Instagram Creator with Over 20 Thousand Followers Speaks with NERC
Instagram holds thousands of accounts of content creators covering topics from parenting, veganism, or fashion. In the neurodivergent community, activism and education are commonly talked about on the platform. For the creator behind autisticpositivity, Amelia creates content about her experiences being an actually autistic creator.
“I started my account just a few weeks after I was diagnosed with autism. I originally thought I had ADHD, but after some posts from actually autistic creators popped up in my feed I started to wonder if it’s really ADHD. I had very poor knowledge about autism. After my official diagnosis, I thought I want to say thank you to these creators by becoming one myself,” said Amelia.
Some of Amelia’s content includes posts about why the puzzle piece is harmful to the autistic community, why ABA is harmful to autistic indiviuals, and general posts about everyday life. These posts allow not only autistic indiviuals to gain support and feel seen on the social media platform, but allow the general community of non-autistic individuals to gain so insight on how to better support those around them.
“I’m very loud about ABA and harmful therapies. I also advocate for not viewing autism and neurodivergence as a pathological disorder, and autistic and/or neurodivergent people as ‘defective’, but as different,” said Amelia.
This is a very common value of many neurodivergent creators. They strive for the inclusion of autistic people in the general community, not the exclusion. And often this is in the form of educational posts.
“I definitely focus on autistic people! I also create some educational materials for allistic people, but autistic people benefit from these posts too. I don’t focus on myself with my advocacy,” said Amelia.
Amelia also talked about her goal when it comes to giving back to the neurodivergent community, how she wants to help as many people as she can. Trying to make them feel less alone, empowering them, helping them accept they’re autistic, sharing resources and most importantly promoting aitistic positivity in contrast to the ableism she often sees on social media.
“I appreciate every single one of you! You are not alone!.” said Amelia to her 21.3K followers, “Activism is necessary to spread awareness, acceptance and appreciation!”
