The Spectrum: Fursuiting with Autism (Part 1) – Guest post by Enjy
by Dogpatch Press Staff
Its a comforting thing and its even better when the other person is also wearing a costume. I am easily over stimulated by touch, Light, and Sound which is why I am not found around huge groups of people. The fursuit helps tremendously with these situations.
— Gus T. Bullandia 🌻🐕💣 (@gustbonebull) March 7, 2019
Inspired by the above Twitter thread, I proposed doing a whole article. Guest author Enjy took it on and delivered far more than expected from a one-line topic. A lot of the content comes from interview subjects, as Enjy said: “I wanted to stray away from brevity and let them speak naturally to help neurotypicals understand how autistic people formulate their thoughts, that they might consider it when interacting with them.”
Thanks to Enjy for hard work (and thank-you tips are now being paid for article submissions too. A site sponsorship is coming soon to make it even easier with a PBS-like model.) Thanks to Patreon patrons for helping to fund this and to @Deotasdevil for supporting Enjy.
Parts 2-3 will post later this week. Enjy continues. – (Patch)
Thanks to Doc Fox, Heathen (fursona Manik), and Pluma for doing interviews.
== A (Very) Brief History of Autism ==
Autism.
It is a word that is scary for some, misunderstood by most, and impossible to pin under a single definition. Due to it’s prevalence today, with new technologies allowing easier and more thorough evaluations of a child’s health, you may be under the impression that autism is a fairly new disorder. However, this could not be further from the truth.