Category: Masking / Passing

LGBTQIA+, Masking / Passing1 Comment
NeuroDivergent Rebel's The Weight of Normal by Lyric Rivera - a teal book with purple text and a pink brain, there is also a person holding a heavy boulder on their shoulders - cover text reads: Assimilate or Be Punished: A NeuroDivergent, Queer Memoir of Survival and Awakening in a World That Demands Conformity A Look at the harms and traumas of NeuroDivergent Conversion "Therapy" and other methods of forced assimilation. Sticky post

New Book! NeuroDivergent Rebel’s The Weight of Normal – Preorder NOW (Available 12/16/25)

Lyric Holmans

The Weight of Normal is a raw and powerful memoir of survival and awakening. It is an unflinching indictment of the systems of forced assimilation—the NeuroDivergent and Queer conversion “therapies”—that teach self-abandonment as a virtue. Continue reading New Book! NeuroDivergent Rebel’s The Weight of Normal – Preorder NOW (Available 12/16/25)

Masking / Passing
Lyric Rivera, posing in their RV in a neon teal tank top that reads “refusing assimilation into neurotypical society - NeuroDivergent Rebel” and purple constellation shorts. They are smiling at the camera and a black dog is sleeping behind them on the sofa.

“Let Them Choke”: My Rejection of Other People’s Comfort. I Refuse to Be a Bite-Sized Identity. – My Identity Isn’t a Monolith. Stop Asking It to Be & Why I Won’t ‘Stick to Neurodiversity’

Lyric Holmans

The Impossible Weight of Assimilation for People Who Can’t Blend in – Assimilation Almost Killed Me. Authenticity Saved Me. – For Me Assimilation Was a Slow Death. This Is My Rebellion.
Continue reading “Let Them Choke”: My Rejection of Other People’s Comfort. I Refuse to Be a Bite-Sized Identity. – My Identity Isn’t a Monolith. Stop Asking It to Be & Why I Won’t ‘Stick to Neurodiversity’

Masking / Passing, Relationships / Bullies / Friendships, Updates
Lyric, last year, deep in depression, with green hair and a black leather jacket.

Invisible & Drowning: My Negativity Was a Cry for Help – Toxic Positivity Kills: My Year of Being Told to Smile While Drowning

Lyric Holmans

When Your Rock Bottom Goes Unseen – Why Expressing Pain and Discomfort is a Disruption to the Status Quo and What Happens When You Can’t Fake Being Fine
Continue reading Invisible & Drowning: My Negativity Was a Cry for Help – Toxic Positivity Kills: My Year of Being Told to Smile While Drowning

Coworkers, Family, Masking / Passing, Relationships / Bullies / Friendships, Substack2 Comments
A person wearing a box on their head that has a frown drawn on it.

Shutdowns and Unspoken Pain: The Weight of Repressed Emotions and Unmet Needs

Lyric Holmans

Isolated. Hurting… Ashamed. I’ve spoken about the reasons I feel that Autistic overloads are not that different from overloads in non-autistics in the past (on multiple occasions). Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how much more I’ve been asked to “put away” … Continue reading Shutdowns and Unspoken Pain: The Weight of Repressed Emotions and Unmet Needs

Masking / Passing, Substack, Tourette Syndrome3 Comments
thumbnail for youtube video - with lyric on a purple and pink background with the words "echolalia, palilalia, scripting, vocal & verbal stimming, next to them in alternating black and white and black and yellow speech bubbles.

Autistic Speech Patterns – Autism and Echolalia, Palilalia, Scripting, Vocal and Verbal Stimming

Lyric Holmans

Though every single Autistic Person is different, many Autistic People make different noises, repeat sounds, or make other vocalizations. In today’s video, I’ll discuss three main types of Autistic vocalizations: echolalia, palilalia, speech loops, scripting, and verbal and vocal stimming.

Despite being 37, I still have all three of these (as well as several other) NeuroDivergent speech patterns.

First, I will define each item, then explain more about these experiences from a human perspective, starting with echolalia, the vocalization I experience the most. If you would like to know more, please stay tuned. Continue reading Autistic Speech Patterns – Autism and Echolalia, Palilalia, Scripting, Vocal and Verbal Stimming

Masking / Passing, SubstackLeave a comment
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Autism NeuroDivergence & Sensory Processing – My Personal AuDHD (Autistic and ADHD) Experience

Lyric Holmans

What exactly is sensory processing? One might (falsely) think that every human on this earth experiences the world in the same way, that we all experience the sun’s brightness the same, or the level of sounds in the room the … Continue reading Autism NeuroDivergence & Sensory Processing – My Personal AuDHD (Autistic and ADHD) Experience