Heathers

@stimimi It’s much more complex with food. Refusing to eat can be the only way a child can express control. It’s simply impossible to force anyone to eat, otherwise anorexia wouldn’t exist.

Whatever good intentions of neurodiversity movement it has resulted in accelerated medicalisation, pathologisation, and a decontextualised model of human nature. It thus supports hyper individualism and commodification of emotional distress.

@AChillGhost Guess no one told my parents that

@FancyFeather888 You can’t really go there to visit things except the Cylch Haearn, it’s more about spending a lot of time in Snowdonia and on Ynys Mon communing with dead gods

Can’t overstate how many castles are in North Wales. Absolutely nothing to do there besides hike and go to castles. Maybe two towns worth the name, nearest city is 2.5 hours by train and it’s Manchester, had to take an hour train each way to go the movies, happiest I’ve ever been

@snowleopardess ND young people need to be kept away from screens more than other children, for the very reason that they become obsessed and can’t function without it. We’ve always had ND children. iPads are very new. Are today’s ND children doing better as a result? I don’t see it.

This is utterly ridiculous. Try limiting the screen time of many neurodivergent young children to an hour a day. independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

@Sam_Dumitriu For years 1hr of TV max was recommended. There’s absolutely no evidence for this, and now most people think that having the TV on has no effect on children’s development. TV has been around a long time so we should have plenty of data.

I don't think the advice is awful, but it is worth noting that the extent to which it is 'evidence-led' is overblown. The recommendations are based off a literature review where most of the studies are non-causal, cross-sectional, and heavily confounded. Honestly, we really don't know how bad (or not) screen time is for kids. The advice itself is informed by the review, but it is highly precautionary. At every point, they err on the side of caution. In my view, when the Govt puts out advice they should be careful to communicate when we're dealing with a precautionary best-guess, and when we're dealing with 'vaccines stop this virus/smoking causes cancer' tier information.

@UnsaidEchoes_ @PopCrave It was obvious this was the statement she would put out. I’d say the same, whether it was true or not. Deny deny deny

So a footballer racks up 250K likes accusing a singer of harassing his family over a glance. She explains it wasn’t her guard, she never saw them, and apologizes anyway. Where’s his apology for the viral fire he started? Or does accountability only go one way when the internet picks a villain?

Chappell Roan responds to the controversy involving a security guard confronting a young fan.

@bristol_citizen She’s like Trump. She’s won when she’s says she’s won.

Woman who took Bristol council to court over huge shopping centre redevelopment now supports revised plan bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-n…

@0Beanie05923291 Obsessing about mental health makes mental health worse. People need to get outside and engage with the world

Our society’s obsession with mental health hasn’t improved mental health in our society. I think there’s something to that.

@LesleySemmens @jo_bartosch I’ve been saying this for years. How much therapy do people think the NHS should provide? It’s a 1:1 service over many hours and demand is growing all the time. Plus no evidence it even works!

The cure for anxiety won’t be found in NHS sessions, a private therapist’s couch or a mindfulness app. Instead, it will come in the simple advice Jerome’s doctor prescribed long ago: get out of the house, meet your friends and stop thinking about yourself so much. @jo_bartosch ⬇️

@Remisagoodboy This brand basically kits out the entire festival. I think it makes all its turnover off these few days each year.

Lady Eliza Spencer and Lady Amelia Spencer attend day 4 'Gold Cup Day' of the Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse on March 13, 2026 in Cheltenham, England. 🐎 🐎 🐎

@scripttoscene She was my favourite

I was today years old when I learned Jessie Buckley came 2nd in a competition to play Nancy in Oliver! at the West End And the winner was Jodie Prenger who plays Glenda in #Corrie

@daliajidts @JulianeWriter Exactly. It’s being able to understand that even though you don’t like hot weather, other people do. They’re not stupid or ignorant for liking hot weather. It’s being able to conceptualise that other people have different thoughts and opinions.

Pathologizers of autism complain that autistic people don’t have a “theory of mind” (knowing how other people think?) yet they themselves don’t actually understand how autistic people think. It’s mutual perplexity and misunderstandings.

@msloobylou “Has your budgie died?” Was the phrase I grew up with. Trousers that are too short were known as ‘budgies’.

Why would she ask this of short trousers? 🫤

@naomicfisher This discussion is bonkers. If anyone can identify as autistic then it really does lose all meaning. I don’t understand how this can be helpful. It would seem to undermine the entire concept but autistic people want this to happen?

‘Gatekeeping’ could be literally seen as the process of diagnosis. A highly trained professional decides whether a person meets the diagnostic criteria for a particular ‘disorder’ or not. They should do this by a process of in-depth assessment and differential diagnosis - considering and ruling out other possibilities. They judge whether a person’s difficulties meet diagnostic threshold. Some people will not get the diagnosis they seek, even if they want it very much. That could be called ‘gatekeeping’. If this process does not happen, then there is no diagnosis. There is simply self-identification. I think I am autistic, therefore I am. In that case there is no need for in-depth assessments and no need for waiting lists. No need for professionals to spend years learning how to differentiate. No need to draw a line and decide who meets threshold. It would be much simpler and quicker. This could be one way to go, but in that case we should abandon the idea that ‘autism’ is a diagnostic category altogether. You can’t have a diagnosis without gatekeeping.

@Signalbriefme @MichaelAArouet @grok If you have a child claiming DLA you don’t have to look for work. With autism rates among children so high (up to 20% of children in some areas) this is a significant factor.

@MichaelAArouet @grok what’s the cause of this shift to so many people being on no work requirement benefits?

That’s simply mind-blowing. No wonder the UK is heading into a debt crisis. How is this even possible? You don’t need higher taxes, you need to implement pro-growth policies and motivate people to work again, instead of putting millions on no work requirements welfare benefits.

@ChountisFabbri And we were bored shitless watching them but there was nothing else on

Blue Peter, 1984. Calke Abbey, the Derbyshire mansion where, when rooms filled up, they closed the door and moved to the next one. When the money ran out they shut the house. The BBC once made mini-documentaries of this quality for children’s television. youtu.be/s6iMF03aUMs?si…

@KShabby16334956 I agree. There’s also the idea that discussions of the nature of autism are harmful personal attacks and a threat to autistic people’s very existence.

I see parallels between the way people have reacted to any criticism of autism categories And trans I see exactly the same playbook, the same appeals to emotions and emotional blackmail It's identical in almost every respect.

@obrerx She is calling for more research. She is not saying ear defenders don’t work. She’s saying we don’t know if they work. That’s really different. And it’s obvious lived experience is subjective. We all know that.

Frith, in the podcast, even wonders if ear defenders help autistics, or if it's just imagined. This is a truly wild, revealing podcast. The good news is she has outed herself as hopelessly narrow-minded & so limited in scope of understanding, she has made herself irrelevant. 1/

@CartoonsHateHer All influencers are annoying. The fact the ADHD and autism influencers are also annoying proves nothing.

It's become popular to say that anyone with ADHD or level 1 autism is annoyingly making it up for a "trendy identity." But have you considered that being annoying is part of it? Link in replies.

@frankie2001mia @jennymaria That’s all part of normal human diversity. You’re a human in all our varied manifestations. Why do you feel that is not enough?

@jennymaria So no reason for the social difficulties, sensory issues, delays etc, that seem to exist in many people and tend to be identifiable by professionals?

Jolly good. If not autistic then what are we? I’ll just be waiting in the corner for Uta and co to tell me what I’ve been reclassified as.