widowgaycer:

1. Be aware of your surroundings. Bright lights and too much
   noise are hell for autistic people. Is there anywhere quiet or dim that you
   could take them to if they got stressed? Is there a way to lessen the noise
   and/or brightness?
2. Don’t tell us to “stop acting weird”. Chewing on things,
   flapping our hands, rocking on our feet, and so on are all natural, healthy
   behaviours that help us to process emotion and sensory input. Telling us not to
   do them is akin to telling an allistic (non-autistic) person to stop smiling.
3. Most autistic people are happy as we are. Some would rather
   not be autistic, it’s true, but most of us just want to be ourselves without
   shame or stigma. It’s generally bad manners to talk to us about a “cure” or “treatments”
   for who we are.
4. Non-verbal communication – vocal sounds, text or written
   communication, sign language, etc – are all valid forms of communication which
   we sometimes have to use. (Or always have to use, in some cases.) Sometimes, we
   have to text the person sitting next to us because we can’t talk. Please don’t
   try to make us use our voices when we’d rather not!
5. Research autistic groups before supporting them. What do
   actual autistic people say about this group? We like self-advocacy groups, we
   don’t like allistic people trying to talk for us. Not every group that claims
   to help autistic people is actually our friend!
6. Special interests – things which autistic people fixate
   on and obsess over – are healthy and important. Don’t make fun of us for getting
   really into things, even if they’re “childish” things like Minecraft or Pokémon.
   It’s incredibly hurtful when someone we like just dismisses our interests
   without a second thought.
7. When an autistic person is having a meltdown or shutdown,
   listen to them! Don’t fuss over them or get up in their face. Just listen to
   what they want you to do to help them, if anything. Let them write or text it,
   if they have to, and keep your voice down!
8. We don’t process the world the same way you do. Sometimes
   things which seem obvious to you require explanation before we’ll understand
   them. Sometimes an explanation you understand will be one that makes no sense
   to us. Please be patient. We’re not being difficult on purpose! We want to
   understand, we really do.
9. Be understanding when we say we can’t do something. Our
   energy gets used up a lot quicker than yours. Often we’d really like to do
   something, but we just can’t, and it can be difficult for us to explain that.
   Don’t guilt trip us for not going out or whatever – we already feel really bad
   about it!
10. Listen to our boundaries. If we don’t want to be
    touched, don’t touch us. If we want you to leave our possessions alone, leave
    them alone. If we aren’t up to talking, don’t try to make us talk. We need
    boundaries a lot more than you do, so please try to respect them. It’s common
    courtesy!

[I originally posted this on Facebook, but I decided to post it here, too.]