Jordyn Zimmerman is redefining communication as a nonspeaking advocate for disability rights
Jordyn Zimmerman is redefining communication as a nonspeaking advocate for disability rights
Autism Acceptance Month “should be about listening to the various voices that make up our community, disrupting ableism and systems of oppression and calling for action,” she said.
School was pretty terrible. School is the hub of our communities, and I was segregated within school. So I was therefore segregated from my community. Within school for years, people talked about me like I couldn’t understand them. And even like I didn’t exist. I was easily controlled and manipulated by adults, restrained and secluded and made to complete repetitive tasks with the belief that I didn’t understand them or my surroundings. I was in a perpetual state of discomfort and dysregulation within my own body. There was so much I wanted to say, so much I wanted to add and so much I wanted to change that was all built up in my head.
(Note: Autism Awareness Month was back in April, but this is still a good article.)