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
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Evaluating Autism Parenting Books
Otherwise entitled: "How can a desperate parent tell when a book about parenting an Autistic child will be helpful vs harmful?" (with a short detour to start with) https://twitter.com/mamautistic36/status/972198323770753024 I'm an Autistic parent. I've never found a lack of understanding for parents in general from the Autistic community. Just a lack of understanding for parents … Continue reading Evaluating Autism Parenting Books
Autism Parent Meeting – Tragedy, Mourning, and Divorce
I'm finally pulling my thoughts together a bit more regarding the Autism Parent Meeting I attended a while back. CW: Ableism, autism parents (usually non-Autistic parents of Autistic children who tend towards wanting to "fix" their children), tragedy rhetoric, temporary abandonment, and verbal abuse. The narrative, over all, was one of tragedy and upset. Many … Continue reading Autism Parent Meeting – Tragedy, Mourning, and Divorce
One Year of Blogging
I completely missed the actual day of my diagnosis anniversary earlier this month 😦 But today is the anniversary of when I started blogging here! This is going to be a recap of the year type of post, I think, looking at my life post-diagnosis. Being part of the online Autistic Community has helped my … Continue reading One Year of Blogging
Autism and Disability
While taking a break from writing about that horrid autism parent meeting, I realized the other day that it took me until my 99th blog post here to use the word "disabled" or "disability" - so that's been on my mind and there's clearly some stuff to unpack there.. To begin with, I'm not one … Continue reading Autism and Disability
Flashback Friday – Depression
TW: depression, eating disorder, self-harm, sexual assault (very brief mention), and suicidal thoughts/actions. CW: Higher education, therapy. My first official psychological diagnosis was Major Depression nearly 15 years ago. I was in college and, although I'd been extremely excited about attending college at first, my experience had rapidly gone downhill ever since I'd first arrived … Continue reading Flashback Friday – Depression
Uniqueness and Late-Diagnosis
I've heard it said by allistics (non-Autistics) that people who are late-diagnosed Autistic just "want to be unique" or "think we're special." This is sometimes even theorized as the reason we go in to be evaluated as adults. Let's ignore the fact that many of us struggled, floundered, and failed for many years before gaining … Continue reading Uniqueness and Late-Diagnosis
An Unexpected April Disclosure
In my defense, I thought I could handle it. I firmly believe that we should not need to disclose our Autistic status in order to be taken seriously when we pass along the words of other Autistics. So, I reasoned, I'd post things for April and just elevate other Autistic voices. It seemed like a great … Continue reading An Unexpected April Disclosure
Messing Up Such a Simple Thing
Sometimes I'll be going along, doing fairly well, and then I'll mess up again. In a big way. Patterns in my life often emerge from new situations and experiences because they aren't really new. These are things that have been happening my entire life, but that I never had the ability to describe or explain … Continue reading Messing Up Such a Simple Thing
Autistic Disclosure – Parenting Edition
It is my strong belief that Autistic children need to be involved in and have a say* regarding when, how, and who gets told that they're Autistic. For more information about my parenting philosophy, which has heavily influenced my perspective on this issue, please see this post. Now, I understand that there are some situations … Continue reading Autistic Disclosure – Parenting Edition
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