Speaking of Autism… 2021 Year in a Review

Set off the fireworks, everyone! Happy New Year!

And of course, it’s time for another Year in a Review, where I’ll list the ten most-read posts from 2021 so that anyone who happens to find this page can go see what all the buzz is about.

But first, I have a couple announcements to make, one exciting, and one more grounded.

To start with the exciting news, I am ready to finally announce an official release date for my upcoming book Shake it Up! How to be young, autistic, and make an impact. Completing the manuscript for Shake it Up! was probably my biggest achievement of 2021, and I am very excited to be bringing such resource to the world to inspire the next generation of young autistic advocates. Around this time last year, I had estimated that Shake it Up! would be released sometime in late 2021 to early 2022. What I didn’t know when I made those estimates was that publishing companies don’t just shove a book out the door as fast as they can once production is completed; instead they do a market assessment and pick a specific window to release the book in to maximize sales. So Shake it Up! will see a summer 2022 release, specifically, the second week of July. But this is an official release date, not a guesstimate, so mark your calendars! Follow this blog or its associated social media pages for updates, and when the time comes you can order your copy at jkp.com. If pre-ordering becomes available, I will announce that as well.

And now for the second bit of news, I have something a bit more personal and local. There was recently a devastating wildfire that destroyed a good portion of the northwest Denver metro area parts of the Boulder metro area in Colorado. 1,000+ plus families are spending new years without a home due to the Marshall Fire, which has turned out to be the most destructive fire in Colorado history in terms of property damage. Entire neighborhoods ablaze. Such an event is unprecedented, as though wildfires are very common in Colorado they tend to occur in isolated parts of the mountains and only threaten a handful of homes. This fire devastated a suburban area, and so has impacted many more lives. It is also highly unusual to see a fire of this magnitude in December, but was a product of the incredibly dry winter we’ve had so far. There was an unspoken consensus among Denver-area residents that living near the city meant safety from wildfires. This unfortunately has proven not to be the case.

Thankfully my family and I live in a different part of the Denver metro area, and the fire was roughly ten miles from us at its peak. I do however have former high school classmates who had to evacuate, and some are likely still unsure whether or not their homes survived the blaze. No matter where in the world you live, your thoughts and prayers are appreciated. If you are in the area and need assistance, since we are local and I know a few readers who live in the Denver/Boulder area, my family and I would like to extend a personal invitation for help if you need it. Please email me and we will see what we can do.

So with those bits of news out of the way, it’s time for the list. The ten most-viewed posts of 2021:

1. Sensory Eating is not Picky Eating
2. This April, go #RedInstead for Autism Acceptance!
3. Why You Should Not Support Autism Speaks
4. Task Initiation, Executive Functioning, and Autistic Inertia
5. The Double Empathy Problem – A Paradigm Shift in Thinking About Autism
6. Understanding Shutdowns and Autism
7. Why I can’t remember your name as an autistic person.
8. The Fallacy of Functioning Labels
9. Embrace all of your interests!
10. Understanding Meltdowns and Autism

I wish everyone a very loving, happy, and safe 2022, and I hope that wherever you are and whatever your situation is, the next year will be better.

Golden fireworks spell out “2022” across a dark-blue smoky night sky. Image labeled for fair use.