Profound Autism Ally

03/09/2026

Most of the people who say “profound autism isn’t real” have never actually met anyone with profound autism. Or they blame intellectual disabilities (IDs), not knowing that some people with profound autism don’t have an ID, or that people who do have IDs but don't have ASD have very different needs than people with profound autism.

If you ask autistics who have autistic children requiring 24/7 support (like myself) or autistics who work with autistic children/adults who need 24/7 care, the overwhelming majority of them will tell you that the term profound autism is accurate and necessary.
A lot of parents, teachers, SLPs, OTs, PTs, BCBAs, support workers, psychologists, developmental paediatricians, etc are autistic and have a considerable amount of experience with people who meet the criteria for profound autism. The majority of them are in favour of the term.

-Wesley’s Mama

03/08/2026

03/06/2026

Can you 👂 hear that noise getting louder? 🎉

https://www.tes.com/magazine/teaching-learning/general/uta-frith-interview-autism-not-spectrum?fbclid=IwZnRzaAQYFplleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeEF8cd3vQMjYeY3S1PbFX1UfrTaLYWnF35wS32UumoBOI5M11KAZQPW8omUA_aem_qyQMMgS2BVAZV0ouay6mBw

The autism spectrum has widened to the point of collapse, affecting how teachers should support autistic pupils in the classroom, researcher Uta Frith tells Helen Amass

03/05/2026

💦

03/04/2026

From the article:

What would be a more accurate way to think about autism, if not as a spectrum?

‘I think at least we have two big subgroups: the people who are diagnosed in early childhood - usually before age three or age five, depending on things like their intellectual abilities and language - and another group, diagnosed much later.

This population is different. It is made up of a lot of adolescents, and among them, a lot of young women. These are people without intellectual impairment, who are perfectly able to communicate verbally and non-verbally, but who might feel highly anxious in social situations. They are perhaps characterised mainly by a sort of hypersensitivity.

That group is increasing at a rate that is just frightening, while the rate of the first group is only moderately increasing. And in autistic children with intellectual disability, there has not been any real increase; that group seems quite stable.

Now, I think the people in the second group really do have problems. I would definitely not say they are “making it up”. But I would say that these are problems that can perhaps be treated much better than under the label of “autism”. I would fight for that label to be limited to the first group.’

https://www.tes.com/magazine/teaching-learning/general/uta-frith-interview-autism-not-spectrum

03/03/2026

Wesley’s Whimsical World ✨

We absolutely need to listen to autistic voices, but when we ONLY listen to autistic voices, we exclude everyone who cannot communicate.

-Wesley’s Mama

03/02/2026

02/27/2026

Building meaningful lives for autistic people is at the heart of our mission - and we've giving away two copies of an incredibly important book that we think all clinicians and families would benefit from reading! Dr. Peter Gerhardt has generously donated two copies of "Make it Meaningful," co-authored with Dr. Shanna Bahry, to our registrants!

Anyone registered for the Profound Autism Summit by March 3 is eligible to enter. Winners will be randomly selected and notified on March 4 and can pick their book up at the Summit! Drs. Gerhardt and Bahry will also be signing books on Thursday, April 16.

Registration and Giveaway Entry are in our instagram bio.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdc2hpMPtIQMuJklSrWvL5RIQWDRkb-swN9lbPx6Zcnsp6NWg/viewform?usp=header

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