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“Autism Class”: Teaching Students in K-12 Autism Schools About Who They Are
The new student looks understandably full of questions. "Hi!" I say, intentionally gregarious. "What's your name?" Which we exchange...I then give them a sly facial expression and tone—we autistics are bad at reading non-verbal communication, but we usually live long enough to learn a thing...
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The Transition to Adulthood: Bridging Skill Gaps to Strengthen Community Inclusion
For autistic individuals, the transition to adulthood represents a pivotal developmental period filled with both potential and uncertainty. While for the most part, adolescence through special education programs often comes with robust educational supports and structured services, adulthood...
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From Dissertation to Destination: Navigating the Post-PhD Transition to Employment
Have you had a dream where you wake up and realize you’ve overslept and are missing your exam? Where you scramble to leave home, sprint to school, and futilely run down an empty corridor to an exam that’s done? That’s how I feel right now, but I’m not dreaming and, though the situation...
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The Other Side of Autism: Intense World Theory
Social difficulties in autism are usually attributed to poor theory of mind. That’s not always the case. In my early thirties, I was diagnosed with what was then known as Asperger’s syndrome. Like many on the spectrum who receive a diagnosis late in life, this was something of a revelation,...
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At the Intersection of Autism and Gender Diversity: Supporting Neuro-Gender Queer Youth
Gender-diverse and neurodiverse youth share more than just the word ‘diverse.’ These groups are not mutually exclusive populations but instead have considerable overlap. Estimates of the co-occurrence of neurodiversity and gender diversity vary. However, some research suggests that autistic...
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Fostering Safety and Stability for Autistic Adults During the Transition from College to Career
For many young adults, the shift from college to career is a time of excitement and possibility. But for autistic adults, it can also bring a unique set of challenges, especially when systems of support that existed in educational settings begin to fall away. Without intentional planning,...
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From Exclusion to Belonging: Confronting Stigma Through Disability Education in Schools
Today’s classrooms are more neurodiverse than ever before. In the U.S., over 15% of public school students receive special education services (National Center for Education Statistics, 2024), and many more have diverse learning profiles that go unrecognized. Schools have made strides in...
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Autistic Lived Experience: My Government Is Waging War on Me and on My Community
Not that there has ever been a good time to be autistic, considering how society has pathologized us for decades now because of our differences, though to be autistic and living today in the USA has been particularly punishing in light of the current administration's toxic rhetoric about us and...
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Challenge of Being an Autistic Higher Education Teacher in Brazil
This article discusses the challenge of including autistic teachers in higher education in Brazil, highlighting the scarcity of people diagnosed with autism working as university professors. In addition to these scarce university professors with autism, the first author of the article has the same...
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Empathy through Film: Annual Disability Film Festival at Pace University Engages Non-Autistic Students
Colleges do not contribute enough education about autistics. Films about autistics can be effective, however, in impactful learning for non-autistic students. Pace University is doing this by engaging non-autistic students through an annual Celebration of People with Disabilities in Art, Films and...
