YES to an autistic-friendly society and YES to sensory-friendly homes, whether rented or owned !!

I want to appeal to politicians both locally, regionally and nationally to bring about legislative changes. I think it's in everyone's interest.

It costs huge sums to treat symptoms instead of treating one cause of sensory overload and trauma in people with SPD (sensory processing difficulties): a loud and stressful sensory living environment,
which is very unhealthy even for neurotypical individuals..

It so happens that, among other things, autism and ADHD often go hand in hand with SPD. Even neurotypical - "normal" - individuals can have sensory processing disorders, either due to physical damages or simply being born with it.

Scientific studies have shown that sound, even what appears to be harmless to human beings - whether neurotypical or neurodivergent - causes stress which in turn causes stress-related diseases. A few examples of stress-related diseases are C-PTSD, fibromyalgia, panic disorder, OCD, many types of cancer, Hashimoto’s, Sjogren’s and several others...

Can you imagine the pain and trauma this is causing within a neurodivergent individual with a highly sensitive neurological system?
Can you imagine how traumatic it is for an autistic individual to almost never be able to rest properly within their own apartment due to the sensory overload?
... And on top of that, the individual is often met with mockery, harassment, manipulation and threats from the very people whom are supposed to support this individual.

How would YOU feel if you were the one constantly dismissed and tageted by harassment and gaslighting by those whom are supposed to respect you and care for you?
How would YOU react and feel if you almost always were met with disbelief when you told your them what you need?

Sadly, many predatory manipulators exist in Home-based care and other health and social services, and these kinds of individuals ruin for everyone in their surroundings.
People like them don't care if we KNOW what we need and want! They don't care if we are mentally well - they'll simply gaslight an autistic individual until that individual start doubting their own sanity.

Autistics and ADHD individuals are a protected group in the Equality and Discrimination Act, and in the Equality and Accessibility Act.
Nevertheless, it is unfortunately too practical and popular to break The Public Administration Act, the Health and Social Services Act, The Equality and Discrimination Act, and The Discrimination and Accessibility Act.
I ask the Norwegian national government to make lasting positive changes for autistics in Norway!

We ought to remove the "unreasonable burden" clause in the Discrimination and Accessibility Act, as well as the "unreasonable burden" clause within the CRPD!
This we have to do in order to get improvements for our quality of life within our homes!
I want our politicians to take action and ensure that all autistic people receive individually adapted housing according to our individual needs!
Most - if not all - autistic people suffer in their own apartments or houses due to unhealthy living environment.
This of course includes the sensory environment being too loud and therefore stressful to the autistic / neurodivergent individual.
The tactile environment can be unhealthy in such a way as the inside temperature being too warm and too cold - likely due to too poorly insulated and / or faulty insulated walls, ceilings, floors, doors and windows

This brings up another problem; predatory and sloppy landlords and landlord associations.
Leirfjord municipaliy which is owner or co-owner of Leirfjord Boligstiftelse (Leirfjord Landlord Association), ought to reform the routines of their landlord association and maybe change up their slow system a bit.
I am sure there are landlords and landlord associations everywhere in Norway whom ought to be either fired or threatened into doing their jobs.
I also think our national government ought to penalize municipalities along with landlords and landlord associations, so that they might be presured enough into doing what they are told by autistic individuals!
I am almost certain they have broken the House Renters Acts / Tenants Act several times, too.

I myself have fought against my local municipality for 10 - 11 years without them taking me seriously, which includes that I have experienced discrimination, bullying and gaslighting for 10 years.

During all these years I was a victim of being pathologised, which often led to me being pressured into admitting myself into our regional district psychiatric center,
despite the fact that the problem is an unhealthy and unsatisfactory sensory environment in the home I'm renting!

The "fun" thing is that my clinical neuropsychologist along with the rest of the psychiatrists and psychologists I was pressured to go to completely agree with me.
The only thing wrong was that I had symptoms of depression due to being discriminated against all these years.
My clinical neuropsychologist clearly wrote a statement on my behalf:
"She ought to have a home that is shielded from sound and other impressions that negatively affect her health and well-being!"

I want my autistic fellow human beings to know that you are far from alone in the world. I see you and I hear you! You and your experiences are valid!

I want a change in our laws when it comes to individual adaptation of apartments and houses regardless of whether it is rented or owned by the autistic people.
Many neurodivergent individuals are locked away from society, manipulated, silenced, discriminated against, pathologized and harassed by the municipality and others who are to be responsible for our care.
We are not "freaks" to be hidden away in an institution, nor are we a "disease" to be "cured" !!! We are equal to our neurotypical fellow human beings!!
We autistics are worthy of the best lives we can ever get!!!

I think it's time for the authorities to investigate and punish those who exploit neurodivergent individuals. Even so-called caregivers that we can trust, those who will support us, respect us, listen to us and care for us.

I want our politicians to take action to penalize those responsible for having discriminated against us, and ensure that we get the individual adaptation of our apartments and houses, of which I asked for here in this signature campaign!
Both society and the individual can earn enormous savings both financially and in so many other ways, if our homes have been shielded from sound and other impressions that negatively affect our health and well-being!
This is of great benefit to us all, both short term and long term!

It is all too common for people with SPD (sensory processing difficulties) to be pathologized and blamed for our disorder.
In the case of those of us who are ADHD and autistic, we tend to have meltdowns that are often misunderstood as "bad behavior" or tantrums. Something which is far as from the truth as it can be.

What happens if you send an autistic person for a psychiatric evaluation for meltdowns due to being very sensitive to sounds, e.g. sounds from neighbor, traffic, etc.?
You perpetrate and enable manipulation done towards an already vulnerable individual.
Unfortunately, the problem will persist regardless of how much medicine the psychiatrist pumps into the autistic person.

How about actually listening to and taking the autistic person seriously when they say they need their apartment shielded from sound, even if neighbor sounds are just "slight annoyances" for you !?
What is a mild annoyance to one person can be torture to another.
It would solve so many problems for both individuals with SPD or similar conditions, our loved ones, our care workers and society in general, if we had our homes adapted to our individual needs!

If an autistic person tells about what they are experiencing, you better believe them!!
I mean who knows the experience of the autistic individual other than the autistic individual himself?

We autistic individuals can NOT control what happens when we get "meltdowns" as a result of being overloaded.
SPD, along with similar conditions, is something that is neurological and therefore beyond our control. It has nothing to do with bad behavior or delusions.

No matter how often the municipality pressures us to go to a psychologist or let us admit to a psych. institution, these problems will persist.
It is in everyone's interest to meet our needs - including our sensory needs - by shielding our homes from sound and other impressions that negatively affect our health and well-being!
Another thing is that we should change our laws to better hold manipulative, malicious individuals and groups responsible for discriminating against those who are vulnerable.

In this way, discrimination can be easily proven and punished by law, even before it reaches the courts!
This applies to all discrimination, whether direct or indirect, against autistic individuals and other vulnerable groups and individuals!
Those who enable discrimination ought to be treated as equally guilty as those who perpetrate discrimination!

Every individual has the right to a safe, healthy, peaceful and harmonious environment within their home, regardless of neurotype and regardless of rent or ownership!
The system is too confusing and too difficult for an individual to navigate, especially if that person is struggling with a very small or non-existent support system.

I'm sad that we human beings with handicaps often experience discrimination and have us and our cases thrown around like we are ping pong balls.
I want a society where autistic individuals are treated with genuine kindness, honesty, respect and dignity!
I'm sure many other autistic individuals agree that most of us are completely done with trying to fit into a cookie-cutter type of society.

We deserve to be comfortable, healthy, free and safe within our homes!
Society should embrace that our autism is part of being human. It is NOT a disease to be cured, it is a part of who we are!
It has absolutely nothing to do with being "difficult", "bad", "manipulative" or "belligerent"! It is not that we chose to be born with sensory processing difficulties and autism!
SPD - sensory processing disorder - is part of what makes us very sensitive to sensory inputs. In addition to this, we find it difficult to filter out most of the sensory impressions in our environment.

I really want our government to take action so that we can have a fundamentally improved protection for autistic individuals both legally and in practice!
It does us grave injustice and harm to ignore us, bully and threaten us into silence.
I have approached Leirfjord Hjemmeomsorg, Leirfjord Borettslag and Leirfjord municipality for 10 years, only to be met with mistrust, ridicule, discrimination and all possible manipulation tactics.

I really want the County Governor (State Administrator) in every county in Norway to support us neurodivergent citizens!
I also wish it was easy for us neurodivergent individuals to be heard and taken seriously!
Our voices matter!!!!!!

No one deserves to be discriminated against the way I was !!
I refuse to be ashamed of being my incredibly autistic self, despite the fact that certain self-serving individuals are afraid of or at worst hate everyone who is a little different than their narrow-minded expectations.

I think it's time for our society to become autistic-friendly, which of course is possible!
This is about our health, well-being and can make a big difference for us as individuals and as a society!
I refuse to be silenced by those who discriminate against us neurodivergent individuals!
We are here and we are NOT going away!!

 

 

 

I've attached some source materials below, which is in full agreement with what I'm writing in this petition:

 

Here's a link to source about autism and sensory living environment: https://www.ndti.org.uk/assets/files/Housing-paper-final-formatted-v2.pdf

You can find further resources on the following website:

https://www.ndti.org.uk/resources/publication/supporting-autistic-people-flourishing-at-home-and-beyond-considering-and-meeting-the-sensory-needs-of-autistic-people-in-housing