Systemic violence wears many faces. It’s easy to recognize it in its most overt forms police brutality, and incarceration, or the denial of basic human rights. But for Black autistic women, systemic violence isn’t always loud. Often, it’s quiet, cumulative, and insidious, something people think doesn’t even exist, It hides in institutions that claim to protect. It festers in silence when the world looks away.
For Black autistic women, the overlap of racism, ableism, and misogyny creates a reality where our needs are ignored and our pain is either misunderstood or deliberately dismissed. Systemic violence isn’t just about the brutal force of police interactions, though that threat is very real it’s also about the everyday institutions that punish, isolate, and erase.
It’s schools treating sensory meltdowns not as a cry for support, but as willful defiance suspending or expelling Black autistic girls at rates that far exceed their white or neurotypical peers. It’s hospitals dismissing pain, chalking up serious symptoms to anxiety, aggression, or simply “attitude.” It’s being labeled “angry,” “difficult,” or “crazy” just for expressing a need or setting a boundary. These aren’t just microaggressions. They are manifestations of a system that was never built to serve Black autistic women and often actively harms us.
And when harm does occur whether it’s institutional neglect, medical malpractice, abuse, or even death , yes death!! the systems responsible for protection and accountability often fail to respond. Or worse, they blame the victim, victim blaming is one of the most disgusting forms of abuse, They question the behavior of the woman who was harmed instead of examining the structures that allowed the harm to happen in the first place.
There are few safe spaces for Black autistic women. Fewer advocates. They are often spoken over, misunderstood, or excluded entirely from movements that claim to fight for justice or equity. This kind of erasure is itself a form of violence. White-led organizations find their token Black autistic woman and thinks okay we got one that’s enough!
To build real justice, we must move beyond performative allyship and start centering those most affected especially those at the sharpest intersections of oppression. That means listening to Black autistic women, resourcing tour communities, and amplifying our voices in every space where decisions are made.
There is no justice in disability rights, racial justice, feminism, or mental health advocacy without Black autistic women at the center. Not the margins. Not as an afterthought.