An autistic speaks about living with autism.
There are very few things that I'd change about myself. I'm pretty comfortable with myself. That is not the case, however, for my sleeping patterns. I have really really bad insomnia. It comes and goes, occasionally I'll have a few nights where I can sleep without any problems, but a lot of the time I … Continue reading Sleeplessness and Night-Time Anxiety
I am incredibly lucky, privileged, and blessed to have so many amazing talents. I am a gifted writer and, as I recently learned, pretty good at giving presentations too. I've been told I'm doing a good job helping people better understand autism. Plus, I have the gift of an amazing memory, especially given things I'm … Continue reading Don’t let my talents discredit my challenges.
"Beneath every behavior is a feeling. And beneath every feeling is a need. And when we meet that need rather than focus on the behavior, we begin to deal with the cause and not the symptom." - Psychologist Ashleigh Warner I used to have daily meltdowns. There was a time in early elementary school where … Continue reading Understanding Meltdowns and Autism
Pretty soon, I'm going back to school for the last time before I am an adult. It's the start of my senior year of high school, and by the end of the year I will have completed the journey of public education that I began thirteen years ago. For essentially as long as I remember, … Continue reading Unintended Consequences of School Rules – How you may be hurting your autistic students and not even know it.
Relatively recently, I was having a pretty basic discussion on Facebook about accessibility accommodations that can be useful for autistic kids, and those that have been useful for me. It was going alright, until someone who wasn't originally part of the discussion replied to me saying (this is a paraphrase, not an exact quote) "You … Continue reading Yes, autism is a disability… and that’s OK!
Autism is known for having a ton of co-occurring conditions that can go along with it, many of which are significantly more common in autistic people. For example, 80% of autistic people have an anxiety disorder. 30% of autistic people have some sort of seizure disorder. I don't have specific data on these next points, … Continue reading PSA: Stop Conflating Co-Occurring Conditions With Autism
The autism world is full of statistics. People love to talk about prevalence rates, and correlations, and the percentage of autistics that can do this that or the other. It can get a little obsessive at times, though it never fails to bring forth all sorts of interesting data. There is, however, one autism statistic … Continue reading 40%? Think Again!
