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The Trauma of Relocation: Understanding the Autistic Experience
My military family moved house seven to eight times by the time I turned 8, and 11 times before I was 18. I didn’t yet have a diagnosis of Autism or ADHD, but I was diagnosed with Dyslexia and related learning disabilities at age 7 and had started special education. Then we moved. I don’t...
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Scientific Setbacks: Medical Stigma and Political Interference Threaten Autism Healthcare
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently said many autistic children were “fully functional” and “regressed … into autism when they were 2 years old. And these are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll...
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Through Distorted Lenses: The Unacknowledged Impact of Visual Perception Differences in Autism
“In daily life, seeing is intricately linked to understanding, with (visual objects)…functioning as preferred carriers of meaning and understanding. However, a closer look at visual practices demonstrates that the connection between sight, visual imagery, and understanding and interpreting them...
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Exploring the Overlooked Connections: Sensory Processing Impairments and Communication Challenges in Autism Spectrum Disorders
(Note: “Aspie” is my preferred term for people on the Autism Spectrum) Effective communication is the foundation of strong relationships and personal growth. Sensory and emotional processing disorders affect children on the Autism Spectrum and may persist into adulthood, affecting all...
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Are Therapy and Accommodations Sufficient for Autism Empowerment?
Please note: The terms Aspie, ASD/Neurodivergent, and Autistics will be used to refer to people with Autism. A quick Google search for “supporting” or “empowering” Autistic people brings up pages recounting our impairments and suggested accommodations in education and employment. In the...
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Unspoken Injuries: Supporting Health Professionals Coping With Client Loss
“I was delighted to get my first consultant job working in an in-patient [psychiatric] unit… In my second week, I had my first patient die by suicide. In my third week, I had my second patient die by suicide. In my third month, there was a very distressing…death by suicide on the...
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Autism Gets an Update: A National Autism Strategy for Canadians
Note: While there are many areas of inequity, this article will focus on diagnosis and support services as seen by the Autistic writer living in Ontario, Canada. Autism in Canada One in 66 Canadians is autistic. Collectively, we face numerous challenges to accessing services and supports,...
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Nurturing Comfort: Sensory Processing Through an Autistic Lens
What grates on your nerves? The slurping sound made by an open-mouthed eater or by someone smacking gum and popping bubbles? What about ticking clocks? Or the coworker who repeatedly clicks their pen, ad nauseam? Why do such noises bother autistic people? Maybe it’s because stimuli and sensory...
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Teamwork: Building A Successful Neurodivergent-Neurotypical Marriage
As I sit down to write this, my husband and I just celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. We met through a mutual friend - an ex-boyfriend of mine. Joseph and I had gone our separate ways a few months before I received a phone call from “Caper” (his chosen “call sign”). I was surprised by...
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Autism and the Law: When Trouble Comes Our Way
“I may have the advantage of race and gender. I may be able to stave off a meltdown for a short period. I may try my hardest to comply and be non-threatening, but I’m only ever one misunderstanding or nervous officer away from death. And it may be, in any given encounter, that there’s nothing...
