there isn't in most surveys - but honestly, I believe the sheer number of respondents means that if there are any fraudulent answers, they've made a negligible difference to the data.

Now onto some questions that most people will skip past but they're important for context: who answered the survey?

First, location. The geographical spread of respondents was largely what I expected, given the reach of the survey. And as low as the numbers are from non-Anglophonic countries, the prevalence of respondents from Spanish-speaking parts of the world was significantly boosted by the translated version.

No huge surprises regarding the ages of the respondents, including the data in the legend here which details what percentage of each group were autistic.

(Of course, I don't think it's reasonable to conclude anything about increased diagnostic rates among the young here. The enormous percentage of autistic children and teenagers is likely due to their parents or teachers asking them to be involved, while non-autistic young people wouldn't have had the same encouragement).

As with the 2018 version, men are underrepresented in this survey - even outnumbered by the non-binary respondents. With that said, there's been some level of research indicating that men are less likely to take part in studies (according to a study!). Further reading here.

The men and non-binary respondents in this data were overwhelmingly more likely to be autistic, leaving the non-autistic respondents to be just as disproportionately female.

The purpose of this question was to mitigate accusations of bias: after all, the more widespread your pool of respondents, the more reliable your data is. Data from one source is generally poor. (For example, after each of the 2020 presidential debates, pro-Republican news outlets were very quick to declare that " 97% of Americans believe Trump won the debate! " since that was how their specific audience voted in the polls they ran.)

This survey does not appear to have this problem: I can say unambiguously that the majority of respondents did not find the survey through Autistic Not Weird. (In the 2018 survey it was 49.8% to 49.8% - rather hilariously, the 0.4% of people leaving the question blank ensured that both "yes" and "no" were each a minority!)

There is, of course, still some curiosity as to how I managed to get so many respondents to this survey. My methods included:

Plenty of shares on Autistic Not Weird's many platforms (largely Facebook and Instagram);

Posting in wider groups and hashtags beyond my own platforms, in places largely populated by autistic people and/or their relatives;

Encouraging readers in both the above to share with their wider networks (largely friends and colleagues, occasionally their children too).

This time round, autistic people are the outright majority in this survey.

The percentages don't count for much because the questions usually differentiate between autistic and non-autistic respondents, but I have to admit it was very satisfying to see autistic people share their perspectives in such large numbers. (What particularly struck me was that almost 20% of respondents were autistic parents/caregivers of autistic relatives.)

And if you're interested, 519 people clicked "yes" to all three sections, which means nearly 5% of respondents were autistic parents of autistic children who work with autistic clients!

There were also 493 respondents who did not say "yes" to being autistic, or to being a parent/caregiver, or to working professionally with autistic people (this 493 includes those who said they were "not sure" whether they or their relative were autistic). These respondents are as close to representing the general population as this survey is able to, so I will use them as a 'neutral' group for comparison once in a while.

OK, let's dive into the results.

-

First of all, a result that appears to correct a huge misconception.

Historically, autism awareness campaigns (not least charity fundraisers) have always made the underlying assumption that autistic people don't like being autistic. It surprised even me that this was only true for 12% of this survey's 7,491 autistic respondents.

The obvious counterargument from those with anti-autism sentiments - an argument that's likely to be used for a number of results in this article - is that "this survey is only representative of 'high-functioning' autistic people and not those with learning difficulties".

So to address this, I made the graph on the right. After isolating the autistic respondents who listed "academic learning difficulties" among their autistic traits... I found that the results are nearly-but-not-quite as pro-autism as the general autistic population.

I'd also like to thank one of my students who looked at these graphs and made a thought-provoking comment: that it would be interesting to see an age breakdown of this question to see whether adults felt better about their autism than children (or vice versa).

What I found upon analysing each age bracket was that:

Respondents aged in each decade (20-29, 30-39, etc) had similar results to the above charts, often to within a couple of percentage points of each other.

Teenage respondents (13-19) had results that were so close to the adult categories that no meaningful distinction could be drawn between them.

Child respondents (0-12) had a much more mixed view. Although the sample size was only 32 (a satisfactory size objectively speaking, but miniscule compared to other sections) results were split almost evenly between strongly agreeing and strongly disagreeing. 43.75% agreed to some extent that they liked being autistic, but this was compared to 31.25% who disagreed.

This is not the only time in the survey that autistic teenagers' attitudes were similar to autistic adults'. And the dramatic shift between childhood and adolescence implies to me that the adage coined by autistic advocate Dena Gassner is true:

You don't grow out of autism; you grow into it.

-

Now to something that may be less surprising: nearly 90% of autistic respondents knew they were different from an early age. It was one of those rare charts I needed to adjust the y-axis for, indicating how strong the consensus is.

The application of these results depends on the reader and their circumstances, but one of my personal takeaways is that those who say

I don't want to tell my child they're autistic in case it makes them feel different

are 90% likely to be parenting a child who already feels different.

-

And on a similar note...

Again, nearly 90% agreed that learning about their autism had been a positive event.

The same people I mentioned in the previous chart, who fear their relative may have a negative emotional reaction to the news that they're autistic, may only have their fears realised less than 5% of the time.

-

Of course, as much as autistic people like being autistic, this doesn't suggest there are no difficulties attached to it. In fact, less than 6% of autistic respondents reported autism not making their life more difficult, and a majority said their neurology was a factor in their life's difficulties.

But a much, much larger majority claimed that wider society's attitude towards autism made their life difficult. Which is quite revealing.

-

For the next question - the perennial issue of autistic isolation - I've compared this survey's results to the 2018 version.
(You may notice I removed the blank answers from the data on this occasion: this is because 11% of non-autistic respondents left this question blank in 2018, perhaps thinking the question wasn't intended for them. Since 11% skews the appearance enormously, I decided to only display non-blank answers for a more meaningful comparison.)
Although there's little difference among the autistic respondents (besides a very small sway towards disagreement), the 'neutral' categories seem to have collectively become more decisive on the matter in the last four years.

One thing's for sure though: the levels of isolation among the autistic community remain present, and need to be addressed.

Of course, these results should be seen in the context of the COVID pandemic. The data was collected at the tail-end of 2021, when much of the world was still reeling from lockdown (including the countries where lockdown had ended). This may be a factor in the 'neutral' category also agreeing more than disagreeing.

-

And on that note...

I couldn't help but smile at the irony I noticed in these results: that the 'neutral' category - representing the general population - should theoretically be perfectly balanced for this question. But on average, they felt they'd found it ' easier than most people ' on average. Despite the difficulties of lockdown, the general population seems to have the general consensus that "most" others had it worse than they did.

Looking solely at the shape of the chart, it looks like the only difference between the two groups is the level of disagreement. But when you look closer, you notice that nearly twice as many autistic people strongly agreed than the 'neutral' group.

-

Next up, education and work.

Given that the mainstream education system - like the wider world in general - has largely been designed with the non-autistic majority in mind, it comes as no surprise that the autistic respondents' collective school experience is so negative here. (One would imagine that the "Asperger's genius" stereotype would make school easy for a lot of autistic people, but only 1.64% strongly agreed with school being a positive experience for them - roughly one in sixty autistic people.)

Sadly, even the argument that school has become better for the current generation of autistic students does not appear to hold weight... as shown by the 0-19 age group answering with close-to-identical results.

Of course, as a follower pointed out to me, a part of it could be due to bullying from their peers rather than the system not accommodating them. Either way, as a teacher myself, this lack of difference between generations both surprised and saddened me. We have a long way to go.

(The limitation to this question is that it doesn't specify what type of school the respondents went to. In another four years or so, no doubt I'll make sure this is addressed by a new survey.)

-

Beyond school, I found another surprising set of results: the close match between those who have struggled to find employment and those who have struggled to retain it.

It's important to make a point here about reading statistics. Just because the charts look similar does not necessarily mean that most respondents chose the same option twice. There will inevitably be respondents who easily find jobs but struggle to retain them, and those who struggle to find employment but once they're employed they stay for their whole careers.

In fact, I decided to analyse this data more specifically. Please forgive my lack of pretty chart work here, but I felt on this occasion the Excel document did the trick.

Turns out 4,584 respondents (61.19% of the total) struggled with finding and/or retaining employment.

2,674 respondents (30.70% of the total) struggled with both.

-

So once we get jobs, do we get accommodated?

Generally speaking, no.

Although the situation appears to be noticeably better for autistic people who work with autistic students/clients. Perhaps their colleagues are more likely to understand autistic people's needs, or feel more motivated to treat autistic people with compassion. (Anecdotally, this has been the case for me as an autistic teacher in an autism-specific school.)

-

Now for a very clear and unambiguous result:

Masking is an enormous problem for autistic people in general (as implied above, where over 80% of autistic people feel the need to mask in front of non-autistic people!). However, the general wisdom of the autistic community seems to be validated here: that life is better once you find your kind. Over half of autistic respondents disagreed about masking in front of other autistic people, with barely over 20% feeling the need to mask in front of autistic neurokin.

-

The stereotype says that autistic people are less likely to be religious. Atheists may claim it's due to 'more logical thinking', while people of faith may claim it's a 'lack of imagination'. Both views are stereotyped and ableist, in my opinion.

One limitation here was that the question focuses specifically on religion, rather than a general belief in any deities. (There will likely have been respondents who believed in a god - or gods - but clicked 'disagree'/'strongly disagree' because they didn't belong to any established religious body.)

Besides this, there are a number of factors at work here, and whereas autism does appear to be one of them, it is not the only one.

The biggest factor appears to be geography, but there were noticeable differences among each category explored here. Being an under-30 autistic non-binary Australian doesn't exactly guarantee that you'll be non-religious, but it certainly seems to indicate the probability of it.

From my personal perspective as an autistic Christian (and an asexual man too), I am particularly saddened by the LGBT+ columns. To any other people of faith reading this, we need to do a lot more to ensure that the LGBT+ population are not alienated from the love of God. The arguments applied to why autistic people are less religious do not apply to those of differing sexualities, and the discrepancy is most likely explained by the way they are treated by religious folk. I speak to both groups as one of your own, when I say that we (the LGBT+ community) deserve better, and we (the religious community) need to do better with the whole compassion thing.

-

And the last chart for this section:

Thanks to the suggestion of Christine Jenkins (mentioned in the acknowledgements), I included a question about ageing - a topic which Jenkins rightly points out that there is a distinct lack of research for.

I've distinguished the answers of the autistic respondents aged 50+ (brown) and all autistics combined (blue). Just as interesting as the immediately visible results (e.g. finances being the biggest worry) are the differences between the age groups: those over fifty appear less worried about accommodation and finances than their younger counterparts, but substantially more worried about losing their personal autonomy.

-

This may be the end of the "autistic life experiences" section, but rest assured there is plenty more to come from those 7,491 respondents. The topics not covered here can be found later in this write-up, nestled into more specific categories (e.g. ABA or vaccines).

In the meantime, we move on to the parents and caregivers.

-

As with the previous section, most questions involving parent/caregiver-specific answers are spread across the rest of this article. Very little of this survey was parent-exclusive, but here are the bits that were.

First off, some context:

As indicated by the bottom-left chart, the section may be for "parents/caregivers", but more than 19 in every 20 were parents (of course, many of them will have ticked other boxes too).

One unfortunate limitation to this survey was that naturally there will be some respondents who (for example) ticked "my spouse" solely because their spouse was autistic, and others who did not because they were not literally their spouse's caregiver. There aren't many questions in this survey which could be flexibly interpreted, but this was as close as it got.

Another limitation, as specified earlier, was that parents could only fill out this section once, which may have proved tricky for parents with multiple autistic children with varying needs. But perhaps this problem isn't as significant as I predicted, given that nearly two thirds of parents/caregivers only have one relative in mind when answering.

Oh, and one major irritant was the eight respondents (almost all of them professionals) who inaccurately ticked the box claiming to be parents/caregivers even though they weren't.

Through my trawling through the results (yes, I was this intensive with it, and I do have autistic-level attention to detail), I was able to find these eight and exclude them from the parent/caregiver data set. Thankfully they were only found on Day Three of my analysis, so any errors already embedded in my analysis were easily weeded out.

Obviously, I left their other answers (the ones outside of the parent/caregiver section) entirely intact.

-

Anyway, let's move on to school experiences.

Mixed, but not as overwhelmingly negative as one might suspect. (Again, the limitation here is that it was difficult to tell which type of schools their children went to.)

Of course, it's still quite damning that 46.62% of parents did not think their child's school knew how to support them. It's not quite as damning as the National Autistic Society's own research from 2021 though, which indicates that

44% [of parents] feel their child's special educational needs are not being met in general, [and] three quarters (74%) said their child's school place did not fully meet their needs - this has almost doubled since 2017.

It's interesting to compare these results with the opinions of autistic respondents aged 0-19, and see how well the parents and children's opinions matched up. You probably noticed earlier how negative the young autistic respondents were towards their school experience. However, others may make the argument that "autistic students without the cognitive skills to complete a survey may be having their needs met better in school".

As someone who has worked in two schools that provide for such students though... it may be more likely but I would not take it for granted.

-

According to the stereotypes, often put in place by autism-negative charities in decades gone by, having an autistic child generally causes all sorts of hardships including unemployment and divorce. No doubt it occasionally is a factor in these things - and this survey did not ask questions about marital status - but it's not as strong as some would have you believe.

Having an autistic family member had a negative impact to at least some extent for 38.94% of parent/caregiver respondents, but not for 43.61%.

Like several questions in this survey though, I wish I'd asked this question to parents of non-autistic children, to see what the 'baseline' was for the impact of parenting on employment opportunities.

Yes, like I said, the parent-exclusive section is short. Now we're going into the specific topics - the first being:

-

I asked the question " how accessible have you found __________ " to all respondents, so I could compare the autistic people's responses to the general population.

Side note: in this case, I did not use the 'neutral' category to represent the general population (since this would have excluded professionals unnecessarily - for the purposes of the accessibility question, professionals count as the general population too!). Instead I used 'non-autistic respondents without autistic relatives', to represent the population whose personal lives were not directly influenced by autism.

Anyway, this is what they said.
(Once again, I've removed the blank answers from this data in order to give a clearer picture. More than 10% of the non-autistic respondents left the questions blank, presumably thinking the accessibility section didn't apply to them, and this made the wider percentages difficult to compare visually.)
Some observations.

School: almost double the percentage of autistic respondents strongly disagreed with school being accessible compared to the general population, and barely half the percentage strongly agreed.

Healthcare services: excepting the 'neither' category, all four columns indicate that healthcare services are easier to access if you're non-autistic.

Public places: besides a six percentage point jump in 'strongly disagree', there was not as much difference between the two groups as some would predict.

Community groups: more than double the percentage of autistic respondents strongly disagreed with community groups being accessible compared to the general population, and only between a third and a half strongly agreed.

And interestingly, more of the general population disagreed than agreed in three out of four categories, with school being a very narrow exception.

It looks like accessibility is an issue for all of us - just autistic people disproportionately.

Next up: accessibility regarding autism diagnoses.

-

You may have noticed at the start, but this survey recognises both diagnosed and non-diagnosed autistic people as autistic. (There's a question later which specifically considers the question of self-identification. In the meantime though, I would argue that I was just as autistic while I was seeking a diagnosis as I was once I received it, so the experiences of non-diagnosed autistic people was absolutely worth collecting.)

For context, let's analyse diagnosis levels among the autistic respondents.

Honestly, I have no way of knowing whether this is representative of the autistic population in general. But I felt it important to provide this chart to pre-empt an argument that I predict some people may use, because sadly I see it across the internet already from a small (but harmful) minority of people: the argument that "the autism and neurodiversity movements are just a load of undiagnosed pretenders hijacking autism advocacy".

I have never seen any empirical evidence for that claim, which I've only seen used by people who are blatantly trying to gatekeep autism (and ironically, it's rarely autistic people ourselves doing this). All I know is that self-identifying autistic people with no intention of getting a diagnosis made less than 1 in 6 autistic respondents here - the majority being diagnosed, and three quarters either having a diagnosis or seeking one.

But what interests me most is the 6.65% (almost exactly 1 in 15) who were unable to get a diagnosis. The sad truth is, accessibility of diagnosis is quite a privilege in many areas (hence why there are so many people self-identifying as autistic).

So I decided to dig further.

There was a distinct geographic split, even bearing in mind the low sample sizes from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Not all of this will be due to lack of diagnostic opportunities; some of it will be down to post-diagnostic discrimination, or even safety reasons. (One high-profile example is the controversy with 'Barnevernet' - Norwegian social services - who are devastatingly more likely to remove a child from their parents in general, but especially if they have an autism diagnosis.)

As a British autistic person, it was at least encouraging to see that the UK and Ireland were a region where diagnosis was an option for the vast majority of autistic people.

-
(Blanks were once again removed here, as respondents were encouraged to skip the question if the diagnostic pathway didn't apply to them.)
I also decided to compare the diagnostic experiences of autistic respondents to parents/caregivers of autistic relatives. (For those who were both, they are included in both graphs because this question was asked of them twice- once in the section regarding their own experiences, and once in the section regarding their relatives.)

There's not much of a noticeable difference between the two groups here, other than the parents/caregivers being considerably more likely to agree or disagree rather than choose 'neither'. But leaving differences aside, both groups had a near-majority or outright majority believing that the diagnostic pathway was not accessible.

Obviously I dug deeper again, to see whether some groups found the pathway more accessible than others. The main areas I looked into were gender and disability.

It would appear that in a diagnosis context, it's easier to be a man and hardest to be non-binary.

It's also easier to get a diagnosis if you're non-disabled, although apparently not by much.

-

And what about beyond diagnosis?

The stories I've heard (and my own experience too) about receiving a diagnosis and then being ejected with no follow-up support do seem to represent the general experience, among both adult and child recipients of diagnoses.

(You may notice the 8 percentage point jump in parents/caregivers clicking "agree". Note, however, that both disagreement columns went up by roughly 3 percentage points - in fact, the near-halving of the "neither" column has resulted in increases in all other columns to some extent.)

-

OK, onto therapy.

Before going any further, we should be careful before attempting to compare the two charts - the main reason I split them was to avoid blending all the results together and making the overall picture less clear.

I strongly suspect that the differences are due to which age groups each intervention is aimed at. For example, CBT is generally given to adults (sometimes adolescents), whilst ABA and floortime are generally delivered to children (and were less prolific during autistic adults' childhood years).

Going by the data, it appears that the pro-ABA argument of "most autistic people complaining against it haven't actually been through it" is a technically accurate argument. There are, however, two counter-arguments: first that personal experience shouldn't always be a prerequisite for a valid opinion (for example, you don't have to be a murder victim in order to oppose murder), and second... well, read the ABA section later on to see what those 341 people had to say.

In the meantime... what conclusions can we draw? Well, a lot of the interesting feedback came from the "other (please specify)" option, filled in by 1,071 respondents (yes, this question took a while to process meaningfully).

Some general points:

Dozens of people (both autistic respondents and their relatives) didn't know the specific title of their therapy, or just wrote "normal therapy", "counselling" or "psychologist".

Inpatient treatment was not an option in the survey, but several referenced experiencing it.

Several autistic respondents were trained ABA-style by their own parents.

Several respondents had their own creative, family or faith-based outlets as a therapy substitute. (However, three had negative or even abusive experiences with interventions put in place by religious organisations.)

Specific comments of interest included:

"Therapies are inaccessible for me."

"Starting as a child aged 9 I've been heavily medicated as my main treatment."

"Counselling through online gaming [for my child]."

"Neurodiversity affirmative psychotherapy and coaching." (Three wrote comments like this.)

"Need to note that we DEEPLY regret subjecting our child to ABA." (Eight people wrote comments like this, and another respondent commented to claim their ABA was "highly modified with no abusive elements".)

Ok, a tough one coming up next:

-

Autism advocacy is not a safe and harmless scene, I'm sorry to say. There are frequent arguments and fierce divisions - the most high-profile of which are usually between autistic adults and parents of autistic children.

The toxicity ranges from parents telling autistic adults they're "not really autistic" because they don't appear to struggle enough, to autistic adults claiming the parents don't understand autism because they're not autistic themselves. (I've also heard from autistic adults of autistic children being shunned by both sides.)

But... is it widespread across the whole community, or is it just the loudest voices?

I decided to investigate, and these were the results I found.

Not going to lie - I smiled when I saw the top row of results. For all the arguments we see online, for all the parent advocates who belittle 'high-functioning' autistic people's struggles, for all the autistic people we see being hostile towards parents, for all the people who have had hurtful experiences with others in the community... almost 90% of parents/caregivers value the input of autistic adults - and 60% of them strongly.

When I removed autistic parents from the data, a very similar picture was painted. Almost 85% of non-autistic parents valued the input of autistic adults.
To those in the autistic community who are afraid that we're not being listened to by parents of autistic kids, please be reassured that the statistics indicate differently.
The general consensus is that people very much value autistic voices. But those who don't - perhaps due to negative experiences - appear to be quite vocal about their concerns. This is indicated not just by the "strongly disagree" responses outnumbering the "disagree" responses by at least double, but also be the "other (please specify)" answers in the question about respondents' biggest stressors, where members of both groups referenced treatment by the other as a major stress in their lives.

So who are the 160 people who disagreed with valuing the input of autistic adults, and how do their perspectives compare? Well, looking into it further, 43 of them were autistic themselves (26.88% of the total, which may sound surprising but remember that 45.36% of all parents/caregivers in the survey were autistic).

And, generally speaking, these 160 were:

Marginally more pro-cure (and substantially less strongly against cures)

Substantially against the validity of self-identification/self-diagnosis (more than half disagreed with self-identification, compared to 18% of people in general as you'll see later).

Substantially more likely believe that autism is a negative addition to the human gene pool (30%, compared to only 5% of all respondents) - although exactly 80 of the 160 thought it to be a positive addition.

More likely to be pro-ABA (22% agreeing with its use compared to 6% of all respondents), although the majority still disagreed.

I won't be presumptuous enough to suggest reasons for these trends. All I will say is that yes, there is very evidently a divide in the autism/autistic community... although the statistics indicate it's less severe than we're perhaps led to think.

Meanwhile, let's consider the bottom charts - the question to autistic respondents about whether non-autistic parents have a valuable place in the discussion - where the answers hold much less of a consensus. Those who agreed marginally outnumbered those who disagreed, including when autistic parents were excluded from the sample, but the welcome looks lukewarm by comparison.

In my experience, autistic people would argue that disagreeing with this statement does not come from hatred, but from the general concept of " nothing about us without us". Self-advocacy is becoming much more prolific in all areas of the disability community and it's no longer acceptable for autistic voices to not be front and centre in the discussion (try running an autism conference without a single autistic speaker nowadays).

But for those curious about the perspective of those who strongly disagreed, they were:

Significantly more likely to have had bad experiences at school (82%, compared to 71% of all autistic respondents)

Significantly more likely to be in favour of self-identification (78% believing that a diagnosis is not necessary to identify as autistic, compared to 64% of all autistic respondents)

Similar opinions to other autistics in terms of autism's positive impact on the gene pool, but stronger

Marginally less likely to have religious faith (72% disagreeing compared to 66% of all autistics)

Surprisingly, more likely to disagree that the public doesn't understand autism (5% versus 1.5%, although 92% still agreed compared to 96%).

It should also be said that the autistic community is very conscious of the stranglehold non-autistic people have had over autism awareness for decades before the neurodiversity movement truly took off. The results here may be contextualised by the fact that the role of non-autistic parents has recently been demoted from 'head of discussion' to 'contributor'.

Nonetheless, even without this context in mind, I don't look at the bottom two graphs and see hatred.

-

Intuitively it seems obvious that autistic people are more likely to be disabled, and anecdotally it often appears like autistic people are more likely to be LGBT+.

But this survey exists because intuition and anecdotal evidence just aren't enough. So here, have some statistics.

A majority of autistic respondents identified as disabled, suggesting that a lot of autistic people may disagree with the well-intentioned mantra of " autism isn't a disability- it's a different ability ". (Of course, the survey didn't specify 'disabled by autism', so several respondents may be disabled for reasons unrelated to autism - or co-occurring conditions which are saliently linked with autism.)

It's also noticeable that a high proportion of autistic people - more than 1 in 6 autistic respondents - are trans. A statistic as significant as this, in my mind, is something that needs to be remembered when we talk about meeting the needs of the wider autistic population.

Besides that, an extra surprise was that the proportion of LGBT+ autistic people appears to significantly outnumber the proportion of heterosexual autistic people. (I cannot think of any reason to doubt the accuracy of my data collection here, despite how outlandish it sounds.) On that note, here's a breakdown of the sexuality question.

The graph speaks for itself (although I do wonder whether excluding parents of autistic children from the right-hand graph eliminated most parents in general from the data pool - parents being understandably more likely to be heterosexual - thus overrepresenting the LGBT+ representation in the general population.)

But the really interesting details (as with plenty of other questions) came in the "other" section.

One of the most common criticisms of this survey was that respondents could only choose one sexuality option. As a man who's asexual and absolutely nothing else, it surprised me how many people wrote that they were pansexual and asexual (just to give one of many examples). It was a learning curve for me as a member of the LGBT+ autistic community too, as I didn't even realise sexuality could work that way.

Among the other section, the results included (among many others):

230 people writing "queer" (including responses that elaborated on it)

202 people referencing multiple sexualities (which did not include the word "queer")

126 demisexual (only attracted to those they have an emotional bond with)

106 unsure, don't know or questioning (including the response "How can you identify sexuality, if you have no ability to identify your gender?")

25 specifically saying their sexuality was undefined

16 omnisexual (attracted to those of all gender identities and sexual orientations)

15 gray-sexual (limited attraction but not quite 'traditionally' asexual)

-

As with the 2018 survey, I asked respondents what additional conditions they or their autistic relatives had, as well as what general traits they had (drawing a distinction between the two, of course).

Oh, and by the way- you DEFINITELY want to click the picture to see the full-size images on these next charts. (For those who missed that part in the introduction, clicking on this article's graphs does exactly that.)

Starting with conditions:

Both charts show the same data - the grey bars in each simply shows the data of the other, for easy comparison.

Besides the interesting comparisons here (e.g. the huge increase in PSTD diagnoses and the lessened PDA diagnoses in adulthood), there are some striking isolated statistics. For example,

Around 40% of autistic people also have ADHD

Over a third of autistic respondents had PTSD

The majority of autistic adults struggle with depression

And I think it's fair to say that the majority of autistic people (including children) also struggle with anxiety, although this shouldn't be news to anyone.

(As a side note, the question specified "regardless of diagnosis", due to the difficulty of accessing diagnoses for a lot of autistic people and their families. So these figures reflect lived experiences rather than diagnostic rates.)

Answers under "other" with 50+ answers included the following (and yes, in retrospect I should have included them in the options):

C-PTSD (written by 92 autistic respondents and 3 relatives)

POTS including dysautonomia (86 autistics, 7 relatives)

Chronic fatigue including ME (85 autistics, 12 relatives)

Migraines (79 autistics, 9 relatives)

Arthritis/rheumatism (59 autistics, 2 relatives)

Autoimmune conditions including Hashimoto, Sjogren's (53 autistics, 4 relatives)

Dissociation, e.g. DID, DPDR, OSDD (52 autistic, 2 relatives)

Sleep conditions, e.g. DSPS, Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, Narcolepsy (48 autistics, 17 relatives)

Asthma (48 autistics, 12 relatives)

Visual differences (29 autistics, 25 relatives)

-

As for traits:
(Two limitations to mention here: some respondents were unsure whether to interpret this as currently having these traits or having them historically, and the percentages for "geekiness" are from English-language respondents only due to a mistranslation in the Spanish survey.)
This graphic may be useful for confirming a lot of what we already know about autistic traits: namely that the vast majority of autistic people experience social difficulties, heightened anxiety, sensory differences, and enthusiasm for special interests.

The comparisons between the two groups are interesting, but consider this: how many of these differences are due to age differences (e.g. addiction), how many are due to differing experiences of autism (e.g. low awareness of danger), and how many are due to what autistic people recognise within themselves that others may not (e.g. autistic people struggling with face blindness without others knowing)?

Answers under "other" with 10+ answers included the following (there were much fewer traits mentioned, possibly due to this question having more exhaustive options):

Aphantasia (written by 23 autistic respondents and 2 relatives)

Memory difficulties (15 autistics and 1 relative)

Interoception (12 autistics and 4 relatives)

Echolalia (10 autistics and 5 relatives)

Strong sense of justice (8 autistics, 2 relatives)

Misophonia (7 autistics, 7 relatives)

-

And finally, stressors:

Results from "other" (undifferentiated) with 20+ responses included:

Dating, romance and sex (55 respondents)

Access to healthcare (41)

Finances (32)

Healthcare/health issues unrelated to access (29)

Accessing official support e.g. social care, government (28)

"Everything"/"Life in general" (22)

-

Now for some more general questions (and their very revealing answers).

As indicated by the bottom-right graph, the situation does not appear to have changed in our favour in the last four years. There is a case for arguing that the proportion of autistic respondents this time round (66.81% compared to 49.92% in 2018) made a difference in the strength of agreement, but the parents/caregivers barely seemed to feel any differently.

Predictably, the only group to have more than 5% disagreeing were those without any 'official' connection to autism.

(With that said, the 'neutral' category may be less representative of the general population in the questions about attitudes to autism. Even most 'neutral' respondents would likely have completed an autism survey due to some type of connection to autism. So bear that in mind for the other graphs in this section.)

But either way, the short version is that we are not close enough to the general public understanding autism.

-

I highlighted these two groups in particular to show the contrast between those with lived experience of autism and those most likely to either diagnose or make referrals to diagnosticians. And whereas almost 1 in 10 non-autistic professionals agreed with this statement, a landslide majority disagreed, even if not as strongly as the autistic population.

I also analysed the responses of the 'neutral' category, and found them to be very similar to the non-autistic professionals - just a couple of percentage points moved from "agree" to "neither". This appears to imply that professionals and the general public were equally aligned (or misaligned) with the beliefs of the autistic community.

-

It would appear that both autistic respondents and parents/caregivers are detecting a small shift in whether autism awareness focuses too much on children, with similar percentages to the 2018 survey but agreeing less strongly than before.

I isolated the responses from autistic young people to see if there was an age-related difference in opinion. Interestingly, autistic teenagers had a very similar opinion to autistic respondents in general (predominantly adults).

-

Next, 'self-diagnosis' (which I personally refer to as 'self-identification', to avoid people confusing it with a literal diagnosis), which has become a hot topic in the autism community. The two discussion strands that crop up most are autistic people professing that self-identification is valid because of the difficulty (or safety) of getting medical diagnoses, and concerned parents questioning whether the autism acceptance movement is being "hijacked" by those without an official diagnosis.

Our survey said:

Both among diagnosed autistic respondents and non-autistic parents/caregivers, self-identification appears to be generally accepted.

64.7% of autistic respondents with a diagnosis agreed, along with 48.31% of non-autistic parents, compared to 18.19% and 30.53% respectively who disagreed. The agreement appears to be stronger in the autistic community, which I suspect may be due to diagnosed autistics empathising with the undiagnosed (we were all undiagnosed once).

-

The results of this give the same impression as the very first statement: "I like being autistic". Contrary to the narrative we'd been fed for decades, autistic people and their families generally do not feel that autism has taken away from their lives (with a substantial minority saying otherwise).

Again, to pre-empt the obvious counterargument that " this doesn't include those poor nonverbal people with learning difficulties ", I've included the (strikingly similar) statistics for that specific group.

Interestingly enough, the strongest disagreement with the statement came from autistic parents/caregivers. I suppose it's more difficult to say that autism has taken away from your life when it's so present in your family.

-

These days, there's a fair bit of discussion about what autism actually is. And, according to these (undifferentiated) results, the tide is very much turning against it being considered a disorder, and towards being a neurotype.

(I'm second-guessing my choice to allow respondents to click multiple choices for this one. Some may have only clicked "both", and others may have clicked all three for exactly the same reason. Nonetheless, this question remains very useful for comparing the terms against each other.)

OK, brace yourselves. A controversial topic coming up now.

-

According to the headlines, the COVID pandemic appeared to breed a new generation of "anti-vaxxers": those who were sceptical about the effectiveness of vaccines versus their potential damage (a group which are often confused with a wider group of people who were not concerned about the vaccines' effectiveness at all, but questioned the approach various governments took- 'vaccine passports' etc).

But pre-COVID, the anti-vaccination movement was around all the way back in the 1950s when people protested Jonas Salk's polio vaccine and even back in the days of Edward Jenner in the 1800s, but it came to wider international prominence in the late 1990s. This was due to the long-debunked piece of falsified research that gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield published and sought to profiteer from, which resulted in mass public panic about the MMR vaccine and its alleged links to autism, followed by Wakefield having his licence to practise medicine removed by the General Medical Council. (Both sources link to findings published in the British Medical Journal.)

Even though the research was fully and comprehensively debunked, and wider (more reliable) studies have shown no link between vaccines and autism after all, the rumours and scepticism about the topic remain to this day. One wonders whether opposition to the COVID vaccine would have been quite so strong without Wakefield's historical damage to public understanding of immunology.

But when it comes specifically to autism, are the anti-vaccination voices as common as they seem, or are they just disproportionately heard?

Well, this is what the respondents said - and it was the only agree/disagree graph in this article where I had to push the top of the y-axis up to 90%.

No group of people in the above charts had as much as 4% of respondents agreeing with the statement. Almost 90% of the 'neutral' category disagreed, and over 75% strongly. The strongest opposition of course came from autistic respondents, having long been the direct victims of the misinformation which resulted in public fear of autism - and by extension, fear of autistic people existing.

As low as the rate of agreement was, I felt that it was important to see if there were common factors among those who agreed. I checked three factors: age, geography, and religious background.

It would appear that the younger generations are less likely to believe that vaccines cause autism, along with particular geographical regions (although these weren't quite as strong a factor).

I was also curious (speaking as a Christian) about whether religious background played a factor, so I decided to measure the two sets of results against each other. Again, please forgive my lack of pretty chart work here.

A correlation was confirmed, but not quite as strongly as I predicted (and honestly, feared). Outside of the "strongly agree to both" cell, the results look fairly similar between those with religious faith and those who are neutral.

The strongest disagreement about vaccines causing autism came from atheists.

I have to admit, I'm tempted to make some kind of comment here about my fellow faithful needing to do more about the levels of scientific literacy in religious circles. But that's a discussion for another time, and one which covers a wider scope than immunology alone.

-

One of the fastest-evolving hot topics in the autism community is that of language choices. (If you look far back enough in my articles here, you're likely to find terminology that was perfectly acceptable in 2015 but is frowned upon today.) Because that's the thing with movements: often standards change too fast for the wider population to keep up with. So here's my 2022 contribution to helping us all keep in sync with the autism acceptance movement.
(The answers from the Spanish translation have sadly needed to be discounted, since an error in the survey disabled the ability to select multiple choices).
One of my biggest regrets about this survey was totally forgetting to involve two increasingly common terms in the question: 'autistics' and 'autists'. These used to be uncommon but their usage is increasing in the autistic community.

Looking at the graph, the most striking part to me is the difference in usage of PFL (Person-First Language, i.e. "person with autism") versus IFL (Identity-First Language, i.e. "autistic person"). Although the ground has shifted substantially since 2018, it appears to be autistic people spearheading the change. For reference, the below graph shows the aforementioned shifts:

Almost every piece of terminology has fallen further out of favour, among autistic and non-autistic respondents alike, except for the fairly straightforward "autistic person" (and arguably "autistics" and "autists" - damn, I wish I'd included those.)

-

The next three graphs specifically compare identity-first language (IFL) to person-first language (PFL), as this tends to be the biggest part of the terminology debate.

Before making any further comment, I should specify that although autistic people using PFL are noticeably in the minority these days, self-determination in self-advocacy is deeply important, and those preferring to refer to themselves as 'people with autism' have an unalienable right to do so.

I will, however, be acknowledging the preference of the clear majority of the autistic community while writing this.

Stereotypically, it's supposed to be autistic people advocating for IFL whilst being 'corrected' by non-autistic people who want us to use PFL since it's 'more respectful' to us (when the National Autistic Society changed wholly and uncompromisingly to using IFL, their social media team had to spend months and months responding to well-meaning non-autistic followers attempting to correct them, and I even wrote an article addressing such people here).

But this above graph shows this to be far less of an issue than in previous years. Non-autistic parents and professionals also seem to prefer IFL nowadays, although by a less substantial margin.

And how has this changed in the last four years? Well, like this.

Going solely by the results of these two surveys (although 11,000 respondents per survey is quite a substantial data pool), it appears that the use of PFL has nosedived since 2018. Interestingly, the biggest difference can be seen among non-autistic respondents, perhaps due to them playing catch-up with longer-established opinions among the autistic community.

Also, a thought occurred to me following the 2018 survey that I've been interested to research ever since. General discussion seems to indicate that 'autistic person' is often used as an acceptance of autistic identity, whereas 'person with autism' is often used as an indicator that the person is 'more than' their diagnosis.

So it got me wondering... is there a self-acceptance difference between those who use IFL and those who use PFL?

It would appear so. 70% of "autistic people" liked being autistic, compared to 37% of "people with autism". Only 8% of "autistic people" didn't like being autistic, compared to 29% of "people with autism".

Although far from unanimous, there appears to be a growing argument that describing oneself using identity-first language could be considered a form of self-acceptance.

-

The lead-in question was "Do you work with autistic people professionally?", and I clarified in the additional wording that this was NOT meant to include merely having autistic colleagues (or, for example, working in a typical shop where some customers happen to be autistic by coincidence). I only had to exclude a handful of inaccurately filled results, all of which appeared to be genuine errors of understanding rather than visible falsehoods.

As before, some context charts to begin with.
(I should mention that two graphs from now, some respondents who answered with "other" were combined with professions near-identical to what they wrote, for simplicity reasons. This has resulted in a few arithmetical discrepancies later on. Just in case anyone reading this is adding up all the numbers.)
Those in the "other" column with 10+ respondents included:

36 speech therapists/pathologists

31 advocates/consultants

29 support workers

28 coaches

22 non-teaching school staff (including 5 school psychologists)

20 ABA practitioners, BCBAs or related behaviour workers

16 psychologists (including educational/school psychologists)

16 mentors/peer support workers

14 researchers

12 charity workers

12 volunteers

11 librarians

Along with literally hundreds more that didn't combine into groups of 10+. There are a wide range of jobs out there.

-

The lead-in question allowed respondents to clarify whether they

1. Did not generally work with autistic students/clients,

2. Worked with a minority of autistic students/clients (e.g. mainstream teaching), or

3. Worked with a majority of autistic students/clients (e.g. autism-specific speech therapy).

The question I thought most important to analyse the groups separately was this:

There are probably more in-depth reasons for the huge differences in enjoyment, but I'd love to think it's simply because autistic people are so much more fun to work with.

To be serious though: in my experience, workplaces that successfully accommodate autistic people tend to be better at accommodating everyone else, including their employees. That, and anecdotally I have noticed that the rewarding moments are substantially more rewarding if the student/client has needed to overcome particular obstacles (e.g. anxious students buying from a shop or those who struggle with speech finding ways to self-advocate).

-

A consistent-looking display of a mixed bag. Teachers/educators seemed to be barely different in terms of training to professionals in general, with healthcare workers being noticeably less confident and therapists/psychiatrists being noticeably more. But even then, almost 35% of therapists/psychologists disagreed, so maybe the statistic of over 50% agreeing shouldn't be celebrated prematurely.

-

Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) is widely advertised as the "gold standard treatment" for autism, and although developed in America it had taken steps worldwide, despite the controversies involved.

What controversies, exactly? Autistic advocates are quick to point out the increased PTSD rates among autistic children subjected to ABA, the fact that it all too often prioritises 'reduction of autistic behaviours' over meeting an autistic child's wellbeing needs, and that it was developed by Ole Ivar Lovaas, a pioneer in "gay conversion therapy" (leading to widespread accusations that ABA can be compared to "autistic conversion therapy" - a difficult argument to refute given the number of practitioners who aim to extinguish 'autistic behaviours' with the aim of making autistic children 'indistinguishable from their peers').

Nonetheless, ABA continues to be a widely used intervention (and often the only intervention covered by American health insurers), except nowadays it faces a backlash from pro-autism advocates. But again - what does the wider community think underneath all the loud voices?
(Respondents were encouraged to ignore the question if they didn't know what ABA was. The numbers who skipped the question ranged so much between subcategories that I have removed blank answers from all subcategories, for the sake of meaningful comparison.)
It appears that once again, the furore people hear from autistic people online regarding ABA really is representative of the wider autistic population. A majority of non-autistic professions disagrees with the practice of ABA too, 43% of whom disagreeing strongly. (Not just non-autistic people in general, and not just professionals in general, but specifically non-autistic professionals.)

Unsurprisingly, the 20 respondents who were ABA practitioners, BCBAs or behaviourists were more positive about it: 16 strongly agreeing, 3 agreeing and 1 being neutral.

Of course, the counterargument can be sensed a mile away: " but how many of these autistic people have experienced ABA themselves? "

The answer: 341 of them. And this was what they thought.

Of course, ABA apologists are likely to point out that autistic people who haven't experienced ABA are more likely to be critical than those who have actually had it. But that doesn't look like a great defence when more autistic ABA patients clicked "strongly disagree" than all the other options combined. Honestly, if any other type of intervention had an outright majority of its patients strongly disagreeing with its practice, the intervention would likely be abolished.

(I've long believed that ABA is only seen as acceptable because the subjects are autistic children (and often disabled too), and therefore unethical interventions are easier to justify than they would be for non-autistic/non-disabled children.)

The chart on the right may look encouraging for those who support ABA, but (leaving aside that a 45% approval rating isn't great, especially with a quarter of parents strongly disapproving) it's sobering when placed next to the experiences of those who have personally undergone the treatment.

To me, this gives rise to two questions:

Once again, there's a counterargument: " surely the autistic adults went through 'old ABA', before the profession improved the practice and came up with 'new ABA'. "

I thought of this too. So I split the autistic respondents into two age groups.

There is a difference between these age groups. But if I were an ABA practitioner, I'd hardly be jumping for joy that only a small outright majority of younger ABA recipients strongly disagreed with its use.

-

Given the way autistic respondents have answered the other questions in this survey, you've probably worked out where this is going.

Yep, less than 10% of autistic respondents wanted a cure for their autism, and over 80% did not.

And, because if you've read this article all the way through you know how much I love pre-emptively addressing counter-arguments, here's the bar graph in response to those thinking " yes, but this doesn't represent those poor nonverbal people with learning difficulties ".

It really was surprisingly how near-identical these two graphs are. Experience told me to predict a similar result but even I didn't expect it to match up quite this well.

Of course, even then there's a counter-argument - that people who want to push back even further will argue this doesn't include autistic people with extremely profound complex learning disabilities who don't know what a survey is.

Leaving aside the inbuilt ableism in that assumption (and the fact that even if the survey did extract the opinions of those with complex disabilities, some people would still argue against any results they don't want to acknowledge), I'll say the same as I did in 2018- that:

To me, it seems illogical to say that just because an autistic person can't access this survey, their opinions on a cure will suddenly become the polar opposite of their autistic peers.

-

Now, let's take a look at what parents/caregivers think.

And this time, I split the results based on the parents'/caregivers' neurology. The results were quite striking.

The autistic respondents' collective attitude towards curing their relatives was an accurate reflection of their attitude towards curing themselves.

Non-autistic parents/caregivers, however, 'only' had a slim majority opposing cures for their children.

Whatever the explanation for the difference, it's near-certain not to be anything to do with complex disabilities. Assuming that the children of autistic parents and non-autistic parents are just as likely to be profoundly disabled (intuitively some would assume it to be more likely for autistic parents, but let's assume equality for argument's sake), that would make these charts an accurate illustration of parental attitudes to a pool of children with an even spread of disability.

Short version: autistic parents are less likely to want cures for their autistic children, regardless of disability.

Perhaps it's a matter of empathy: that autistic parents would see curing their children as akin to curing themselves. But I'll cover empathy later on.

-

The attitude of professionals (autistic or otherwise) appears to mirror those of the general autistic population, but the attitudes behind the groups' answers may be different. For example, some may strongly disagree because they see the awesomeness in their students/clients personalities, and others may disagree because it's not up to them to have such hopes.

Then again, I feel that last option is more likely to be the case for the ABA/BCBA crew, whose attitudes towards cures was surprisingly neutral. (For context, two ABA practitioners and one BCBA were autistic themselves.)

-

Once again, I'm aware that these next charts focus on a minority of respondents (albeit a substantial minority). But I felt it important to look further into the life experiences of those who did agree to the concept of a cure.

These charts take the pro-cure autistic respondents (red bars), and measure their traits/conditions against all autistic respondents (green).

As always, you can click to see the full image.
(Rows ordered by percentage of all autistic respondents, to visually emphasise differences among pro-cure autistic respondents.)
The intention was the answer the question "which traits and conditions lead people to disproportionately want a cure?" although I don't think many conclusions can be made here. Most of the traits and conditions are within reasonable proximity to each other. A few things I noticed though- autistic respondents who wanted a cure:

Had a higher percentage of learning disabilities (12.56%, compared to 6.71% of all autistic respondents)*

Had a lower rate of special interests (68.28% compared to 80.60%) and creativity (33.82% v 48.24%)

Were less likely to stim (58.62% compared to 71.34%)

Reported lower levels of intense empathy (54.75% compared to 70.55%), higher levels of lacking empathy (23.51% v 14.76%) and were likely to identify themselves as aggressive (27.38% v 18.40%)

Were much less likely to match autistic stereotypes, such as "geekiness" (53.78% v 65.03%), being academically gifted (46.70% v 60.82%), having attention to detail (57.97% v 69.75%) or problem-solving skills (40.26% v 52.76%).

*It's important to clarify that autistic people with learning disabilities in general did not want a cure, even though percentage-wise they were more likely to. Although it could technically be said that 'autistic people with learning disabilities were twice as likely to strongly agree with a cure', we should be bound by responsible reporting (and basic statistical literacy) to not make statements like this without also clarifying that we are talking about small percentages.

After all, if a food/drink has a 0.00001% chance of giving you cancer, and then they change its recipe which leads to a 0.00005% chance, you could very accurately say "it's five times more likely to give you cancer!!" even though it would be a misleading and scaremongering thing to say.

-

And what about pro-cure parents/caregivers?
(I should clarify that, as you've already seen, the cure question was asked three times in this survey: once for autistic people about themselves, once for parents/caregivers about their relatives, and once for professionals about their students/clients. So autistic parents were represented in the previous charts regarding their answer about themselves, and represented in these charts regarding their answers about their relatives.)
The most visible findings? Parents/caregivers who wanted a cure for their relatives:

Reported disproportionately fewer relatives with an anxiety disorder than all parents/caregivers reported them (48.91% compared to 55.65%)

Disproportionately had relatives with learning disabilities (24.97% compared to 17.76%)

Were more likely to check boxes indicating aggression (42.00% v 34.55%), non-speaking speech difficulties (29.58% v 22.61%) and lack of empathy (28.55% v 21.86%)

Were less likely to check boxes indicating autistic traits such as special interests (62.36% v 73.92%), literal thinking (47.38% v 59.00%), executive dysfunction (42.25% v 53.89%), attention to detail (28.30% v 40.65%) and intense empathy (20.87% v 39.55%)

Were less likely to check boxes indicating personality attributes such as "hyper-honesty" (28.43% v 40.56%), "geekiness" (20.61% v 32.78%), and "being extremely funny" (14.85% v 26.75%).

-

Although not quite a cure-related question, I felt these results belonged in this section.

Big surprise, the autistic respondents were by far the biggest group to agree with this statement, at a rate of over 80%. Parents/caregivers and the 'neutral' category also generally agreed (in the high 60s), although not quite as strongly.

The behaviourists generally claimed neutrality again (including the three autistic respondents, all of whom put 'neither').

I also analysed the statistics for non-autistic professionals in general, and found that they were very similar to the 'neutral' category - except with a 3% increase on "strongly agree" and 6% on "agree". (Which, curiously enough, was a marginally more positive response than the non-autistic parents/caregivers.)

-

OK, final category now.

Before we begin, we must draw a clear distinction between cognitive empathy and social empathy. To summarise it briefly:

Cognitive empathy means I can look at your face and instinctively know how you're feeling.

Social empathy means I actually care about how you're feeling.

Unfortunately, shortly after researchers established that autistic people's struggles to read faces meant struggling with 'cognitive empathy', a misleading rumour went round that we lack 'empathy' in general.

To be clear though, just because an autistic person struggles to know how you feel, it doesn't mean they don't care about how you feel. The empathy myth does seem to be gradually dying out, but it's one of the most harmful misconceptions about autism out there.

With that out of the way, I decided to ask these upcoming two questions to investigate whether the results fit with Dr Damian Milton's "Double Empathy Problem" theory - the idea that autistic people and non-autistic people struggle equally to communicate with the opposing group, but it's seen as an autism problem because we're outnumbered.

The first graph does seem to indicate the struggles on the part of the autistic respondents.

No big surprise here. We're autistic, and struggling with communication is supposed to be our kind of thing.

But what happens when the equivalent question is asked about communicating with autistic people?

It would appear that the general population, autistic or otherwise, does not claim to struggle to communicate with autistic people, including those with no 'official' link to autism.

(Quick note: although the group that appears to struggle most are non-autistic parents/caregivers, it's worth bearing in mind that the question reads "I often find autistic people difficult to understand/communicate with", not "I often find my autistic relative difficult to understand/communicate with".)

So, let's combine the two questions together.

This was one of those charts that defied my expectations. It appears to fly in the face of Dr Milton's theory, to the extent that I reached out to him for comment.

This was his response (truncated for length):

Non-autistic people feeling that they communicate well with or understand autistic people does not always mean the same is felt by autistic people. This optimistic bias may be due to autistic people being framed as the ones with the communication and empathy issues. This was actually somewhat highlighted by Brett Heasman and Alex Gillespie's work on perspective taking.

Another aspect is time spent with autistic people. A parent or professional who has spent much of their lives with autistic people in one way or another is less likely to feel an issue in general communication and understanding. If someone who had not worked with autistic people were to claim such an understanding, I very much doubt this would be felt by autistic people they communicated with. Were the respondents to the survey generally involved with autistic people (either professionally or through family)? If so, the results do not strike me as particularly surprising.

An interesting question remains - why the optimistic bias [on the part of non-autistic people] regarding ability to understand and communicate? Where does this come from?

In addition to Dr Milton's interesting insight, the issue was summarised quite neatly by @autistictic in a Twitter thread about this article:

The survey result doesn't contradict the Double Empathy Problem at all. It actually demonstrates it beautifully.

-

And finally, the question of empathy in the wider sense.

The traits question earlier showed the statistics of what percentage of respondents experienced 'intense empathy' or 'lack of empathy' (either from themselves or their autistic relatives). These were:

Notice how autistic respondents were nearly five times more likely to report experiencing intense empathy than a lack of empathy (and twice as likely to report it as parents/caregivers, who by comparison were 'only' nearly twice as likely to report intense empathy than a lack of it.)

But I'll finish the graphs section of this article with an updated version of what I finished the 2018 with- perhaps the most hurtful realisation at all.

Four years on, things don't appear to have changed. And tragically - because empathy is often difficult to see from those who struggle to communicate - those who live with non-speaking autistic people with learning disabilities may not truly realise just how empathetic they are.

Not right now, anyway.

-

For those wondering, TL;DR is internet language for "Too Long; Didn't Read". So here is the shortened version of the results that stand out.

Autistic people's life experiences:

1. Nearly 90% of autistic respondents claimed that other people's attitudes towards autism made their lives difficult, compared to less than 60% claiming their autistic neurology did the same.

2. Over 70% of autistic respondents feel socially isolated, very little change since the previous survey.

3. Autistic employees often do not have their needs met at work, but are marginally better accommodated in workplaces where they work with autistic students/clients.

4. Over 80% of autistic respondents felt the need to mask in front of non-autistic people, but over 50% did not feel the need to mask in front of other autistics.

5. Autistic respondents appear less likely to be religious, although other factors appear to be stronger indicators of religiosity (mainly geography and sexuality).

Parents'/caregivers' life experiences:

1. Even though nearly half of parents were negative about their schools' ability to support their children, parents still appear more likely to be positive about school than autistic respondents.

2. Having an autistic family member had a negative impact on employment for 38. 94% of parent/caregiver respondents, but did not have a negative impact for 43.61% of them. Of course, there was no data from parents of non-autistic children to compare this to.

Professionals' experiences:

1. Those who worked with a majority of autistic students/clients enjoyed their jobs more than those who worked with a minority of autistic students clients (65% against 47% strongly agreeing with "I enjoy my job"). The vast majority of both groups agreed with the statement in general.

2. There was an almost perfectly even split between professionals who believed their training prepared them adequately to work with autistic clients and those who did not, with healthcare workers being marginally less confident about their training levels and therapists/psychiatrists being marginally more confident.

Accessibility:

1. All measured areas of public life were less accessible to autistic people than the general population (although the general population did not appear to think public life was very accessible either).

2. The UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand tend to be the places where diagnoses are most accessible, and (based on much smaller data) the Middle East, Asia and Africa were at the opposite end of the scale.

3. Approximately half of autistic respondents and parents/caregivers believed the diagnostic pathway was not accessible.

4. The majority of autistic respondents and parents/caregivers believed they did not get the support they needed post-diagnosis.

The autism/autistic community:

1. 90% of parents/caregivers value the input of autistic adults - and 60% of them strongly.

2. Autistic adults who believe that non-autistic parents should have their perspectives valued in the autism discussion outnumber the autistic adults who don't.

Intersectionality, co-occurring conditions and traits:

1. The results suggest that a majority of autistic people identify as LGBT+.

2. The results also suggest that autistic people are more than three times more likely to be transgender, and almost four times more likely to identify as disabled.

3. Around 40% of autistic people also have ADHD.

4. Over a third of autistic respondents have PTSD.

Attitudes towards autism:

97% of autistic people and parents/caregivers felt that the general public doesn't understand enough about autism.

Vaccines

1. Over 90% of autistic respondents (and respondents who worked in healthcare) disagreed with concerns about whether vaccines cause autism, along with nearly 90% of the general population. The vast majority of these disagreed strongly.

2. Concerns about vaccines in relation to autism appeared partly influenced by respondents' age (older respondents being more concerned), to a lesser extent their geography, and to some extent their religious background (more religious respondents being marginally more likely to have concerns).

Cures

1. Professionals were approximately as opposed as the general autistic population, as 75% of professionals were opposed to the idea of a cure for their autistic students/clients (although ABA practitioners and BCBAs were statistically neutral on the subject).

2. Parents/caregivers who wanted a cure for their relatives were more likely to have relatives with learning disabilities, and more likely to report aggression, lack of empathy, and non-speaking speech difficulties. They were less likely to report several 'traditional' autism traits (e.g. special interests, literal thinking), as well as personality traits such as geekiness and humour.

ABA

1. Over 70% of autistic ABA recipients disagreed with its use (62% strongly). However, a higher number of parents/caregivers of ABA recipients agreed than disagreed (45% versus 35%)

2. Over 70% of autistic ABA recipients aged 20+ disagreed with its use (65% strongly), along with over 60% of ABA recipients aged 0-19 (52% strongly).

3. ABA practitioners, BCBAs and behaviourist respondents were generally neutral about whether autism was a positive contribution to the gene pool, and also neutral about whether they would hope their clients would accept an autism cure.

Language choices:

1. By narrower margins, non-autistic parents and professionals are now more likely to use identity-first language than person-first.

2. Usage of all other language options included in this survey (with the exception of "support needs") has fallen since 2018 in favour of identity-first language.

3. Those who referred to themselves as "autistic people" tended to like being autistic more than those who referred to themselves as "people with autism" (70% compared to 37%). They also disliked being autistic less (8% disliking their autism compared to 29%).

Empathy:

1. Three quarters of autistic respondents had difficulty understanding/communicating with non-autistic people.

2. The majority of every subgroup analysed - autistic or otherwise - claimed to not find autistic people difficult to understand or communicate with. The section contained insight from Dr Damian Milton - author of the "double empathy theory" - adding context to why non-autistic respondents may have felt this way.

3. Autistic respondents were nearly five times more likely to report 'intense empathy' than 'lack of empathy' (71% v 15%), and parents were nearly twice as likely (40% v 22%).

-

Whether you skim-read this article or waded through all 13,000+ words of it, thanks very much for doing so. Again, anyone reading this is welcome to take screenshots, and download the charts from this Dropbox folder. If you're interested in more of my work then here are some social media links: Autistic Not Weird's Facebook community, Instagram page and YouTube channel, as well as Chris Bonnello - Author on Facebook.

Of course, I'll finish with reminding any remaining readers that although autism advocacy is my career, I received no grants for this survey and essentially did it for free. So if anyone reading this thinks my work is worth supporting, then firstly thank you very much and secondly here are some useful links:

Huge thanks once again to everyone who took part in the survey, to those in the acknowledgements who helped shape it, and to my Patreon supporters for providing me with so much stability and consistency.

I hope that those who read this article gain a lot from it, and that autistic lives ultimately end up better off as a result.

Take care,

Chris Bonnello

-

Underdogs, a near-future dystopia series where the heroes are teenagers with special needs, is a character-driven war story which pitches twelve people against an army of millions, balancing intense action with a deeply developed neurodiverse cast.

Book one can be found here:

Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon AU
Audible (audiobook version)
Book Depository
Review page on Goodreads

Chris Bonnello is a national and international autism speaker, available to lead talks and training sessions from the perspective of an autistic former teacher. For further information please click here (opens in new window).

Autistic Not Weird on Facebook

Autistic Not Weird on YouTube

Twitter | Instagram

Copyright © Chris Bonnello 2015-2022

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Results and Analysis of the Autistic Not Weird 2022 Autism Survey

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Is it 'autistic person' or 'person with autism'? How many autistic people are also LGBT+? Has ABA improved in recent years? Do parents of autistic people wish for a cure? Do autistic people feel empathy or not? With a subject as broad (and historically misunderstood) as autism, it's important to build an accurate and meaningful consensus about important topics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Autism Acceptance Month Morning Meeting Sample Slides

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Arab American Heritage Month: Facts, Activities & Resources | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Documentaries and programs that celebrate the diversity and history of Arab American communities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Celebrating the rich and diverse culture and contributions of the diverse population of Arab Americans, National Arab American Heritage Month has been observed during the month of April since 2017.

An estimated 3.7 million Americans have Arab roots, according to the Arab American Institute, with ancestries traced to 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Morocco, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and others.

Arab Immigration to the United States

In the late 1800s, Arab immigration to the United States began, according to the Migration Policy Institute, with Arab Christians fleeing the Ottoman Empire-which now includes Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel-from religious persecution and conscription, as well as economic reasons. The U.S. Department of State reports that the immigrants mostly landed in the Northeast and Midwest, finding work there in sales and as grocers.

The Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924, which used origin quotas to limit immigration, halted the influx of Arab immigrants until 1948 to 1966, when a new wave of Middle Eastern immigration began due to the Arab-Israeli War and other regional conflicts. Many of those immigrants came to Detroit during the auto industry boom. A third Arab immigration wave occurred in the U.S. following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended quotas favoring those from northern and western Europe.

Today, Arab Americans live in all U.S. states, with two-thirds residing in 10 states: California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. One-third live in the greater Los Angeles area, Detroit and New York, the Arab American Institute reports. The largest group, comprising nearly one-third of the Arab American population, are Lebanese Americans, and, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Dearborn, Michigan, outside of Detroit, boasts the country's largest percentage of Arab Americans.

Commemorating the Month

The initiative for official national designation of the month was launched in 2017 by the nonprofit media and education organization Arab American Foundation and its sister organization Arab America. It began with support from a few states, but gained momentum each year.

In 2019, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Michigan.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), introduced a resolution to Congress to proclaim April as National Arab American Heritage Month. "It is my hope as a strong and proud Arab American in Congress that our nation can uplift our contributions in the United States by supporting Arab American Heritage Month," Tlaib, a first-generation American, said about the resolution. The bill remains pending.

National Arab American Heritage Month was recognized in April 2021 by President Joe Biden, with the U.S. Department of State, some members of Congress and 37 governors issuing proclamations supporting the month, according to Arab America.

"The Arab American community is essential to the fabric of our nation, and I am honored to be part of this celebration of Arab American culture, heritage, and contributions to American society," Biden wrote in a letter to Arab America and the Arab America Foundation. "The Arab American community exemplifies so much of what our country stands for: hard work, resilience, compassion, and generosity.

"Diversity is one of our greatest strengths, and it is essential that we continue celebrating, promoting, and educating others about the myriad ways that the Arab people have advanced human civilization and contributed to the well-being of our nation."

By 2022, Illinois, Oregon and Virginia passed permanent legislation designating April as National Arab American Heritage Month, with similar legislation pending in Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island.

Sources

" National Arab American Heritage Month," Arab America Foundation

" The Story of Arab Americans' Beginning in America - And the Quest for Fair Representation," U.S. Department of State

" National Arab American Demographics," Arab American Institute

" Middle Eastern and North African Immigrants in the United States," Migration Policy Institute

" April is Arab American Heritage Month, the State Department declares," CNN
National Endowment for the Humanities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Arab American Heritage Month 2023 - Commemoration, Traditions & Populations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Celebrating the rich and diverse culture and contributions of the diverse population of Arab Americans, National Arab American Heritage Month has been observed during the month of April since 2017.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
From February 6-10, 2023, Teaching for Change's D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice, D.C. area educators, and community members will collaborate on the sixth annual D.C. Area Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.

This local week of action will build on the momentum past years successful weeks of action and the National Black Lives Matter at School Year of Purpose campaign taking place in cities across the U.S. to promote a set of national demands based in the Black Lives Matter guiding principles that focus on improving the school experience for students of color.

The Black Lives Matter movement is a powerful, non-violent peace movement that systematically examines injustices that exist at the intersections of race, class, and gender; including mass incarceration, poverty, non-affordable housing, income disparity, homophobia, unfair immigration laws, gender inequality, and poor access to healthcare.

The Uprising for Black lives prompted the Black Lives Matter at School movement to expand activities to a " Year of Purpose." The centerpiece of the Year of Purpose is asking educators to reflect on their own work in relationship to antiracist pedagogy and abolitionist practice, persistently challenging themselves to center Black lives in their classrooms.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action - D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The goal of the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action is to spark an ongoing movement of critical reflection and honest conversations in school communities for people of all ages to engage with critical issues of social justice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black History Month Daily Inspiration Extended Master to Share

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
 Black LIves Matter & Black History Month Read Alouds 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teaching for Change and Rethinking Schools collaborate to bring people's history to the classroom.

A dedicated website to encourage and support teaching about Central American history.

The best selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, YA, and educators.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Building social justice starting in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
¡Presente! | National Museum of the American Latino

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
¡PRESENTE! A Latino History of the United States online experience

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Jaime Escalante was a math educator from Bolivia. He immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. In 1974, he accepted a job as a math teacher at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. The student population was predominantly Hispanic and low-income. It was a challenging place to teach, with a history of violence and academic underperformance.

Escalante wanted to see his students succeed and started an advanced mathematics program. Eventually, his program grew. In 1982, his largest class took and passed the AP Calculus test. Because so many of his students had passed, the testing company suspected cheating and invalidated their scores. Escalante protested, and many students retook and passed the test months later. This incident gained a lot of public attention and was the basis for the 1988 film Stand and Deliver.

Jaime Escalante continued teaching until 1998. He received many awards for his work in education, including the Presidential Medal of Excellence, and was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in 1999.

2. Ruth Gonzalez (Present)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Celebrate National Hispanic Month: Five Hispanic and Latino Mathematicians

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Jaime Escalante was a math educator from Bolivia. He immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. In 1974, he accepted a job as a math teacher at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. The student population was predominantly Hispanic and low-income.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hispanic Heritage Student Choice Board Grades K-2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
¡Bienvenidos al Mes de la Hispanidad! Top Hispanic Universities Latin America And its African heritage Latin America And its INDIGENOUS ROOTS To return to the classroom, click the apple on any slide!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn about India's biggest holiday of the year.