Ryan Boren

I am autistic and take issue with those who silence autistic voices. We are abused into compliance and silence, stuffed into neurotypical boxes, and denied agency and self-advocacy. Those who silence self-advocate perspective in a disability support group for students—where connecting kids with an identity, tribe, and voice are vitally important—will not receive silence in reply. They will hear my voice. They will hear it in the song of our systems as we move to the social model for minds and bodies.

Those who do not respect identity should not moderate a disability group. When you block the voices of self-advocates and their families, you fail inclusion. Nothing about us, without us.

• Neurodiversity and Gender Non-conformity, Dysphoria and Fluidity
• Education, Neurodiversity, the Social Model of Disability, and Real Life
• Rules of Thumb for Human Systems