Cultivating Autistic Kinship and Understanding the Importance of Centering Autistic Voices

Abstract: Pitoteyihtam (neurodivergent people) contribute to the health of our communities through the way that we engage with ourselves, each other, land, and ceremony. When we come together in community, it is evident that we have our own distinct culture, despite coming from many nations. Our personal and shared community stories hold knowledge of the truth of who we are and work to deconstruct colonial and allistic (non-Autistic) narratives that have been imposed on us through observation outside our lived experiences. As intergenerational Red River Michif storytellers, we are collectively remembering who we are without allistic and colonial impositions interrupting the stories that inform who we are and our culture as pitoteyihtam peoples. Paradoxically, we belong with and contribute to the health of allistic spaces, which now has to allow our existence as a unique culture of Autistic/pitoteyihtam to rebuild right relationship between neurodivergent and allistic people.