Barefooting is one of my greatest joys in life. One of my favorite things! To me, bare feet are liberated feet. I can easily walk either on my toes or toe-first, which are delightful ways for me to walk. I love to feel the dirt, carpet, grass, sand, etc underneath my feet. Such a different feeling … Continue reading Barefooting
sensory processing
Internet Ads and Accessibility
In the Twitter #autchat discussion about social media accessibility this week, a topic came up that has been bothering me quite a bit lately. The issue is one of internet ads and the websites that now detect AdBlock and require that the program be turned off (i.e. the website be whitelisted) before anyone can access their … Continue reading Internet Ads and Accessibility
Flashback Friday – Undergarments
TW: Puberty stuff, body image issues, misunderstanding. Underwear has always been a difficult topic for me. It's not the wearing of it that's most problematic, in my case. Rather, the things I find most difficult are other people's attitudes and expectations about underwear. Especially when they want to have a conversation with me about those … Continue reading Flashback Friday – Undergarments
Dentist Follow-Up
I have been to the dentist around 5 times since I sent them my disclosure letter because my teeth were in very bad shape. An excellent autistic-written dentist post I came across earlier today reminded me that it's probably time for a follow-up to write about what's happened since I sent that letter. The people at the dentist's … Continue reading Dentist Follow-Up
Grocery Store Meltdown
This is a long post. Most of it was written the morning after the incident that precipitated my meltdown. It is now several days since that happened, but I'm keeping the wording mostly the same. My meltdowns seem to be getting rarer and rarer as I get older (a good thing!), so I won't have as … Continue reading Grocery Store Meltdown
Being Believed
Now that I'm an adult, people sometimes believe me about my sensory issues. I wish they'd believed me as a child. I wish that I hadn't gone through decades of not-knowing that everyone else didn't feel and experience the world the way I did. It still shocks me when I'm believed by other people. I … Continue reading Being Believed
Autistic Disclosure
Telling people I'm autistic is something that I've definitely gotten better at doing since last August when I received my official diagnosis. I've been extremely open about being autistic in my local writing community and haven't hesitated to tell people who know me well in real life aside from a few family members whom I … Continue reading Autistic Disclosure
Requesting Support – Dentist Edition
One of the other things that occupied me last month, which I completely forgot to even mention in my Updating post was figuring out how to ask for some extra support at the dentist. To sum up a bit before delving into the whole story: I ended up writing an email. I'm putting the entire email I sent to … Continue reading Requesting Support – Dentist Edition
Flashback Friday – My Lost Stuffed Dog
Photo description: white 1980s era stuffed dog peeking out of a red backpack with blue trim. I'd had my stuffed dog for as long as I could remember. He was my constant companion nearly everywhere I went. He comforted me when I was upset and slept with me every single night. He was my very … Continue reading Flashback Friday – My Lost Stuffed Dog
Flashback Friday – The Balloon
I was reminded this week of an incident that happened when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. It was a lovely fall or spring day in the Deep South, USA and we were having PE/Gym class outside. We first ran around the track, an exercise for which I did not care at all, and … Continue reading Flashback Friday – The Balloon
Mamautistic 