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. […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Some people see self-care as a luxury, albeit a “necessary” one. Hot baths, face masks, and time spent on hobbies are considered just as important as drinking plenty of water and eating good, nutritious food. But when you’re autistic, self-care is not optional. It’s not […]
It’s time once again for me to remind my American readers that fireworks can be a real problem for autistic people of all ages. Where I live, Independence Day fireworks start July 1 and go on through at least July 5, but across the country, […]
Every now and then, I run across a piece of film or other media that hits really close to home in depicting parts of my autistic experience. One of those is the episode “Mute” from season four of The Twilight Zone. You can find it […]
I’ve wanted to write this post for a while and I’ve put it off because I really wanted to do this topic justice. So I’m doing it now and hopefully I’m doing it well. Growing up autistic, especially not knowing it, was really hard. Navigating […]
As you know if you’ve been keeping up with my work stress lately, in all the upheaval of COVID-19 I have been moved from my usual no-contact-with-people information synthesis duties and instead put on phones. PHONES. Luckily, I’m not answering them – a decade in […]
