Category: Substack

Substack
A black and white photo of two disabled children in strait jackets, chained to a radiator in a room with dirty walls and floors.

Autism, ADHD, and Autonomy – The One Thing Neurodivergent and Disabled People Need Most (That Keeps Getting Taken Away)

Lyric Holmans

Autonomy isn’t about doing everything alone. It’s about choosing who sits beside us. For NeuroDivergent and disabled people, that choice is often taken away, sometimes with the best intentions. Here’s what happens when we aren’t allowed to steer our own lives. Continue reading Autism, ADHD, and Autonomy – The One Thing Neurodivergent and Disabled People Need Most (That Keeps Getting Taken Away)

LGBTQIA+, SubstackLeave a comment
A young Lyric, with their dog Ripley, looking very miserable in their Easter dress.

You Weren’t the Problem. The System Was. Here’s How I Know.

Lyric Holmans

For most of my life, I believed, falsely, that I was inherently flawed and unworthy of compassion, kindness, and respect (from other people and from myself).

It’s hard to say exactly when, where, and why this feeling of inadequacy started, because my memory is a bit wonky, and multiple events played into it. However, there are a few events in particular that do stand out to me. Continue reading You Weren’t the Problem. The System Was. Here’s How I Know.

Masking / Passing, SubstackLeave a comment
This is fine dog on fire meme - A 2 panel comic meme of a dog sits at a table casually sipping coffee while the room around them is burning. The first panel says "Autistic & other sensory sensitive people acting like everything is fine when they're actively in sensory overload", and the second panel the dog says "This is fine" while the caption reads "but it wasn't fine at all."

The Sensory Hell No One Told Me About (And How It Almost Killed Me)

Lyric Holmans

I had nearly 30 years of frequent and totally preventable migraines that left me sick in bed (multiple times a month and sometimes multiple days a week), or forcing myself to attend school and work (with disorientation so intense it was dangerous for me to be out on the road driving, but because I had to work to get paid I forced myself to drive anyway just like I’d been forced to go to school growing up in a similar state). Continue reading The Sensory Hell No One Told Me About (And How It Almost Killed Me)

SubstackLeave a comment
Lyric Rivera - NeuroDivergent Rebel - refusing assimilation into neurotypical society

The Rage That Saved Me & The Pain Before the Pride: What Success Looks Like When You’re Late-Diagnosed – A Late Identified AuDHD (Autistic and ADHD) Story

Lyric Holmans

There is a lot of talk in Neurodivergent spaces about how much relief late-identified Neurodivergent people find when they finally learn the truth about themselves. However, there’s not as much discussion on the pain and grief late identification can bring.

Don’t get me wrong, being diagnosed Autistic (and then later ADHD) did bring me relief and was a critical turning point in my life. Yet, early on, as I learned to sit with that new information, joy and relief were not my only (or even primary) emotions.

People who join me in this chapter of my life, when I am confident, happy, and proud of my multiply-Neurodivergent identity, might falsely think I’ve always been this way, or that getting here was easy. However, they’re missing out on the first thirty-eight chapters of my life’s story, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Continue reading The Rage That Saved Me & The Pain Before the Pride: What Success Looks Like When You’re Late-Diagnosed – A Late Identified AuDHD (Autistic and ADHD) Story

Children & Families, SubstackLeave a comment
Lyric (with long dark hair and shaved sides, with rainbow glasses), sitting in the corner surrounded by books they’ve written or collaborated on (The U.S. Autism, Identity, and Me Children’s Workbook and Parent/Helper Guide, and Workplace Neurodiversity Rising, while reading Neurodivergent Rebel’s The Weight of Normal).

I Was A Word Hoarder: For me, hyperlexia wasn’t just “reading early.” It was (and is) a specific way my brain processes symbols.

Lyric Holmans

If you’ve never heard of Hyperlexia before, it is when a person can read words very, very well (often better than most people). We may also struggle more with understanding the full context of what we read. In addition, many of us who are Hyperlexic often understand what we read more easily than what is said to us out loud. Continue reading I Was A Word Hoarder: For me, hyperlexia wasn’t just “reading early.” It was (and is) a specific way my brain processes symbols.

Masking / Passing, SubstackLeave a comment
Lyric, years ago, with long black hair and pale skin from staying indoors, dressed as in a red hood and red and silver mask.

Growing Up Not Knowing About My Neurodivergent (Autistic and ADHD) Brain and What I Wish I Had Understood Sooner

Lyric Holmans

Question for my late-identified Neurodivergent readers: Is there anything you wish you’d known or understood sooner?

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger, unidentified self, what would it be?

I am Neurodivergent, but I didn’t know it (or even what Neurodivergence or Neurodiversity was) for most of my life.

Being diagnosed Autistic, at the age of 29, a few months shy of my 30th birthday, during a mental health crisis, turned my world upside down. It also saved my life. Continue reading Growing Up Not Knowing About My Neurodivergent (Autistic and ADHD) Brain and What I Wish I Had Understood Sooner

Masking / Passing, SubstackLeave a comment

I Had to Unlearn Shame to Find My Autistic Pride – They Told Me My Autistic Traits Were Flaws. I Know Better Now.

Lyric Holmans

Before I knew it was Autism, I didn’t have Autistic pride – only shame for my Autistic traits. Autistic pride is something I had to grow into. Here’s what changed. Continue reading I Had to Unlearn Shame to Find My Autistic Pride – They Told Me My Autistic Traits Were Flaws. I Know Better Now.

Substack, UpdatesLeave a comment
Cover of the book 'Autism, Identity and Me: A Practical Workbook to Empower Adults' by Rebecca Duffus and Lyric Rivera, featuring a colorful floral design. The book is available for pre-order and will ship in November 2026.

Why I Dreaded This Task… and Why I’m Grateful I Did It – Over 13 Hours, 390 Pages, and One Very Stiff Back: A Copyediting Saga

Lyric Holmans

I really think we have something VERY special with the Autism, Identity and Me Adult Workbook (not that the children’s workbooks or my other projects weren’t also special), because I could only have dreamed of having a workbook LIKE THIS ten years ago (when I was newly diagnosed as Autistic). Continue reading Why I Dreaded This Task… and Why I’m Grateful I Did It – Over 13 Hours, 390 Pages, and One Very Stiff Back: A Copyediting Saga