“The autism spectrum has widened to the point of collapse, affecting how teachers should support autistic pupils in the classroom,” researcher Uta Frith tells Helen Amass in a recent interview, and my response as a late-diagnosed Autistic adult. Continue reading An Autistic Response to: Uta Frith’s “Why I no longer think autism is a spectrum.”
It has been years since Damian Milton rocked the world with the paper: On the ontological status of autism: the ‘double empathy problem.’
In Damian’s paper, the double empathy problem was defined as:
A disjuncture in reciprocity between two differently disposed social actors which becomes more marked the wider the disjuncture in dispositional perceptions of the lifeworld – perceived as a breach in the ‘natural attitude’ of what constitutes ‘social reality’ for ‘neuro-typical’ people and yet an everyday and often traumatic experience for ‘autistic people.’
What does that mean in more simple language? I will explain in this month’s video. Continue reading Autistic Empathy – Autism and the Double Empathy Problem
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
I have many things I want to write and do, but I often struggle to find the time and energy.
Like many Autistic People, I operate on a perilous edge, teetering between burnout and barely resting enough not to burn out.
This can happen to Autistic People for various reasons (but capitalism and societal expectations are a significant source of stress and burnout for many, possibly most, of us). Continue reading Teetering on the Edge of Burnout and Ideation – Is being able to Camouflage one’s NeuroDivergence a “privilege?”
Autistic Pride Day was not borne from the need to celebrate being Autistic, but instead in recognition of our right to live authentically (or at all). Continue reading 10 Reasons We Need Autistic Pride
The most important thing you can do as a newly discovered Autistic Person (or someone who’s supporting one) is learning NOT what AUTISM is but what being Autistic means to YOU (or your loved one) as an individual Autistic Person. Continue reading What IS Autism? How do you explain being Autistic to people?
They say Queer People are “perverts” and “sexual deviants,” but our accusers seem to be the ones obsessed with sex and private parts.
Continue reading Friendly Reminder: The First Pride Was a Riot
There is a misconception that, because someone’s NeuroDivergence is identified in adulthood, they struggled less growing up than NeuroDivergent People diagnosed as children.
Continue reading Self-Identified Autistics: IS diagnosis a Privilege? Why Some People May Self-Diagnose with Autism
Sometimes when I am unable to get away from other people, or the situation that I am in, or event that has triggered my meltdown, then I will go from flee to fight, and have a meltdown, where I may become air quotes, “combative”, “aggressive”, “defensive” -because I feel as if I am in danger, and cannot flee and get away from the danger, so then it switches to “defend myself and fight”. Continue reading Autism & Learning to Recognize Autistic Meltdowns Before It’s Too Late
It was August 23rd, 2016, when I went in for the first part of my autism assessment, an in-person interview with myself and the person who would be reviewing my childhood history and medical records.
By the end of August, all of the interviews would be concluded, and by early September 2016, at the age of 29, I would be diagnosed Autistic.
At that point in my life, being almost 30 and having such a bombshell of a piece of information dropped upon me, I skimmed a 13 page (actually 14 page) diagnostic report, but was very overwhelmed, and couldn’t process the report in front of me. In fact, I threw the report into a paper shredder, and destroyed the report.
However, recently, more than five years later, I’m feeling more ready to face the information that was in front of me all of those years ago. Continue reading Late NeuroDivergent Diagnosis – Diagnosed Autistic at 29 – Reading my Autism Diagnostic Report
