Shannon Rosa

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. She/Her. Neutral Good. Earnest AF. Likes cephalopods. “Nothing beats the bitter elixir of Klingon warriors.” So mamy typos.

Featured in: Favicon

medium.com Favicon

washingtonpost.com Favicon

buzzfeed.com Favicon

springer.com Favicon

blogher.com Favicon

spectrumnews.org Favicon

kqed.org

link.springer.com

Articles

How "Autism Warrior Parents" Harm Autistic Kids — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

Jun 14, 2024 | thinkingautismguide.com | Shannon Rosa

Content note: This article discusses abuse and filicide. Parenting approaches differ, but mostly, everything we consider “good parenting” fulfills two basic needs: It makes children feel safe, and it makes them feel loved. Parents and non-parents alike tend to scorn any parenting approach that doesn’t meet these goals. That is, unless the children in question are autistic—in which case parents are too often encouraged to pursue approaches that traumatize and alienate those kids.
What Makes a Home Feel Safe For Autistic People? — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

May 12, 2024 | thinkingautismguide.com | Shannon Rosa

Autistic children and adults often lack access to spaces that make them feel safe, or allow them to decompress and be themselves without interference or unwelcome scrutiny. Sometimes a lack of safe spaces is no one’s fault, as when living quarters have limited size or privacy. But too often, autistic safety, comfort, and ease are not considered due to a lack of autism understanding, or rejected outright due to insistence on complying with non-autistic lifestyle approaches.
Talking With Dinosaur Star and Co-Creator Ashley Storrie — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

Apr 5, 2024 | thinkingautismguide.com | Shannon Rosa

I am cautiously pleased about autistic representation in the current streaming era, in which shows like the excellent Hulu series Dinosaur, co-created by and starring autistic Scottish comedian Ashley Storrie, are balancing out stereotype-laced series like Atypical. Dinosaur features Ashley as Nina, a Glasgow paleontologist (dino scientist) whose life is comfortingly routine-anchored—until her best friend and sister Evie upends everything with a surprise wedding engagement.
ASD Band: A (Mostly) Refreshing Autism Rock Documentary — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

Apr 4, 2024 | thinkingautismguide.com | Sarah Kurchak |Shannon Rosa

For the majority of its 53 minute runtime, ASD Band: The Movie offers a straightforward, fly on the wall account of a band writing and recording songs while preparing for the first live gig. This might sound like a criticism, or at least faint praise. If the documentary were about another bog standard rock group who has seen this kind of cinematic treatment countless times before, that would probably be my intention.
A Checklist For Autistic People

Feb 17, 2024 | thinkingautismguide.com | Shamiha Patel |Shannon Rosa

Sensory Icks: The Tags, the Seams, the Itch—And Everything in BetweenHave you ever had a clothing tag itch on the back of your neck? Me too. For many neurodivergent people, a tag can feel like a cactus or sandpaper rubbing against their skin. While other items can trigger a similar sensation, tags are the ultimate “sensory icks” factor for me.
TPGA Talks With Podcaster Shawn Sullivan

Feb 4, 2024 | thinkingautismguide.com | Shannon Rosa

Our senior editor Shannon Rosa was recently on autistic podcaster Shawn Sullivan’s show Unheard Voices, to chat about what we do here at Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism (TPGA): Our passions for debunking autism misinformation, boosting neurodiversity advocacy, and fighting for disability rights. Shawn was a gracious host, and Shannon had a lot of opinions—all of which are correct. You can listen to the audio, watch the captioned video, or read the transcript below.
A Community Conversation

Dec 2, 2023 | thinkingautismguide.com | Shannon Rosa

What do we mean by “neurodiversity“? Who does it include, how can we create more welcoming and accommodating environments for neurodivergent people, and what kinds of social, policy, and cultural changes will be involved? The co-authors of the forthcoming book Neurodiversity for Dummies recently held a panel discussion and listening session on this topic.
What Do We Mean By Levels of Autism?

Nov 29, 2023 | thinkingautismguide.com | Shannon Rosa

In many diagnostic reports, autistic people are told they are either “Level 1, or 2 or 3 autism.” All levels require support, but Level 1 allegedly needs the least support, and Level 3 allegedly needs the most support. Autistic people who are “Level 3” are usually assumed to have little or no ability to use mouth-words to communicate, and assumed to need constant supervision for the whole of their life. I have problems with understanding how these three groups happened.
Burned Out By an Ableist System

Nov 28, 2023 | thinkingautismguide.com | Anne King |Shannon Rosa

Many autistic people enter the developmental services professions as personal care attendants and educational assistants for developmentally disabled people. They bring unique skills such as flexibility, patience, empathy and creativity. But these very characteristics—which are valued by their clients—may be devalued by managers who prefer a one-size-fits-all, ABA-based model of “care.” Too often, these autistic workers either burn out or are forced out because they don’t comply to that ABA model.
Considering Interpersonal Skills For Autistic People

Oct 27, 2023 | thinkingautismguide.com | Shannon Rosa

Autistic adults, more often than not, have to learn the hard about social skills like navigating interpersonal boundaries, even though our non-autistic/neurotypical counterparts may pick up these skills easily. This is because we are usually left to our own devices when it comes to navigating a social world that is defined by non-autistic rules. And when we make errors communicating with others and figuring out boundaries, it’s very common that we may feel humiliated and wish to retreat further.