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Life Through an Autistic Lens: My Fear of Growing Old Without Financial Stability
I deeply feel time speeding by. The years speeding by. And it viscerally terrifies me. Because with each passing day, my fear over my future grows. It gets increasingly real. At the heart of my fear is this one question: Will I have enough money to be able to live independently for as...
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Financial Awareness for Autistic Individuals: A Practical Guide to Safer Digital Participation
Shortly before Christmas 2022, I needed extra cash. I owned a varsity football jacket that I seldom wore and posted it for sale on Facebook Marketplace. My ad received little attention, until December 24th when someone inquired about it. He needed a last-minute gift for a friend he was going...
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Autistic Personal Philosophy: Regarding Equity and Equality
Both of these terms are of critical importance to the establishment and enforcement of those rules, regulations, and laws of ours with social justice implications, though one of them often wins out when the other should. The consequences, particularly for members of marginalized segments of the...
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Beyond a Minute: Changing Our Perspective Towards Autism Takes Time
A few months ago, an educator working in the field of autism shared a video titled Nazar Ka Fark (Difference in perspective). It was promoted with a powerful message: watch this one-minute video and see how your life changes. I watched it. As the father of a 17-year-old son on the autism...
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I Was 63 When I Learned I Was Autistic. Suddenly, My Entire Life Made Sense
When I was a little girl, I often played alone. While other children instinctively understood the social dance of the playground, I hovered at the edges, unsure of the rules. Teachers described me as bright but socially awkward. Report cards noted that I did not always "play well with peers." I...
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Designing for the Gap, Not the Child: What Changes When Assistive Technology Asks the Adult to Learn
My younger cousin was six when I understood the problem I would spend the next two years working on. He was upset about something that had happened in the next room, and the adults who loved him most — his parents and me — stood around him running a checklist. Was he hungry. Was he tired. Was...
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Expressing Gratitude: Using Your IRA to Make Gifts to Charity
If you are charitably inclined and you qualify under the IRS rules, you might be able to implement a technique using your IRA. If you are at least 70½ years old with a traditional IRA, you can direct your IRA custodian to donate up to $111,000 by December 31, 2026, in the form of a check directly...
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Life Through an Autistic Lens: No Turning Back
There is an order to all things I do. To how things must be done. I start at the beginning and end at the end. I move in one direction. For instance, when you go somewhere, you must go straight there. Backtracking is not permitted. Detours are not permitted. They break the law. If you...
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When AI Functions as an Autism Support
When I was a child, I spent hours with action figures. I was especially obsessed with Dragon Ball Z. I did not simply reenact episodes. The characters developed relationships, conflicts, histories, and entire stories in my head. Scenes continued long after I put the toys away. For years,...
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Why Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is Resonating with Neurodivergent Audiences
(Warning: This article contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Brand New Day.") Something was fitting about seeing Spider-Man: Brand New Day at a packed 7:30 a.m. screening in Brooklyn (yes, I said a.m.). As the lights went down, I wasn't just watching Peter Parker – I was watching New York. And,...
