Category: Neurodiversity

SubstackLeave a comment
Lyric, posing in a black and gold Au Sweater, in the sunset, with a puddle behind them, reflecting everything like a mirror.

From Shame to Self-Acceptance: How an Adult Autism Diagnosis Helped Me Find My True Self

Lyric Holmans

At the time of my diagnosis, I was in a low place.
After twenty-nine years of working harder than most people around me to get only a fraction of the results (while at the same time being told I “wasn’t applying myself” and needed to “try harder” in life), I was demoralized.

It’s cruel to tell someone who has done their best to “try harder.” Still, it happens all the time because most people do not have even a foundational understanding of the spectrum of human strengths and weaknesses, taking it for granted, assuming we all have the same brains and experiences. Continue reading From Shame to Self-Acceptance: How an Adult Autism Diagnosis Helped Me Find My True Self

SubstackLeave a comment
If my attention tunnels into something positive and constructive (or at least on a problem I can solve), my Monotropic tendencies can be a positive force in my life. If my attention latches onto an unsolvable problem or any other unhelpful thought, this tendency to focus so intensely on one thing at a time can be torture (when my mind gets stuck on a loop, looping over and over again on the same hopeless problem).

Autistic Hyper-focus and Monotropism: Why Getting Hooked on The Wrong Topic Can Be Dangerous

Lyric Holmans

I often can’t let things go, even if I want to.
My focus (and special interests) are like a large vessel in an intense current that I can steer (but do not have complete control over). I can nudge my focus in the right direction, but it is hardly up to me if the current takes me with it (or not).

Often, by the time I realize I’ve fallen into the current of hyper-focus, it’s too late (because I’ve already gone too deep, losing large blocks of time to whatever has stolen my attention) and will now be unable to get the new topic out of my mind, once it has taken hold.

If my attention tunnels into something positive and constructive (or at least on a problem I can solve), my Monotropic tendencies can be a positive force in my life.

If my attention latches onto an unsolvable problem or any other unhelpful thought, this tendency to focus so intensely on one thing at a time can be torture (when my mind gets stuck on a loop, looping over and over again on the same hopeless problem). Continue reading Autistic Hyper-focus and Monotropism: Why Getting Hooked on The Wrong Topic Can Be Dangerous

UncategorizedLeave a comment

My Anti-ABA Testimony: Parents are desperate to receive ABA for their children because they’ve been told its the only thing that will help them.

Lyric Holmans

Parents are desperate to receive ABA for their children because they’ve been told its the only thing that will help, and providers claim that autistic kids who don’t have ABA won’t able to enter mainstream schools, and eventually may never be autonomous without ABA, these claims are made without evidence.

Continue reading My Anti-ABA Testimony: Parents are desperate to receive ABA for their children because they’ve been told its the only thing that will help them.

Masking / Passing, SubstackLeave a comment

If Not ABA, then What? Increasing Communication, Language, and Academic Skills

Lyric Holmans

I sat in on and gave testimony at multiple meetings, listening to representatives from various ABA organizations (including Autism Speaks) reading scripts intended to create fear that Autistic People would create “astronomical costs” for the state if we didn’t get ABA.

On one occasion, I listened in horror as an ABA provider casually and coldly threw in statistics about parents who kill their Autistic children because we are so challenging. Continue reading If Not ABA, then What? Increasing Communication, Language, and Academic Skills

Relationships / Bullies / Friendships, SubstackLeave a comment
There is nothing “inappropriate” about Autistic Play - Lyric Rivera - NeuroDivergent Rebel - with an image of a young person wearing a yellow rain coat, with a green and white umbrella, sensory seeking by splashing in puddles.

If Not ABA, then What? Autistic People, Social Skills, and “Appropriate Play”- We socialize and play Autistically!

Lyric Holmans

Something that far too many non-autistic people get wrong about Autistic People is thinking that we lack social skills when, in reality, we have social skills, but they’re not the same social skills non-autistics use.

Autistic People socialize (and play) Autistically. Continue reading If Not ABA, then What? Autistic People, Social Skills, and “Appropriate Play”- We socialize and play Autistically!

SubstackLeave a comment
2 panel comic, one is a hand clicking off a light switch with text that reads: "If you tell me I need to remember to always flip a red switch before lunch, I may forget to toggle the switch because I don't understand the significance of flipping it.” Panel 2is a hamster about to eat 3 strawberries with text that reads: However, if you were to tell me that flipping the switch feeds lunch to the office pet, and me doing so will make sure an animal won't starve, and then show me the animal who needs to eat and how the red switch feeds it. Then, I am much more likely to remember (because I understand the importance of doing so)."

Alternatives to ABA: If not ABA… then WHAT? – Helping Autistic People With “Self-Care Skills”

Lyric Holmans

In my last piece, Alternatives to ABA: If not ABA… then WHAT? – ABA for “Problem Behaviors,” I shared how behavior can often indicate unmet needs and why squishing “inconvenient behaviors” also may extinguish communications to you that something is wrong. 

In the piece’s opening, I mentioned several common ABA goals listed on Autism Speaks’ website (below), and in its closing, I asked my readers which of the items they wanted me to dive into next.

The first request I saw was to talk more about “helping Autistic People with learning self-care skills,” – so that is the topic I will cover today.  Continue reading Alternatives to ABA: If not ABA… then WHAT? – Helping Autistic People With “Self-Care Skills”

Masking / Passing1 Comment
2 panel comic: first one young person with long black hair sitting in a curled up pose, frustrated and sad as a teacher scolds them. Second panel the same person has a rain cloud above them and they are thinking “i suck”. The caption on the comic reads “I was treated like the problem so I believed I was the problem” and “Nobody asked if I needed help or support to get my work done. Because I was seen as "the problem," I wasn't offered support - instead of noticing my cries for help, behavioral modification techniques were used to "extinguish" my "undesirable behaviors" (all signs I was in distress).”

Alternatives to ABA: If not ABA… then WHAT?

Lyric Holmans

All humans (and other animals, ESPECIALLY those who don’t speak) communicate through their body language and behaviors (even if they are completely unaware they’re doing so).

When children (regardless of NeuroType) demonstrate “disruptive” or “inappropriate behavior,” it is often a sign they have unmet needs that they are trying to meet. Continue reading Alternatives to ABA: If not ABA… then WHAT?

SubstackLeave a comment
3-panel comic: first panel - one year ago, a person with short hair in a yellow shirt with blue pants tries to explain what being autistic is like. Panel 2 - a person with long hair, a tan shirt, and a pale pink skirt says, “I do that, and I’m not Autistic” - panel 3 - TODAY: same person from panel 2 says, “ I found out I am Autistic this week!”

The “I do that… and I’m not Autistic” or “everyone does that” to “I just found out I’m Autistic” Pipeline

Lyric Holmans

#ActuallyAutistic #AskingAutistics: have you ever heard anyone say, “I do that (or everyone does that)… and I’m not Autistic”?

Now… how many of those people later went on to discover that they are Autistic (or do you suspect themselves are Autistic and just don’t know it)? Continue reading The “I do that… and I’m not Autistic” or “everyone does that” to “I just found out I’m Autistic” Pipeline