Aaron D. Poliwoda

Anecdotal skillshares to understand the lives of autistics and the nonsensical world we all share The R-word has been used against us as hate speech for decades. Neurotypicals have tried to dictate our motives, experiences, and words without stepping back to look at how taking the word away does nothing to take away their attitudes behind it. While leftist culture has abandoned the word "retarded," we are still treated with the same hatefulness and discrimination implicit in that word. It's time to own this word for ourselves. Queer punks were told that they would be accepted as soon as they acted like straight people. Autism now occupies a similar place in the public consciousness at this moment: no one understands it and The Borg demand our assimilation! Don't Be Retarded offers exposition on neurotypicals' neurophobia and the frequent claim that they are supportive of #ActuallyAutistic people...as long as we act like they do. These stories of overcoming and disputing myths will become the roots of the new autistic pride movement and the people who have suffered under the R-word should own it. Featuring work by Temple Grandin and others. One Good Trouble reviewer mentioned that she couldn't believe that there wasn't a radical zine community on the forefront of Autistic theory...so I decided to start one! The inspiration for the title lies in the homocore roots of punk and Don't Be Gay in the 1980s.

Neurodiversity occupies a similar place in the public consciousness as gay rights did in the 1970s: most people on the outside don't understand it and The Borg demand our assimilation! A necessary contribution to the dialogue around neurology, this zine features advice and exploratory narratives about how to accept the neurodiverse experience. Even the less divergent can understand us and see us as real, whole people. Featuring comics, narrative, advice, and origin stories that all teach how to better interact/collaborate/interface with us, this zine is the beginning of a social movement towards a future where people can be treated like, well, people. We find neuroatypical people inspiring and we think you could learn from our stories too!

The power of autistic pride in a neurophobic world The life expectancy of autistic people is 36 years old. The most likely cause of this is suicide. Autistic people are being killed in massive numbers by the disability of how society treats us. This zine collects stories of people who have defied these odds and lived past 36. It shares wisdom for how we did it and offers narrative about both what that process was like as well as tips and important things to understand if you care about one of us. More importantly and perhaps surprisingly, the most effective way to reduce suicide is to talk about it. This way people who are having suicidal feelings can normalize talking about it with you instead of the fear of bringing it up. Talking about suicide does not increase risk or efforts. It's the one true way to save lives.