“How do I get an autistic person to X?” – You’re asking the wrong question.

I remember my fourth grade year of school, when I was about ten years old, as being one of my most difficult years in school. I had just moved schools from my local public elementary school to a magnet school a bit farther away, as we thought it would fit me better. This new school …

Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2019

Today, Friday, May 17th, is the last day of Neurodiversity Celebration Week. This was an initiative created by award-winning autism advocate and online friend of mine Siena Castellon of Quantum Leap Mentoring. It is an initiative to hopefully get people to celebrate neurodiversity - the idea that variations in how people's brains are wired, like autism, ADHD, …

On Invisible Barriers – Perspective Matters

Too often, people make the mistake of underestimating how much a disability, and this is particularly true for hidden disabilities, actually impact a person's ability to do fairly basic everyday things. As part of this, it is often assumed that just because a person can do something, that this means they have no trouble with it and …

Moving Beyond Autism Awareness

We're just about halfway through April now. As you may be aware, the month of April is often a very stressful time for many autistic people, due to the fact that April is "Autism Month." This stress of course comes somewhat from the fact that we tend not to like all kinds of attention forced …

To the Parents of a Newly Diagnosed Autistic Child…

Dear, Parent, Presumably, if you are reading this it is because your child has recently been diagnosed with autism. Firstly, before you read any further, I want you to take a deep breath and relax for a minute. Take a few minutes to listen to what I have to say. There are probably a number …

Why You Should Not Support Autism Speaks

Well, here we are. "Autism Awareness Month." The time of year in which talks about autism will permeate well into the public consciousness. One of the larger organizations you will see leading the charge this month is one called Autism Speaks. This is rather unfortunate, as Autism Speaks is a charity that is loathed by the autistic …

Understanding Auditory Sensitivities in Autistic People – It’s not just about volume!

"Autistic people hear everything at the same volume." Have any of you ever heard this?   This statement is one I hear a lot, generally as a quick oversimplified explanation of one of the ways in which autistic people experience the world differently. I've long been turning this statement around in my head, dissecting it to …

This April, go #RedInstead for Autism Acceptance!

Coming up on April 2nd is "World Autism Day," couched in what some people have designated as "Autism Awareness Month." Unfortunately, for many autistic people, April has become a month of anxiety due to the darker sides of the "awareness" that is often pushed. There will be "autism walks," wear blue days at schools and …