Tag: Neurodiversity

LGBTQIA+, Substack
Lyric Rivera, with black and grey hair, a teal tank top, and rainbow glasses, sitting in an RV, smiling

ADHD, Complex Trauma, or BOTH? – A Fog Lifted: What Happened When I Finally Stopped Dissociating

Lyric Holmans

My entire life, my memory was like Swiss cheese. Then, after working on my trauma, a switch flipped. I could finally remember my days. That’s when I knew…
Continue reading ADHD, Complex Trauma, or BOTH? – A Fog Lifted: What Happened When I Finally Stopped Dissociating

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

Children & Families, Substack
Young Lyric, who believed they were doomed to hell, dressed as a black cat.

Religious Indoctrination of Children Is Child Abuse: Here’s Why I Won’t Apologize for Calling Religious Indoctrination Child Abuse.

Lyric Holmans

As a child, who was indoctrinated into the Christian faith, but struggled to believe what I was told “was the unquestionable truth,” I spent the first 11 years of my life terrified that I was going to hell (and was convinced that I was a bad person) because I couldn’t force myself to believe in Jesus and the Christian God (who I was told was the ONLY path to salvation and everyone who wasn’t a believer would go to hell). Continue reading Religious Indoctrination of Children Is Child Abuse: Here’s Why I Won’t Apologize for Calling Religious Indoctrination Child Abuse.

Substack
A selfie Lyric took recently. They’re in a black and white outfit and sitting in their RV, with their long hair down and smiling.

Society Trained Me to Swallow My Rage. My Autistic Self Said “No More.” – “Repression = Strength” Was a Dangerous Lie I Believed (Until My Diagnosis).

Lyric Holmans

The Forbidden Feeling: Why My Anger Terrified Me (And How I Made Peace With It) – The Cost of Swallowing Coals: How I Stopped Digesting Anger & Started Living.
Continue reading Society Trained Me to Swallow My Rage. My Autistic Self Said “No More.” – “Repression = Strength” Was a Dangerous Lie I Believed (Until My Diagnosis).

Substack
A Happy Lyric in a teal “refusing assimilation into NeuroTypical Society tank top, that has pale pink and teal and lavender graphics.

The Box of Shame Almost Crushed Me but Autistic Pride Was My Escape – The Dangerous Trap of “Battling Autism” (And How It Nearly Killed Me)

Lyric Holmans

For me, (now) growth is learning to work with my Autistic (and multiply NeuroDivergent) mind (instead of against it) and treating my brain like a friend and partner (instead of an adversary). This (radical self-acceptance for even my struggles) has been key to my success, but parents who get stuck “battling Autism” (battling their kid’s minds like I was locked in battle with my own mind for years) are on a very different path than I am on now (battling against Autism instead of collaborating with it). Continue reading The Box of Shame Almost Crushed Me but Autistic Pride Was My Escape – The Dangerous Trap of “Battling Autism” (And How It Nearly Killed Me)

Substack
Young Lyric, sitting under a tree at a birthday party.

Assimilate or Be Punished: My Multiply NeuroDivergent School Years – They Called it Bad Behavior; It Was Unmet Needs

Lyric Holmans

Sometimes, Autism that is outwardly disruptive can be “beaten into submission” until it is “less disruptive” to the outside viewer (as mine was).

However, this can lead to increased internal disruptions—and, in my case, more meltdowns, other kinds of overload and trauma responses, as well as isolation (due to not projecting my authentic self to the world) and a lost sense of self and identity (due to being forced to separate from and be ashamed of “undesirable” parts of myself by a society that wouldn’t allow me to bring my whole self to most spaces). Continue reading Assimilate or Be Punished: My Multiply NeuroDivergent School Years – They Called it Bad Behavior; It Was Unmet Needs