As part of the AutismPositivity 2013 Flash Blog event, I decided to create this page. I want it to serve as a resource for myself, my readers and random people that stumble upon my blog thanks to search engines. Here is my collection of one thousand ausome things. This will be a work in progress, and I welcome your suggestions.
Ausome Things 1-50
1. Autism Shines: This website is a collection of positive images and stories.
2. Autistic Self Advocacy Network: Operating on the principle of “nothing about us without us,” ASAN is led and run by autistics and serves as a resource to autistics, their caregivers and the general public.
3. Autism Women’s Network #AutismUpside Week 4!
4. Leah Kelley writes about her autistic son’s creativity (and not getting in the way of it): “The kid who knows who Stanley Kubrick is: Dreaming Big!”
5. “The Obsessive Joy of Autism” from Just Keep Stimming.
6. International Autism Acceptance Decade
7. Autistic Boy Scout earns all 132 merit badges
8. Thanks to a post by Musings of an Aspie, I discovered this web comic. Check out “Autism is Genetic” and the series “The ABC of stimming.”
9. Philip demonstrates he can creatively entertain himself
10. From Julianne: So many AUSOME things about our kiddos. One of my favorites? The acceptance of people for who they are. Nonjudgmental…My child seems to accept people for who they are without taking into account the lines drawn by cliques. He is so forgiving and is willing to give people a second chance based solely on their actions and not be clouded with the emotional drama everyone else imposes. I think all of our kids are that way and I wish we all could have a little more of that!
11. Feminist Aspie describes the good side of her neurotype that people don’t see.
12. “The World Intelligence Magnified Tour” I’ve finally had the pleasure of watching Wretches and Jabberers. What could be more ausome than two autistic men traveling the world to advocate for themselves and others? I’ll tell you. They choose to travel even though they face overwhelming sensory experiences. They choose to travel even though they still don’t have all the support and acceptance that they deserve in their own country.
13. Technology is opening opportunities for autistics, including the ability to make choices:
“I see now that answer two is correct, but leave it wrong because that was my choice.”
from “Not Impossible: The Story of Daniel, a 17 Year Old with Severe Autism & His 6 Completed Courses”
14. Thinking differently: Autism finds space in the workplace
15. Can’t speak? That’s no reason for not delivering a commencement address
16. Autism Empowerment is a not-for-profit organization offering programs, services and resources to those living on the spectrum. The co-founder and current Executive Director is autistic.
17. I’m linking here to Mind Retrofit: Upgrading to the Asperger’s Life because she has a blog category called “Autism Happy”
18. E at The Third Glance writes about how being autistic makes her a better teacher.
19. Autistic Artistic Carnival 2013: a collection of essays, visual artwork and more hosted by Jason Ross on his blog “drive mom crazy.”
20. Asperger’s Are Us comedy troupe plays off their disability: My favorite quote from troupe member Jack Hanke in this USA Today article written by Karen Weintraub is “We’re just differently assembled.”
21. Musings of An Aspie explodes the idea that autistic people lack empathy by seeking stop sign photos to show a 6-year-old autistic boy that it is okay to have and celebrate a special interest.
22. From examiner.com: First ever all autistic band AutistiX to go on first tour
23. An example of adjusting the environment to meet the needs of autistic students rather than forcing them to conform: School custodian spurs redesign of autism classroom in Lambertville
24. From the Baltimore Sun: “Thinking differently: Autism finds space in the workplace”
25. Autistic Teen Pursuing Astrophysics Degree Proves that All Perspectives Are Valuable
26. Daily Mail review of The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
27. Boy with autism finds unique way to communicate through drawings
28. From BBC News: What Vodafone sees in autistic people in Germany
29. Neurotypical, a documentary about autism from autistic people’s point of view, premieres on PBS on July 29.
30. Typings of a Typically Autistic Teen I like his blog tag line: “Are you ready to be awesomely amazed?”
31. Read a profile of Nick Eveland, a Washington state teen who was just chosen as one of three commencement speakers at his high school graduation: Teen with autism finds his place in the crowd
32. Companies Discover Untapped Brain Power: Autistics
33. ASAN Congratulates 2013 Champions of Change
34. A new blog on neurodiversity: Neurocosmopolitanism
35. Poems for the Autistic Child: a collection of poetry celebrating and accepting autism being assembled by Heather Clark on her blog Raising Rebel Souls
36. The video portion of the Way-to-Stim-Wednesday blog by Annabelle Listic. (Thanks to Outrunning the Storm for linking to this source in her post “Stimming.”
37. On being better than Google: Thinking in Words: “When She Was Good”
38. An enlightening post on sensory perception by a new blogger diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome as an adult.
39. Autism Network International hosts the annual Autreat
40. ANCA Radio, Autistic People Online Radio
41. U Aut to Act: a theater school for autistic youth and adults
42. “Stop Signs for Tommy“: Musings from an Aspie created a post featuring stop signs for an autistic child to show that having a special interest isn’t a problem for others to fix but a trait to be celebrated.
43. Karla mentors autistic youth and adults and offers advice to non-autistic allies on her Facebook page. This image is taken from Karla’s ASD page (click on photo to visit)
44. “I don’t believe in normal people.” Read more of Nick Walker’s essay “Throw Away the Master’s Tools: Liberating Ourselves from the Pathology Paradigm”
45. A young man with Asperger’s organized benefit golf tournaments to raise money to buy other autistic children iPads with a communication app.
46. Researchers set up “Au-some Evenings” to study how autistic children play and find the activities that most interest and engage them.
47. How I learned to accept the fact that I have autism
48. 15 Colleges and Universities with ASD Support Programs
49. Non Verbal Autistic Kids with Cameras Discover a Way to Communicate
50. How I Clean My Room-I Have Asperger’s: a great idea for using visuals to get organized!
that cynking feeling 
A couple years ago I interviewed someone about an invention for autism sufferers…I hope you don’t mind my leaving the link here…if so, please dlete, I am not meaning to be offensive in leaving it. It is a great invention. http://cherispeak.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/a-better-pitch/
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I think it is wonderfull that you share your story, I’m at a clinicat at the moment and there are people on my group with autism and if you drop the word autism somewhere there are a lot of prejudices and I hate that. so, I think it’s great that you write so open about this subject ! *hugs*
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I ask all my 5 year old patients what they need to wear in the car and even gesture towards the waist as a clue, seeking the answer “seat belt!” One autistic boy made my day when he said, “PANTS!”
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PS – this is a great list! Thanks!
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