I would like to ask for non-autistic people to start actually helping. I know we have allies, but we don’t just need allies. We need outspoken allies. We need a buffer to the trauma. We need a break.

I’m tired. We’re tired. Something has got to give so autistic people can get some rest when fighting for justice.

Consider 30 minutes a week of activism, or speaking up and platforming autistic voices, if your livelihood is benefited by autistic lives.

Because current and future autistic lives are on the line, whether you feel that way or not.

Source: What Autistic Advocacy Really Means – Autistic Science Person

I co-sign that piece in its entirety.

When allies ask me what they can do, I usually say “amplify us, nobody else does” and “pay us”. Stimpunks exists, in part, to amplify and pay the people who educated us.

I’m adding another level to my allyship list: “buffer the trauma”.

1. Amplify
2. Pay
3. Buffer
   

In my previous gig on a DEI team, I experienced the relief of abled and neurotypical allies buffering the trauma. Respite is a great feeling.

Amplify us, pay us, and buffer our trauma. We’re fighting for justice for all at the edges and intersections. Our designs, our societies, and the boundaries of our compassion are tested at the edges, where the truths told are of bias, inequality, injustice, and thoughtlessness.

We are the canaries. We are “the fish that must fight the current to swim upstream.” Give us a break.