iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou

Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 24/09/2026

I'm part of an amazing team looking at what autistic children want from their speech and language therapy. Nobody has asked them before! We're currently using some brilliant materials, developed with and by autistic people, to make interviews accessible to all children, not just those who speak

What we want: how can Speech & Language Therapy best meet the needs of autistic children?

We are looking for autistic children (9 – 15 years 11 months old) to take part in an adapted interview about their priorities and preferences in Speech & Language Therapy.

We hope our findings will support the development of services in this area.

We are looking for children who can express a choice on these matters, using a total communication approach. They should have a formal autism diagnosis which follows national clinical guidance on best practice.

If want to ask any questions about eligibility or to find out more generally, please contact us: NDSpeech-LanguageTherapy@manchester.ac.uk

Our team includes experienced & DBS checked autistic researchers & Speech & Language Therapists. Our interviews will be adapted to meet your child’s needs.

Funded by: National Institute for Health Care and Research (NIHR)
Sponsored and conducted by: Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Conducted with collaborators: The University of Manchester, The University of Sheffield

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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 24/09/2026

We're looking for children and young people to take part, so please feel free to share. Children and young people must be in the UK and between 9 and 15 years old. @kathyleadbitter.bsky.social @childstudycentre.bsky.social

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A4: I like to think that visible autistic/nd pride helps make other people question their assumptions about lives that are frequently devalued, and why we would value the experience of being disabled, even though our lives are harder. #AutChat

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Maelee @bakednbougie.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A4: A gleeful self-acceptance can exist even as we learn to adapt and live with the many struggles that come with autism and neurodivergence I think there's an important role that Joy must play in the midst of everything else. #AutChat

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I've seen other non-autistic people talk about neurodivergent pride, but I haven't really seen the pride framework extend to other specific conditions like adhd or ocd or epilepsy...

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A2: Yes. I think the Mad Pride movement is probably the most analogous to the autistic pride movement that I've seen, somewhat ironically, since the Mad Pride movement has a very fraught history as far as how it views autism... #AutChat

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A1: That's a hard question to answer specifically because of the autism that means I have a hard time with abstract & emotional language. 😂 But I guess I'd say, autistic pride is refusal to be ashamed of being autistic in the face of a lot of people attempting to make us so. #AutChat

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Someone please write the children's book "Salvy's Stolen Base." #Royals

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Kansas City Royals @royals.com · 26/09/2026

Tonight's game has a start time of 7:20 p.m. CT.

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Jake Eisenberg @jakeeisenberg.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Opening Day, 1969. Royals vs. Twins. Listen to Denny Matthews—making his Major League debut at 26 years old—welcome everyone to Municipal Stadium for the first game in Kansas City Royals history. And the picture? Yeah, iconic.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

ICYMI! New essay out, on autism, loneliness, and the stories we tell about women's friendships. #autism #disability

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Although it was Denny himself who said "Baseball is a game about failure."

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Hi all! I'm very, very proud to have this essay in the latest issue of Wordgathering! wordgathering.syr.edu/vol20/issue1...

wordgathering.syr.edu

Emily Paige Ballou - Wordgathering – Syracuse University

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#AutChat Mod @autchatmod.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Next Sunday’s #AutChat is on eating disorders. September 20, 1pm Pacific / 4pm Eastern / 20:00 UTC / 9pm BST on BlueSky. autchat.com/eating-disor... If you know anyone who might be interested and is autistic or similarly neurodivergent, we encourage you to invite them.

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Reposted by Emily Paige Ballou

The Contrarian @contrariannews.org · 19/09/2026

The Kennedy Center crowd is singing America The Beautiful. This is what democracy looks like.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Oh, I'll look into Express Scribe! oTranscribe is what I'm using now, and it's fine except that I wish it had a better save-progress feature, and I wish I could export to Word or PDF to my hard drive.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Because it's about the safety of people whose behavior IS the way of communicating that they have access to.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

So I get why much of the autistic community has turned against the phrase "behavior is communication" as over-generalizing and lacking nuance. But THIS ^ is why it existed in the first place, and I think it might be time we remembered it.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

c.) "When a child screams, runs away, hits, cries, spits, refuses, or shuts down, they are telling us something. They may be overwhelmed, frightened, confused, in pain, unable to communicate, or desperately trying to escape an environment that feels unsafe...."

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It means (among other things) assuming that a disabled child has a point of view. Has interiority. Has the capacity to learn and grow, has things to communicate, and is affected by and responds to things that happen to them.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

b.) This is also part of why we urge parents to "presume competence." Presuming competence doesn't mean assuming that a disabled child has skills they don't actually have, or doesn't need specialized instruction...

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Not that abuse never happens there, obviously. But that while your child might not be able to tell you what happened to them, their classmates might. Being in school w/ non-disabled kids means those kids are also seeing what's going on, not only people with an interest in concealing abuse.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

...and they can't afford a years-long lawsuit over it. But this stuff is part of why I believe so strongly that disabled kids should be in integrated classrooms whenever possible...

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

endseclusion.org/2026/08/12/a... A couple of things about this article... a.) I get that parents make decisions about their disabled child's education for complex, multi-faceted reasons, including that sometimes the public schools aren't able or willing to serve them, or aren't safe...

endseclusion.org

A Difficult Truth: I May Never Know What Happened to My Daughter

When I read that three former employees from Greensburg Salem School District's Nicely Elementary School pleaded guilty and received only probation for abusing disabled students, my heart sank. This w...

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

And...that still doesn't make a foregone conclusion that we just can't ever have friends or good relationships or find decent employment. It's one of those things that screams "needs more study," and not just that we should despair of ever finding belonging. 2/

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Right, like, this is a serious concern. I mean, added up over the course of a lifetime, even relatively minor differences in amount of time as far as how long it takes people to like or dislike you add up to having potentially very significant impacts.... 1/

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Yes, I know how long that takes. Yes, I know there are AI-based apps all over the place that will do it more quickly. It is important to me, for what this is, to not use AI.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I know my options are limited here. I know. But does anyone have a piece of MANUAL, AI-free, transcription software or app that you like? i.e. one that lets me do all the typing.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Can we honestly not get a "Set up never" option for iPhone FaceID?

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I actually think we're a long way from knowing this for sure. Though I do think differential impacts of estrogen or testosterone may be at play.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

So sensory issues of all kinds that feel small to most people feel much bigger or more acute to us.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Yep. Extreme sensitivity to texture in general is common in autistic people. If I had to take an educated guess, it probably has to do with our nervous systems processing things in a "specific" rather than "general" fashion...

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"Too Like the Lightning," by @adapalmer.bsky.social! Also liveblogging my way through Madeleine L'Engle's "A House Like a Lotus."

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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

posted in the lefty folk group chat

Karl Marks, the communist manifesto, Dolly Parton, 9-5

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William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 25/08/2026

[Exit Queen.]

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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

sen ossoff exercising the 2nd amendment right to bear arms

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I think an institution can not be "unbending" and still have high expectations for students to manage themselves.

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

See, I think colleges can be places that help nurture students towards being better versions of themselves without dispensing with academic rigor or the expectation that someone who's a young adult should have most of the skills for managing their academic experience...

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Emily Paige Ballou @epballou.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

But if you buy from Bookshop, your local bookstore ALSO gets a cut!

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