When I was finally diagnosed Autistic at the age of 29, I realized all I had lost in my years of forcing myself into conformity and set out on a mission to get the person I lost back.
Continue reading Steps to Stabilization After Learning You are NeuroDivergent
In my mid-20s, when I learned that I could “pause my mind” and found relief for the first time in my life, forcing myself into the present moment, it became all I wanted to do all the time.
Continue reading HIDDEN DANGER: Why I Stopped Recommending Yoga, Meditation, Mindfulness, and Other Somatic Practices to People I Don’t Know Well
Learning I was Autistic was like being hit over the head with a stick, reversing a block in my mind that had obscured many of my childhood memories.
Continue reading Who am I? Rediscovering the Hidden Parts of Myself Through an Adult Autism Diagnosis
I was no longer “comfortably numb.” I was “uncomfortably aware.” However, the here and now were still foreign to me, and I would have to learn how to cope with my newly recovered sense of awareness.
Continue reading Learning to Tune In – After a Lifetime of Tuning Out
I am a 37-year-old Autistic Adult who has fairly intense sensory sensitivities (that can trigger disorientation, vertigo, migraines, nausea, and other stomach problems). However, I did not understand this crucial fact about myself for most of my life.
One might ask, “If things were so bad, why wasn’t your Autism identified earlier?”
When I was first diagnosed Autistic (more than seven years ago now), I had the same question, though now I know the answer -it was noticed and mislabeled. Continue reading From Shame to Self-Discovery: My Journey with Autism, Sensory Overload, the Pain of Behaviorism, and the Relief in Unexpected Places
Challenging the common assumption that Autistic People lack imaginative play, highlighting the importance of broadening our understanding of the Autistic experience.
Continue reading On the Myth Autistic People Lack Imagination
Twice each month, I put out an exclusive post like this one (often on a more intimate and personal topic OR featuring some of the training materials I’m teaching). This week’s mostly personal.
Continue reading Founding Member Friday: Ups and Downs, Smiles and Frowns – Recent Learning Lessons and Growing Pains
For almost the first thirty years of my life, I masked my Autistic traits because those around me had convinced me these traits were not there.
Pushing through (denying, hiding, and ignoring) over twenty-five years of regular headaches, migraines, vertigo, disorientation, physical pain, and overloads triggered by the unsupported differences that nobody knew I had. Continue reading Autistic Me: What I’ve Learned Since Being Diagnosed “with Autism” at the Age of 29
My frustration with inaccessible workplaces led me to this place, filled with buses, ride shares, airports, planes, and hotel rooms—all billed to and paid for by the clients (employers, conference organizers, universities, and public entities) who would fly me in to speak. Continue reading Don’t Make Me Go Back! From Burnout to Balance: How Virtual Work Changed My Life as an Autistic Traveler
The War on Drugs has been a war on people. It’s time to expose the truth and demand a new approach to drug policy.
Continue reading Uncovering Lies: The Truth About Cannabis and the War on Drugs – Let’s End this!
