A favorite talking point of some folks on the internet is that self-diagnosis of autism by Autistic adults isn't valid. On the surface, this seems like a somewhat reasonable position to take. After all, there are professionals who are trained in how to know whether someone is Autistic or not. What could be the harm … Continue reading The Illogic of Expecting Autistic Adults to be #DiagnosedAutistic
Autism Issues
Not Talking, Insert More Title Here
Words have been difficult again for a long time. In my mind I can often make the words, but then they won't come out or when they do come out it's not how I intended them to. So I've been rethinking about talking at all. The fact is that I do better when I don't … Continue reading Not Talking, Insert More Title Here
Interests and What Playing the Sims Taught Me About their Importance
(I've been trying a new writing style lately, not sure how it's going to work, but it's been interesting!) Something big occurred to me last night. This was one of those realizations that can change paradigms. I realized that we, just like Sims, get really sad and tense and frustrated when we don’t get to … Continue reading Interests and What Playing the Sims Taught Me About their Importance
Autistic Parenting in Public
I wrote a parenting twitter thread today. The issue of public parenting came up and I have some issues with how our society views small children in public as well as generally, so I tweeted about how I handled the issue of parenting publicly with small (mostly Autistic) children, as an Autistic parent myself. The … Continue reading Autistic Parenting in Public
Liars are Illusions or How Gaslighting Leads to Meltdowns
All week I've been mulling over how lying (either to or about me) is one of the fastest ways for someone else to bring me to a state of meltdown. I considered why that might be the case and then came across a perceptive tweet regarding another liar, the father in the #PuppetGate play, which … Continue reading Liars are Illusions or How Gaslighting Leads to Meltdowns
Reckoning with Last Year’s Abuse
I'm going to write about something that feels shameful, but I'm not going to let the feeling of shame stop me from speaking out. Because I know I'm not the only Autistic person this has been done to. This isn't even the first time I've had it done to me, which adds to the feeling … Continue reading Reckoning with Last Year’s Abuse
That Fleeing Feeling
I started thinking about writing this post soon after my child had almost died in the hospital and I was routinely having meltdowns like clockwork every single week. By about two weeks after my child nearly died my weekly meltdowns had morphed into twice-weekly meltdowns -- Tuesdays and Thursdays, every single one. I was in … Continue reading That Fleeing Feeling
Internalized Ableism, Others, and Reassurances
Honestly, I've not given all that much thought to internalized ableism. I've read about it, yes. I've even written a little bit about it, but it has never topped my list of "things I need to personally work on." Until now. It has, rather abruptly, come to my attention that I have internalized way more … Continue reading Internalized Ableism, Others, and Reassurances
“Needing Structure” — What Does That Mean?
Re: Autistic people (especially children) and structure -- Based on my own experiences and those of other Autistic people with whom I've conversed about this issue, it's not usually structure or schedules, per se (on their own), that help us the most. Yet predictability can be an important support for us, especially when we're children. … Continue reading “Needing Structure” — What Does That Mean?
Just Do It! Or Not.
There's a lot of motivational speak out there that encourages just doing the thing (usually it's the exercise-related ones I see most often) if you don't want to. Generally speaking, that's probably good advice. I don't often want to do various things around the house or to take care of myself, but life is generally … Continue reading Just Do It! Or Not.
Mamautistic 