neurodiversity

coping

i’m having a lot of difficulty at the moment coping with my emotions. i tend to ignore my emotional state to the point until i get overwhelmed and shutdown (or meltdown). this isn’t healthy for me, but i don’t yet have healthy ways of dealing with intense emotions, and there are a lot of those […]

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Passing

I first heard the term “passing” when I discovered other trans people. In the trans community, passing means being seen as the gender you identify as. However, the idea of passing implies that being seen as cisgender (rather than transgender) is the goal for all trans people. Unfortunately, this enforces cis-normativity and continues to alienate […]

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routine

i like routines. they make me feel safe in a world that is usually confusing and confronting. i have a lot of routines and sometimes they involve the behaviour of other people, which are the trickiest routines because i can’t control what others do. this also means i like to do the same thing over […]

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imagination

when asked a question that involves social imagination, i imagine so many possibilities that it’s like my brain short-circuits, and i can’t verbalise any of them.

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focus

i’m often trapped in my own head, not able to focus on the present moment and what i should be doing.

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communication

i realised that a lot of people don’t actually know how to communicate with me if i am non-speaking, so i’m writing this handy guide for communicating with me if i am non-speaking.

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don’t tell me

don’t tell me i’m not autistic. just because i don’t act like your three year old cousin, doesn’t mean that i can’t also be autistic. don’t tell me that i don’t look autistic. i look autistic because i am autistic. it’s not a compliment, it just reminds me of the work that i’m constantly doing […]

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mask

i wish the world was understanding and accepting of autistic behaviours so that i could feel comfortable expressing myself in the ways that come naturally to me. a lot of my issues surrounding being autistic are not the actual impairments that come with my autism, but the responses to my “unusual” behaviour from the people […]

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