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A Personalized Approach: Three Portraits of Incorporating Neurodiversity in Life Skills Programming for Autism
inA woman sits at a table with a thick sheet of paper and a photograph of a landscape, drawing the scene in confident, hard strokes. A man measures out his ingredients, careful to get the exact measurement. A woman steps forward on stage, dancing with the music and singing out to the audience. Each...
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Authentic Strength-Based Practice: Can Neurotypical Professionals Make a Paradigm Shift?
When I talk about my work, it is not about understanding autism from a neurodiverse perspective. That is not for me to do. I am not autistic. I have learned immensely from my partnerships and interactions with autistic individuals. Autistic self-advocates should be leading the way, compensated as...
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Corporate Neurodiversity Hiring Programs: Scratching the Surface?
In 2010, neurodiversity hiring program, Integrate Autism Employment Advisors (“Integrate”, originally known as The Asperger Syndrome Training & Employment Partnership), was started to engage Fortune 1000 companies in hiring autistic college graduates. In March 2013, SAP announced that it...
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Autism, Neurodiversity and Employment: Working Together for Positive Futures
Autistic people are confronted with an array of barriers in many situations throughout their life. These situations centralise around what general society expects of all people, a one size fits all model, without the distinct consideration of disability, difference and inclusion. With the added...
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Navigating Neurodiverse Relationships: Disclosure and Self-Advocacy
If you are an adult who has had a longstanding diagnosis of ASD or a newly diagnosed individual, then you probably grapple with these ongoing decisions: If and when to disclose your diagnosis to others The pros versus the cons of disclosure How to go about sharing this information with...
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Neurodiversity – The New Normal
Over the years, many terms have been used to describe the various neurological conditions that result in developmental, cognitive and behavioral disorders. In the early days of diagnosis and treatment, diagnosis’ ranged from relatively neutral terms like Hyperkinetic Impulse Disorder, (Kimberly...
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Stuck Between Two Worlds: Having a Brain that is Half Autistic and Half Neurotypical
We often talk of Neurodiversity in terms of a binary between Autistic and Neurotypical when in reality it is much more complicated. We all know Autism exists on a spectrum but commonly assume if someone is on the spectrum, they are one side of a binary line, regardless of where they fall on the...
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The Importance of Communication in Neurodiverse Relationships
Neurodiverse relationships, in which one or both partners are on the autism spectrum, can be among the strongest partnerships. However, neurological differences present unique challenges, particularly related to communication in neurodiverse relationships. Partners may report feeling as though they...
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Neurology Matters in Couples Therapy – and Training is Now Available
“Working with neurodiverse couples is more complicated than neurotypical couples. In order to help the couple work as a unified team, the therapist first has to help the partners understand each other’s neurological differences. The therapist has to understand each partner’s unique language...
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Prognosis? The Sky’s the Limit
When I published my first memoir in January, I expected to receive a fair amount of feedback from readers. I didn’t know what my readers would say, exactly, but I assumed that, for the most part, their responses would be positive. I imagined that people would write to me and offer such opinions...
