50 h. ago Why we should all mind our own business when we see autistic people stimming

There’s no need to comment or intervene, writes Aimee Grant

Politics

52 h. ago Jetstar plane passengers brawl in reclining seat row as flight takes horror turn

“How hard is it to just sit in your seat, keep your mouth shut and mind your own business?"

Events

3 d. ago Undiagnosed entertainment: how Hollywood awkwardly dodges autism

Eccentric, blunt-speaking characters who present as being on the spectrum are everywhere on our screens – but why are their creators so reluctant to state it openly?I received my autism diagnosis about a decade into my career as a comedian and about three decades into being alive. In the eyes of some of the frothier comment section trolls, being a comedian means that I can’t be autistic, despite the likes of Fern Brady and Stewart Lee proving otherwise. This is because people are keener on stereotypes than admitting they know nothing about autism – why is the general level of knowledge so poor?With Elon Musk and Robert F Kennedy Jr doing their best to make autism terrifying again, either by implying that it causes sieg heiling or by bringing back the MMR autism panic of the 1990s (along with actual measles), it struck me that we autistic people don’t have a lot of reliable representation to fall back on. There’s Rain Man, of course, and Ben Af...

Events

4 d. ago REVEALED: Number of autistic people locked up in Scotland's maximum security State Hospital has more than doubled

A record number of autistic patients have been locked up against their will alongside rapists and murderers at Scotland's maximum security State Hospital.

Events

2 w. ago ‘We remember as true things that never even happened’: Julian Barnes on memory and changing his mind

The Booker-prize winning novelist reflects on the times in his life when recollection and imagination have intertwined, and wonders whether we can ever rely on our brains to provide us with the truthIt sounds a simple business. “I changed my mind.” Subject, verb, object – a clear, clean action, without correcting or diminishing adjectives or adverbs. “No, I’m not doing that – I changed my mind” is usually an irrefutable statement. It implies the presence of strong arguments which can be provided if necessary. The economist John Maynard Keynes, charged with inconsistency, famously replied, “When the facts change, I change my mind.” So, he – and we – are happily and confidently in charge of this whole operation. The world may sadly incline to inconsistency, but not us.And yet the phrase covers a great variety of mental activities, some seemingly rational and logical, others elemental and instinctive. There may be a simmering-away beneath the level of consciousness until the bursting r...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘It’s supposed to be intense’: inside the experimental film that ‘truly captures’ autism

It stars a roaming shapeshifter – and a cat-faced soldier fighting a zombie in a swamp. We go behind the scenes of The Stimming Pool, the first ever feature film to be made by autistic directors Do you know how many autistic people there are in the UK? The answer is an estimated 700,000. Yet until now, there has never been a single feature-length film directed by autistic people. Or at least not one that has secured a theatrical release in the UK and slots at festivals worldwide.The film is The Stimming Pool, an experimental feature shot over just 12 days that puts on screen the interests, passions and perspectives of its five young autistic creators. They worked alongside Steven Eastwood, professor of film practice at London’s Queen Mary University, funded initially by the Wellcome Trust. “We asked why autistic people are always required to explain or illustrate their experience,” says Eastwood. “What about just having neurodivergent authors behind the cameras, doing the creativity...

Politics