Content warning: This blog lightly addresses the current pandemic crisis, and also includes vague references to suicide. Autistic people process and experience emotions differently from allistic people. Every autistic is different, but for me, what that often looks like is that I feel everything very strongly. Negative, or positive, anything I feel is intense. When…
It’s well documented that autistic people are more vulnerable to sexual assault than their neurotypical counterparts. One of many reasons for this, and the topic of this blog post, is an uncertainty about appropriateness of touch. I’ve heard some say this is about sensory processing, but I’d personally say this issue is less about physically processing the…
Hey everyone. This is an updated version of an article I wrote for AutismAfter16 about 6 years ago! I felt it was worth sharing here, so I’ve gone through and tweaked it to my current standards. This is a topic I care about deeply on a very personal level, and it’s so rarely discussed. Let…
Autism 101 / Culture / Media
I’ve been so incredibly busy lately that I’ve really neglected my blog! Apologies to my subscribers; I realize it’s been a ridiculously long time since I’ve published a post. I swear I’m writing, it’s just that my computer is clogged up with a ton of unfinished partial drafts. I’ll come up with an idea, write…
As everyone has probably noticed, the media (both professional and social) has lately been a firestorm of controversy surrounding the politics of consent. I have my own very strong opinions on the overall topic, but I’d like to set all of that aside for now and take a moment to focus on one small aspect…
I have a lot of strong opinions about autism in the media. I sometimes feel like popular media just portrays autism as a stereotype (The Big Bang theory, Rain Man). Other times, when they do get it right, the story isn’t about autism, it’s about ONE autistic individual (The Curious Incident of the Dog in…
I’ve written a few posts about stimming so far (1, 2). I frequently get messages and emails from readers asking after my recommendations for stim toys. Thankfully, the autistic kids of the millennial diagnostic wave are growing up, as is the neurodiversity movement, and we’ve been seeing a huge surge in the mainstream production of…
More than half the letters I get from my readers ask me for help with stimming—be it redirecting unsafe stims, ideas for healthy stimming, or developing sensory coping skills. I’ve decided to create a series of masterposts to serve as a kind of FAQ for these common issues! I’ll be adding onto these continuously over time,…
New York City has been exposure therapy for me in every way. When I first moved here, I took my hometown mentality with me. I was embarrassed of my stims, convinced other people would notice, stare, and ~think things~ about me. As though that mattered. But the city is essentially one big sensory violation. Eventually, I…
I had an epiphany the other night about disability. I was walking to meet my partner at a restaurant. I could feel the familiar unease building; I’m much more anxious meeting someone at a destination than arriving with them. As always, I sent him a text message asking where he was sitting. I wanted to…
In my previous article, Stimming 101, I wrote about autistic stimming as a normal and healthy aspect of autistic identity. While this is most often the case, I want to follow up with a slightly different article, because not all stims are created equal. Sometimes stimming is unhealthy or even dangerous. Parents, caregivers, and autistic…
I apologize for the recent lack of updates. Lately I’ve been working more hours at my job than I used to, and I still haven’t learned how to balance multiple projects at a time. I promise that I will eventually finish writing up my series on neurologically mixed relationships. For now, this shorter post on…
