Sensory Eating is not Picky Eating

I want you to imagine that you are a kid once again, maybe ten or eleven years old. You are sitting down in the evening with your family for dinner. The table is set, and your parents bring out what will be tonight's entree: a cut of cold, raw chicken breast. It's slimy pink mass …

Think Before you Post – Autistic people deserve consent and privacy too

According to the Miriam Webster online dictionary, “consent” is defined as “compliance in or approval of what is done or proposed by another” or as “a voluntary agreement.” These are simple definitions of a common-knowledge seven letter word. And yet consent is perhaps one of the most important concepts for people of all ages to …

Body in Motion

When I was little my grandpa would call me "Whirling Dervish." It's because I was always spinning around in circles: spinning in place in the yard, spinning while pacing, spinning in my seat, spinning through the air as I skipped. As time has gone on my age has changed and the nickname has lost its …

I’m Back!

That’s right! I’m finally writing a blog post again, after several months of silence! To be fair, the headline is a bit misleading since I never actually went anywhere, I’ve just neglected to post anything here. I’ve been rather busy working on a few different things both personal and related to my advocacy work, not …

Schools are Failing Autistic Students – Here’s a big reason why

Autistic students regularly report experiencing trauma at school. Behaviorism is causing our schools to fail to meet the needs of autistic students.

The Problem with “Mental Age”

One unfortunate way that you'll often see people with developmental disabilities, including autistic people, described is with the concept of mental age. "Oh, they're a ten year old in the body of a twenty-one year old." "My daughter's eleven, but functions as a six year old." "My cousin's legally an adult but is mentally four." …