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Autistic Empath
Insights from life on the spectrum
  • Myths and Misconceptions
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Category: Living in the NT World

Woman with smudged eye makeup that looks like she's been crying holding a piece of paper with a pen-drawn smile in front of her face.
Autistic Adulthood, Living in the NT World

Time Blindness, Anxiety, and Intrusive Thoughts

January 28, 2021

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 […]

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A book labeled "Income tax" on top of two folders full of paperwork, all on top of more paperwork with a calculator and open pen.
Autistic Adulthood, Executive Function Issues, Living in the NT World

Adulting for Autistics: Filing Your Taxes

January 21, 2021

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, […]

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A class of middle or high schoolers shot from the back, facing the teacher.
Advocacy, Autistic Adulthood, Living in the NT World

Autism and the Spiky Profile

January 14, 2021

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 […]

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A person's hands laying out Christmas themed cookies on a cookie sheet.
Autistic Adulthood, Coping, Living in the NT World

Holiday Traditions Create a Sense of Stability

December 10, 2020

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 […]

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A young man in dark jeans, black and white plaid shirt, and a black backpack is seen from the back, walking alone.
Autistic Adulthood, Living in the NT World

Speaking as a Former Gifted Kid

October 8, 2020

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 […]

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Advocacy, Living in the NT World

School Struggles: Dysgraphia

September 24, 2020

One of my biggest challenges in school was my handwriting.  *Checks barely legible notes*  It still is.  I got flat F’s all through elementary school and once they stopped grading that, I got points marked off for “neatness” on any handwritten work I turned in.  […]

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Three women sitting together. The one in the middle appears upset and the other two are looking at her and touching her on the shoulder and leg.
Autistic Adulthood, Living in the NT World

Why the “Golden Rule” Can Trip Up Autistic People

September 17, 2020

We were all taught the Golden Rule as small children – “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – but for autistic people, this idea can be tricky when put into practice.  Because we operate on a different wavelength than neurotypical […]

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A dark-haired man yelling and pointing directly at the viewer.
Autistic Adulthood, Living in the NT World

Executive Function Rules Emotional Regulation

September 3, 2020

When I was diagnosed with autism four years ago, my psychologist told me that my tentative bipolar diagnosis from when I was 19 was probably wrong – she said that I probably had “mood lability associated with autism”.  I had no idea what this meant, […]

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two hands holding a black smartphone showing two notifications with a green table and black keyboard in the background
Autistic Adulthood, Coping, Living in the NT World

A New Kind of Social Overwhelm

August 27, 2020

All this social distancing and staying home is often thought of as an introvert’s – or an autistic person’s – dream come true.  And while that’s not necessarily wrong, I’ve found that I’ve lost a considerable amount of my social skills in the isolation (despite […]

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A dark haired woman in a purple tshirt sits looking at her laptop looking overwhelmed. Behind and around her are drawings of family and social interactions, social media, and other things she is thinking about
Advocacy, Autistic Adulthood, Living in the NT World, Myths and Misconceptions

Don’t Call Me “High-Functioning”

August 6, 2020

I don’t use functioning labels.  They only serve to withhold support from those designated “high-functioning” and limit the possibilities available to those deemed “low-functioning”.  They’re crap, so I don’t use them here.  I prefer using support needs if the distinction is necessary: low support needs […]

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