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@Dale_Poole @nellie_m @pythno @actuallyautistic

There's often conversation about the fact that ... we don't know what an autist without trauma looks like. What autism would look like without the people-pleasing and masking box that many of us are pushed into.

And this is also core of the stereotypes of autism. "Everyone" knows that "real autists" are shut down, staring at a wall, rocking and hitting their heads into the wall. But that's not true. You know what type of autist does that? One that is *currently stressed out of their mind* and traumatised by it. We shut down (which is an internalised form, more or less, of a meltdown) because we have been overstimulated: too much noise, too bright lights, clothes that are itching, too many people ... And not allowed (or knowing how to) cope with this. Stimming helps us drain some of that stimulation, to hopefully have us *not* end up in that extreme stress that people claim is "just how real autists are".