My little person came home from school after a really difficult day. Luckily, I'd had a good day and, therefore had the resources within me to give her what she needed.
I gave her space while I prepared her favourite tea and sorted her school bag out. Luckily, besides having a full fuel tank myself, I could call on my own lived experience - don't force speech when resources are low.
I offered my text-to-speech app to her and she fully embraced it. In fact, she loved it.
It allowed her to feel heard and validated without having any further demands on her struggling system. This gave her back what she needed to be able to go to her much-loved dance class that she might otherwise have missed due to a spiral of emotions and probable meltdown.
She also now feels empowered to use the app whenever she needs to and protect her own well-being.
Can you give the people around you the psychological safety to advocate for themselves or will you advocate for them in times of need? Is your own fuel tank full enough to do so?
#advocacy #autisticwellbeing #psychologicalsafety #situationalmutism