My name is Shain M. Neumeier.  I’m a queer autistic person with a cleft lip and palate and ectodermal dysplasia, and a survivor of coercive treatment.  My experiences have led me to become a civil rights attorney and an activist who focuses on disability justice, youth liberation, fat acceptance and queer liberation.  In particular, I have worked on issues of bodily autonomy and freedom from coercive interventions in the name of treatment.

4 thoughts on “About”

  1. Thank you for doing this. I especially liked your piece on bullying! You are absolutely right. We focus on how great the bullies are! But you are also right about bullying making you that much more ‘sensitive’–a word I hear used to describe me. But I cry out on the inside: but I’m being hurt so much! And workers don’t seem to get it. What is the answer to that? Better workers, or educating the public so that there’s general acceptance of what it’s like to be gossiped about, shunned (because they’re told to), etc. Take care.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Thank you very much! I’m glad you enjoy what I’ve written.

      I’m sorry you’re experiencing bullying, and I hope that things improve soon. As far as how things can get better… for one thing, I hope that more disabled, LGBTQ, etc. people, who are or were targets of bullying, go into education and do a better job of sticking up for the kind of kids they used to be than the adults they grew up around. However, I also hope that in the age of social media, educators are coming across research on and first-person accounts of the effects of bullying that will lead them to take a more active approach in stopping it.

      Like

      Reply

  2. I just found your blog, and wanted to thank you for all you do! I am a non-autistic mom of an autistic child. When I was a child, I was bullied, and I know first hand that being tormented is not a way to learn. It causes PTSD, low-self esteem, anxiety, and depression. I had to stick it out, but at a huge price. Children deserve pleasant childhood memories, not memories of constant fear and shame. When my autistic child was getting bullied, it was subtle and the teachers kept saying that the bullies were “good kids” and surely did not mean to bully my child (they kept triggering my child into meltdowns). The burden of proof was on us. So, I decided that my child had to come out of that toxic environment and started homeschooling my child for now.

    It was very upsetting to read that a so-called therapist tried to find something positive in being bullied. There is not! It would be like saying that when doctors make mistakes, at least they can learn something. Or boot camp for soldiers should involve real injuries so that they can learn from it. Bullying causes fear. Bullying causes harm. Period. Nothing good about it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your efforts to make this world a better world!

    Like

    Reply

    1. Thank you very much, and I’m glad you like what I wrote! I’m sorry to hear that you and your son experienced both bullying and the school’s refusal to intervene, though I’m so glad your son has a staunch advocate in you to make sure he’s safe.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment