Protesting While Autistic by by uboaappears: alt text

Page 1

Panel 1

There is one trait many autistics have in common:
a strong sense of justice

Illustration: Autistic Justitia, holding a glowing sword and a scale. Both the sword and the scale have a rainbow infinity sign motif. She is a medium height, average build young woman with light brown skin and long hair, turquoise with brown roots. She is wearing glasses, one of her eyes is obscured by the reflection. Has a serious, "impartial" expression, looking down on the viewer. (Model is @ tismoonie)

Panel 2

One way to make a difference is getting involved in protests and direct action. (The text box is framed by a crowd of people with placards.)

Author speaking with an awkward smile: But as autistic people, we can have... extra challenges with protests.
Author is a non-binary person with short wavy hair in an undercut, wearing round glasses, t-shirt and a heart pendant.

Panel 3

3 people each worrying about different things related to protest.

A man (Matt) with long dark brown hair, wearing a dark blue shirt, holding his head in his hands with forcefully closed eyes: "Crowds are overwhelming..."
Subtitle: Overstimulation

A white woman (Bex) with long pink hair and a nervous expression, wearing a dark green jumper: "I don't know anyone there..."
Subtitle: social anxiety

An androgynous light skinned person in a red shirt, with blonde bowlcut hair and a freaked out expression:
"What if I get arrested?!"
Subtitle: legal trouble?!

All thinking:

"I'm worried it will be too much for me."

(Models are mattihase, schnumn and devoid_lynch respectively)

Page 2

Panel 1

Author (Shroomy) holding hands with the 4 people from the last page.

Shroomy: Don't worry! These things can be overcome! Here are some tips from me, an autistic climate activist.

Panel 2

Heading: against noise

Earplugs and ear defenders are your best friends!

Illustration: two masculine to androgynous people, one is wearing ear defenders, the other earplugs. They're half-hugging and facing the viewer, the earplug-wearer has a mischievous smile and is doing finger guns at the viewer while the other one is pointing to their ear defenders with a more gentle cheerful expression.

Text: Personally I use concert earplugs with swappable sound filters.

Illustration: earplugs and three acoustic filters, low/medium/high strength.

Text: They make a huge difference to my ability to tolerate noisy places.
Illustration: author with earplugs on, wearing a hoodie and the earplug container as a pendant. Low filter in the right ear for listening to speech; medium filter in the left ear to block background noise.

Panel 3

Heading: Bring a buddy

Two feminine people half-hugging while facing the viewer. The shorter person on the left (Ryca) has pink hair and is wearing a pink pleated skirt and a detached sleeve top with a blue sky pattern. The one on the right (Amy) is taller, has shoulder length brown hair with a blue heart hairclip and is wearing a black skirt and a purple t-shirt with a print that says "Cure Ableism!" in a cute font with stars around it.

Amy speaking: It's dangerous to go alone...* Small print next to asterisk: Not really, but it doesn't hurt!
Ryca continuing: So take this!
arrow pointing to a small white creature that Ryca is presenting to the viewer, like a simplified shape of a person with a love heart growing out of the head. The creature is labelled: "friend"

Text: Protests are more fun with friends! And they can help you if something goes wrong. If you don't have any protesty friends, consider reaching out to the organisers. Some groups, such as Extinction Rebellion, also hold public meetings where you can meet like-minded activists!




Page 3

Panel 1

Heading: Have a plan

Illustration: A chubby man sitting on a park bench texting on his phone. He is bald, wearing squareish glasses and has fluffy ginger beard. He is wearing ear defenders. There's a yellow backpack next to him with a few badges and a BLM patch. It's a serene atmosphere, the bench is shaded by the trees and everything around is green fading into the blue sky. There are some leaves being scattered in the wind.

Text: Know your needs and limits, and let your buddies know them too. Make an escape plan. For example: "if I get overstimmed, I'll go to the nearby park and text you". You may find communication cards helpful for letting people know what's going on. You can also use various phone apps to communicate in loud or non-speaking situation, from the basic notes app to more specialised ones.

Illustration: A sunflower lanyard with communication cards attached. The front card has a stick figure with a taped-up mouth and text: "I am not able to speak right now".

Panel 2
Heading: Bring the essentials

Drawing with a bunch of labelled items:


water (water bottle with stickers such as extinction symbol, infinity, an eye), meds (a pill bottle, a blister pack and an inhaler), hand gel, snacks (cereal bars and an orange), mask with an asterisk (sunflower pattern). on a lanyard: stims (a pop-it), earplugs (earplug case), communication aids (the cards from the previous frame). money, sun cream. arrow pointing to an empty space labelled "lack of ID" with two asterisks.

*Protects you from both covid and surveillance!
**This depends on the protest and your country, check local advice.

Text: Remember to bring water, snacks and any medication you need. Taking extra sun cream and paracetamol is recommended - sharing is caring! During protests we are all crew, so let's look after each other!

Illustration: A light-skinned person (Reloaxa) in a red hoodie and grey shorts with a yellow star on the chest. Short ginger hair, glasses, holding a tub of sun block.
Reloaxa: Anyone need sun cream?

Page 4

Panel 1

Background of this panel is orange prison/cage bars.

Person (Azer) is has medium brown short hair and glasses, is wearing a pink pullover and a beige button-up sweater on top. Their expression is agitated, exaggerated cartoony crying.

 Azer speaking: "That's great, but... (big screaming text) What if I get arrested?!"

Shroomy is dressed in a black suit, white shirt, top hat covered in XR symbols, tie with a money pattern and golden claws/nail guards.
Shroomy speaking: It's a bit difficult to give generic advice, but...
Arrow pointing to Shroomy: Only has experience protesting in the UK.

Shroomy continuing: Generally speaking, the risk of arrest is on a sliding scale.

Panel 2

A scale divided into 3 parts like a stop light, each representing higher risk.

Green panel: Static rally - lower risk

Illustration: simplified figures of three people standing still with placards, with funny angry expressions. The middle person's placard says: "We are well-behaved". The other two say: "protect trans kids" and "down with this sort of thing".

Yellow panel: Lock-on - higher risk

Illustration: simplified figures of two people with arms joined in a lock-on device that is labelled "just stop oil". They have mischievous expressions and are doing peace signs with their free hands.

Red panel: Gluing yourself to a plane - uhhh...

Illustration: a simplified figure of a person lying down on top of a plane, also doing a peace sign and waving their legs around, with tongue out expression.

Panel 3

Text: On my part, I mostly do outreach on the side of XR protests. Chatting with people and giving out leaflets is perfectly legal. It's pretty hard to arrest me for that, and it's fun!

Illustration: Shroomy in the same suit and top hat outfit from above, suspicious cute smile, handing the viewer a yellow leaflet with upside-down "rebel for life" text visible. They have a golden human skull ring on their thumb.
Subtitle: dressed up as a banker who loves fossil fuel investments.
Shroomy speaking: Hey you! Wanna save the world?

Panel 4

Shroomy in a red t-shirt with a rainbow heart pendant, using a pointing stick to point at a blackboard, speaking: "The most important thing is knowing your rights."

Text on blackboard
Protest rights 101
No comment, no caution, no personal details, no duty solicitor, under what power?

Text: In the UK, good sources of information include Green and Black Cross, Netpol and Liberty.
XR (extinction rebellion) also offers "Know your rights" and NVDA (non-violent direct action) training.


Page 5

Panel 1

Text: Every autistic person is different. Some can successfully adapt to the protest environment, and some even thrive in that atmosphere.

Illustration: two people protesting. On the left is a Black woman wearing a mask and red ear defenders, a pink sweater, green bomber jacket and a hat with badges on it. She is setting off a pink smoke flare that extends to make the background of the page. She has a serious expression.

On the right is a white man with long, wavy light brown hair, dressed in a green shirt, pink shorts and a pink tie that is covered in various badges. They are drumming on a green and pink snare drum and look very happy.

Panel 2

Text: On the other hand, some people know they just can't attend in person... and that's okay!

Illustration: A blue and purple panel. A person sitting in bed with their laptop covered in a blanket, using a huge shark plushie as a pillow. Two cats are loafing on the bed with them. The scene looks cozy but also a little depressing.

Text: The good news is that you can still make a difference! Online roles are vital to activist movements.
Illustration: the same person but from the back, and the panel is in warmer colours. We can see that they are actually designing a poster for a climate strike on their laptop. One of the cats is peeking over the human's shoulder and the other one is stretching on its back.

Panel 3

Heading: Every skill is valuable!

Illust: hands typing on a laptop
Text: You can write, code, design, do social media...

Illust: Shroomy in the banker outfit, sticking their tongue out and holding a big placard. On the placard is a poop emoji with huge muscular arms and text: "clean up your act!"
Text: draw, craft, create placards and props...

Illust: A Black woman with afro puff hair (Leesha) excitedly typing on a keyboard while talking to someone on the phone, holding the phone to her ear by her shoulder.
Text: organise, network, spread the word to others... and so much more!

Panel 4

Text: So the next time you think of getting involved in activism...

A crowd of people, mainly consisting of the characters who appeared in this comic before, holding a large pink placard that says:
JUST DO IT!

On the left, SheepDog is holding a placard that says:
"Don't be scared"

On the right, a Black person with dark dreadlocks fading into red, in a red wheelchair, is holding a placard that says: "We're all in this together!"