Autism Community

Welcome to Space Hey's autism community! Our group is a space for autistic people to chat with other autistic people.

1. No bullying and/or harassment. This includes, but is not limited to: insults, personal attacks, threats, stalking, mockery, libel, blackmail.
   
2. Discrimination will not be tolerated. This is targeting someone based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other minority status. This also includes intentionally misusing gender pronouns.
   
3. No grooming or soliciting explicit content from minors. Attempts to earn a child's trust for sexual purposes and engaging in inappropriate behavior with them will result in being banned from the group, reported to Spacey Hey, and parents will be encouraged to involve law enforcement if necessary.
   
4. Exploitation is not allowed. The most common form of this is sharing private conversations or media without consent, especially with intent to humiliate someone and/or victimize yourself.
   
5. Autism martyr parents are not welcome. These would be parents who victimize and try to paint a heroic picture of themselves for caring for an autistic child.
6. Refrain from using "functioning" labels and use "levels" when describing someone's location on the spectrum. Understanding of "levels" can be found here: https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-are-the-three-levels-of-autism-260233
7. Asperger's is still a valid diagnosis despite recent evidence behind the person it was named after. It's removal from the DSM does not mean that people who've already been diagnosed with it lose the diagnosis and it is still diagnosed in other countries. People with Asperger's are not responsible for the actions of Hans Asperger and shall not be treated as if they share the same views.
   
8. No promoting or advocating for hate organizations like Autism Speaks (AS) or abusive therapies like ABA. AS furthers the stigma against autistic individuals and ABA attempts to "break" self-soothing and harmless autistic behaviors often with inhumane practices. (Similar to conversion therapy).
9. First person, or identity first language is at the discretion of how one chooses to identify themselves. However, if someone asks you to refer to them with one or the other, respect their wishes.
   
10. Despite the controversy surrounding the puzzle piece as a representation of the autistic community, some still identify with it and members are welcome to use it to represent themselves.
11. Self diagnosed people are welcome.
    

These rules will be updated as needed.