Stimming is a necessity for autistic people. It allows us to manage our sensory overload, keep our stress levels down, and generally maintain an even keel. If we’re going to hold a job, stimming is even more essential to keep us functioning well in that […]
In my last post, I talked about how I finally came to be diagnosed with autism. Today, I want to talk about what my life was like up to that point. Before I received my autism diagnosis at 35 years old, I thought I was a […]
I was diagnosed with autism at 35 years old. Unlike many people who get diagnosed in their 30s, mine wasn’t sparked by my child getting diagnosed. I’d been sure that I was autistic for a long time, but I had to wait for the science […]
I recently heard a story from another autistic person regarding an experience in a CPR class. The NT instructor, not knowing any of the adult students there were autistic, said the following: “When typical people walk into a room they see all the chairs and the lights. When an […]
April is Autism Awareness and/or Acceptance Month, depending on which groups you associate with. The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network uses “Autism Acceptance”, while the Autism Society of America uses “Autism Awareness”, and the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network seems to use both terms. Personally, I kind of hate using “awareness”. Spreading awareness is what […]
One of the reasons that women on the spectrum are not readily diagnosed is that we are better at camouflaging ourselves among other women. Part of this has to do with the fact that autistic girls’ special interests are often “normal“ girlish interests like horses […]
I grew up in a time before “twice exceptional” was a thing. That term only came into the educational lexicon around 1997, which was too late for me, given that I graduated high school in 1999. When I was young, nobody understood that a gifted […]
I absolutely hate getting my hair done. Melissa, if you’re reading this, it’s nothing about you – you’re fantastic and I love you, we’ve talked about this! It’s just that the whole experience is such a sensory overload that I can’t stand it. It wasn’t […]
