As a child (in middle school), I was denied the right to rest when I was so physically exhausted and burned out it made me sick.
Continue reading Autistic Burnout -The Silent Killer – Recognizing, Preventing, and Recovering from Burnout
When I’m overwhelmed, excited, or have extra energy flowing through me, I find the predictable rhythm of my voice and familiar sounds to be grounding and relaxing.
Continue reading How do you overcome shame about vocal stimming?
In 1915, the state of Oklahoma bought the Oklahoma Sanitarium Company and continued to run this asylum through the 1960s, when it was slowly decommissioned building by building.
Continue reading Visiting Griffin Memorial Hospital an Abandoned Mental Health Institution in Norman Oklahoma
There have been many lessons in the past year, some painful, but I try to learn from my pain.
Continue reading RV Life Lessons: Full-time RVing on a Budget – RV Living isn’t always glamorous. Sometimes it sucks.
“What recommendations do you have for someone who thinks themselves/their colleagues could possibly be neurodivergent but has never gone for an official diagnosis?”
Continue reading I See NeuroDivergent People… I want to tell them they are NeuroDivergent… because I don’t think they know.
People often think I’m doing better than I am because I keep my problems to myself, and people don’t notice or mention my struggles until they inconvenience them.
Continue reading “You Must be High Functioning!” – I Don’t Have High-Functioning Autism, I am Autistic
Where are all the un-traumatized NeuroDivergent people? Are there even any un-traumatized people (of any kind left) in this world? I’m not sure.
Continue reading Do un-traumatized NeuroDivergent People exist? Would we know them if we saw them?
I am Autistic, PLUS (On Twitter, I typed this out as shorthand Autism+ because of character limitations, and we made jokes it sounded like a video streaming service, like Disney+).
Continue reading When I said “There’s no such thing as severe Autism” most people missed the point.
Often, rather than sorting through all the information required to make a choice. It is much simpler (in that moment) not to choose (which technically IS a choice), or go with a safe familiar option. Continue reading Autism & Choices: Why Making Decisions is Hard for Me as an Autistic Person
On Twitter, there was an interesting discussion I dropped in on recently talking about the medical model of Autism and how, technically (under the medical model), to be defined as an Autistic Person in a medical context, you must be someone whose Autistic traits “cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.”
Due to the language above, this person suggested if you’re not struggling, you might not be Autistic in a medical context (regardless if you were diagnosed previously and met the criteria). “Are they Autistic?” they asked. Continue reading If an Autistic Person isn’t Currently Struggling “Are they still Autistic?”