Agent Sparrow I agree it's important that the voice of non-verbal autistics isn't drowned out by those who do speak.
I think that for many years there was an assumption that those who were non-verbal weren't able to communicate and professionals and families alike were surprised when communication devices enabled some to 'speak'.
So the ability to speak and/or communicate doesn't necessarily directly correlate with ability in terms of intellectual capacity-learning disability/developmental delay.
The issue of 'autism moms' - NeuroTypical mothers of autistic children - is controversial in the #ActuallyAutistic community, in that for many years, the voice and opinion of autism moms drowned out our voices, and in many instances still does.
I have a friend who's an American autism mom (we studied together in London years ago, before she had her child back home), who reacted quite badly to my comments on Facebook about how awfully eugenicist Autism Speaks are in response to a post she made in the early days after her son's diagnosis. I was offended. She was offended. But we agreed to disagree about Autism Speaks, because they were quite helpful and supportive in her local area.
We kept a dialogue going, and over the years, my autism mom friend has become more of an ally and advocate for autistics.
A lot of autism moms start out catastrophising, because of the medical model of disability and medical professionals and Autism Speaks propaganda and their funding research to try to eradicate us from the human population.
But it was my autism mom friend who alerted me to another change in terminology, ie the move from referring to autistics as high-functioning and low-functioning, to having different levels of needs.
I think that's partly because of problematic labelling of people, but also because simply referring to people in terms of their functioning level isn't necessarily useful, because someone who was previously considered to be, ostensibly, 'high-functioning' would probably have previously been considered to have no needs, or very low needs. And there was a lack of perception as to what different levels of support were needed, and what form of support was needed.
And another problem with autism moms is how you end up with the focus on children and children's services and then when those autistic children become autistic adults... * tumbleweed *
Support services aren't in place for autistic adults, we're an afterthought, because pretty much all the support services are aimed at autistic children because of vocal autism moms lobbying on behalf of their children, and for many years that drowned out the voices of #ActuallyAutistic adults.
And, yes, there is the argument that those of us whose flavour of autism isn't non-verbal, doesn't have learning disabilities, don't represent the experiences of those autistics and can't speak for them...
...but the #ActuallyAutistic sentiment/rallying cry of 'Nothing about us without us' is valid.
I mean, can you imagine the situation in a slightly different scenario...
To go back to identities and first person or not, whether someone's a person with disabilities or a disabled person, the medical model of disability versus the social model of disability, whether someone is disabled or whether it is society that dis-ables people by failing to make buildings and services accessible...
...in terms of being autistic, I don't say I have autism, I am autistic. I have a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, so I sometimes say I'm Aspie. (Yes, I'm aware that's now problematic, but I don't have a time-machine, it's factually correct, because Asperger's is what's in my medical records, that was my Dx at the time.)
I've often drawn a parallel with LGBT, in that much as you wouldn't say someone 'has homosexuality', wouldn't say someone 'has gay/lesbian/trans' like it's some kind of disease that's separate to the person that they can and should be cured of*, similarly I don't have autism, I am autistic, it's part of who and what I am, it's intrinsic to me being me.
*Of course, for many years, homosexuality was medicalised and cures were attempted, which was abhorrent.
But can you imagine a scenario where the most vocal people in terms of LGBT+ rights were the mothers of LGBT+ people?
I mean, yes, there are organisations to support/inform etc parents of LGBT+ folk, but those parents and organisations aren't at the forefront of LGBT+ rights and I think most people would think it totally absurd if they were.
Although my analogy falls down in that LGBT+ traits don't include learning disabilities or being non-verbal.
But I still think the mic shouldn't be handed over to autism moms - or rather seized by them and held onto by them - in preference to letting autistics speak with their own voices or communication devices. And like I said, it transpired that some autistics who had previously been assumed to be unable to communicate, it turned out they could.
Just like many learning disabled people can communicate and advocate for themselves.
I follow Ciara Lawrence on Twitter, who's an ambassador for Mencap and who presents her pink sparkle podcast.
This Learning Disability Week, Ciara Lawrence writes about launching her own podcast and having a voice during lockdown.
www.learningdisabilitytoday.co.uk
I suspect in the past, up until fairly recently, the voices of Ciara and people like her would've been drowned out by parents and medical professionals, but social media has given her a platform and amplified her voice, and fair play to her, she's using it very effectively.
But as you point out, there's a similar debate in the learning disabled community about whose voices are valid, with respect to those whose disabilities are mild, severe or profound.
I honestly don't know what the answer is, in terms of ensuring representation for and hearing from everyone, whether autistic or learning disabled or affected by developmental delays, but clearly, consideration needs to be given to their needs and views and their 'voices' need to be heard, of course, it's a question of how and through what channels, through whom?
Thanks for sharing the bit about appraisals though - that’s been a lightbulb moment for me. 
into a low hanging branch. that isn't cos reasonable adjustments haven't been made, it's the concrete reality of my disability. These realities are part of the experience too.
