It's Autism Acceptance Month! Try These Writing Prompts
April is Autism Acceptance Month, an opportunity for autistic people to increase public understanding and acceptance of autism. The event started in 2011, initiated by Paula Durbin-Westby in response to the existing Autism Awareness Month (started in 1970). “Awareness Month” depressed autistic people every April with a flurry of negative images, demeaning stereotypes, and inaccurate information.
When I decided to participate in Autism Acceptance Month this year, I expected to find at least one list of writing prompts for the event immediately on Google or Google Images. (In my experience, looking up any sort of writing or art prompt yields many results).
Yet, I couldn’t find a prompt list. That surprised me, given how many autistic people, disability rights advocates, and service providers now participate in Autism Acceptance Month. A few autistic people have taken on the challenge of writing about autism and autism acceptance every day for a month. That’s a tough challenge without scaffolds like prompt lists — all the more so if you have a disability involving difficulty with executive functioning.
So, I created an Autism Acceptance Month Prompt List. You’re welcome to use it, modify it to meet your needs, or use it as inspiration to create your own.
Autism Acceptance Month Writing Prompt List
The prompts are the text in bold. The additional plain text clarifies the prompts. It may also suggest ways to respond (optional).
Intense interests/“hyperfixations”: What passionate interests enrich your life? Share something about your interest or how it brings you joy. (Inspired by Cosima Smith; for an example, see “The Obsessive Joy of Autism” by Julia Bascom).
Beautiful or joyful sensory experiences: Sensory sensitivity brings pleasant experiences, too. What feels good to you?
Painful sensory experiences: Which sensory stimuli are uncomfortable, distracting, or overwhelming? How do you deal with it?
Patterns: What patterns do you notice and think about? How do you use them?
Rules: Do you think in terms of rules and principles for everything, even human behavior? Do you feel confused or frustrated when people violate rules or logic? Do people accuse you of “black and white" or "all or nothing” thinking? Tell the world how you really think.
Preferring sameness: At meals, do you like to always sit in the same seat eating the sane food? Do you strictly, consistently follow a schedule? What do you like to keep the same, and why? What is it like for you when things are consistent?
Diagnosis: Share your experiences or opinions, about your own diagnosis or that of other people in your life.
Stimming: Stimming (short for “self stimulation”) is automatic behavior — such as tapping your foot, “fidgeting”, biting your nails, or flapping your hands — that help you self-regulate. Everyone does them; neurotypical people sometimes call common ones “nervous habits” or “fidgeting.” However, stims have purposes beyond just self-soothing. What stims do you do, when, why? What would you like for people to know about stimming?
Faces: Experiences with face recognition, emotional expressions, eye contact, etc.
An ideal day
An ideal home
An ideal public space
Misunderstandings (Go Both Ways): What do you wish people would understand about you (or an autistic person in your life)?
Misunderstandings (Go Both Ways): What confuses you about other people? What would you like to know?
Masking: What do you have to hide from people? What is the process like? When/why do you do it? What costs do you pay?
Fatigue & Burnout: What exhausts you? Have you ever burned out?
What energizes you? (Tellingly, this one might be harder to answer than #16).
Catatonia & Initiation difficulties: Have you ever had difficulty initiating an action, getting started with a task, moving, or speaking voluntarily? How do you deal with it or break out of it? What kind of external support can help?
Difficulty speaking: Are there times when you struggle to speak, or can’t speak? When/why? How do you communicate at these times?
Moving differently: Do you have an unusual-looking, clumsy gait? Do you stim by making atypical movements? Does your body feel like it “obeys” you, or is it “unruly”? What’s it like to live in a body that moves differently?
Superpowers: What do you think of the idea of autism “superpowers”? Do you have any?
Favorite autistic characters? (In any form of media: books, movies, TV shows, graphic novels…)
Least favorite autistic characters?
School: What was your experience like? What would your ideal education be like?
Work: What has your work experience (or lack thereof) been like? What would it ideally be like?
Meltdown and/or shut down: What are meltdowns or shutdowns like for you? What triggers them? How do you cope?
Fluctuating Functioning: If you have a disability, does it ever fluctuate? That is, are there things you can do only on some days, at some energy levels, or with certain kinds of support? What helps you function better? How have you gone about figuring it out?
Accommodations: Have any changes in your physical or social environment, formal or informal, helped you? How? How did you make them happen?
Assistive tech: What technology helps you? It could be high tech (like audio recording lectures, a light box, or a speech generating device). It could also be low tech, like the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) or a bullet journal.
What does acceptance mean? How would you like individual people and society to treat autistic people?
Alternate/Substitute Prompts
If you feel uncomfortable writing about one of the prompts, or have nothing to say about it, you can choose one of the following to replace it:
Communicating with autistic and other neurodivergent people: Is it easier for you to communicate with other neurodivergent folks? Do you have more or closer relationships with them? What feels good or easy about these relationships? By contrast, are there neurotypical people whose communication styles irritate you?
Autistic Community: Do you feel you’re part of an autistic community or autistic communities? How do you take part? Do you do any advocacy? What would you like your community to be or do?
Speaking Differently: Do you have unusual intonation, a monotone voice, or a “disability accent”? Do you use unusually formal, precise language? Is your rhythm different — maybe you speak in either a torrent of words, or not at all? What do you think about your way of communicating? How do others react, and how would you like them to communicate with you?
Gender and Sexuality: Do you relate atypically to your gender or sexuality, and does that relate to autism? What do you think about the overlap between autism and being LGBTQ+?
Twice Exceptional: Were you both strikingly precocious and delayed from an early age? Were you labeled “gifted”? How did living at the extremes affect your life, how others treated you, how you see yourself? What does it mean to you now to be a “former gifted kid”?
What if I’m not autistic, and I want to help?: Good question! I myself am a “cousin” (a non-autistic neurodivergent person). Thus, I can write about experiences I share with autistic people, such as intense interests. For other prompts, I'll write about the autistic people in my life or in research, instead. If you’re neurotypical, you’ll primarily be writing about other people. (For example, if you’re a teacher, therapist, or SLP, you might write about your students/clients — or their parents!).
Want More Inspiration?
You can seek inspiration from the writing that started it all, at the Autism Acceptance Month blog.
You can chat and brainstorm with other participants at this Facebook Group and this Facebook Community.
Also, please let me know how the prompts are going, and share links to what you’ve written, by leaving a comment.
Please share these prompts with people you know on social media who are interested in autism advocacy. The more people write, the more we tip the balance toward understanding and acceptance.
I’m not sure what I’ll write this month, and how much will be fit for public consumption. Subscribers, let’s find out together!
Thank you for these prompts! I don't write about my experience with autism very often, so these prompts were great for putting words to some things I've always felt.