For Autism “Awareness” Month this year, I’m bringing “awareness” to some of the amazing parts of autistic life. Part of the glory of the autistic brain is the ability to see beyond the clearly delineated boundaries and margins of NT society. We tend to question […]
Today it’s time for some real talk for parents of autistic kids. I know – because I lived the child’s side of the experience – that there are times when your autistic child asks for help and you offer very reasonable solutions, only to have […]
One of the biggest frustrations for parents of autistic kids is that their kids don’t do as they’re told – “they just don’t listen”, “he refuses to do anything I ask”, “it’s such a simple thing, but she acts like it’s a huge request”. Sound […]
We talk about “masking” a lot in the Autistic community – the strenuous process of pretending to be neurotypical. There’s a lot of discussion around whether masking is healthy or unhealthy, the toll it takes on our mental health, and whether it’s good, bad, or […]
Self-advocacy is key to being a successful adult, regardless of your neurology. There are many names for it: confidence, assertiveness, interpersonal effectiveness, plain old standing up for yourself, and lots more. And it’s not just about work or legal rights. Autistic adults who haven’t learned […]
Fair warning up front: today’s post is very personal. And it’s not fun. It could possibly trigger those who deal with medical anxiety or other intrusive thoughts. Please take care of yourself accordingly. I’ve written before about my struggles with time management – the fact […]
Today’s Adulting For Autistics topic is one of the most overwhelming and scary parts of adult life: filing your taxes! Taxes are overwhelming and confusing for pretty much everyone, NT or otherwise. Many people pay lots of money to have someone else handle their taxes, […]
One of the hallmarks of autism is asynchronous development – also known as the Spiky Profile or “islands of skill”. All this means is that some of our skills are very well-developed and others are much lower, so that a graph of our test scores […]
Today I’m reveling in my holiday traditions of baking, cooking, and watching my favorite Christmas movies. Everybody has those things that make us say “it’s just not the holidays without _______!” We call them traditions, but I think it’s more than that. For me, and […]
Recently, I ran across some kerfuffle in the Twitterverse surrounding the idea of “former gifted kid” trauma. You may have seen these posts from time to time, equating growing up with the “gifted” label with serious mental health issues in adulthood. Someone replied to these […]
