One aspect of autism that I find particularly interesting is that it’s almost always a package deal, a nifty little giftbox filled with little quirks and tied up with a bow. What I mean by this is that autistic people almost always have co-occurring conditions and diagnoses in addition to autism, and frequently it’s these co-occurring conditions (rather than autism itself) that makes living a challenge for autistic people. In fact, co-occurring conditions are so common with autism that these conditions are often erroneously conflated with autism in a fallacy called diagnostic overshadowing, wh ..read more

Hello, dear readers! I am very excited to announce that my book Shake it Up! How to be young, autistic, and make an impact was released just yesterday and is now available for purchase. I am so very excited to finally see this book, after multiple years in the making, finally be released to the world. I hope that this book will make a huge difference in the autistic community and will go a long way in inspiring the next generation of autistic advocates. What is Shake it Up? Shake it Up! is a first-of-its-kind advocacy guide written specifically for autistic teens and young adults. Because of ..read more

It’s March 1st, which means it’s once again the International Disability Day of Mourning. This is a day dedicated to mourning the losses of disabled people who were murdered, usually by parents or caregivers, because of their disability. It’s a solemn day for the disability community, and should be a solemn day for anybody who knows what it is. I know I’ve been pretty quiet on here lately (I’ve a super busy patch at the moment), but I intend to keep my promise of publishing the names of people murdered just because they were autistic in the last year. Grim, I know. But I want to keep memoriali ..read more

Set off the fireworks, everyone! Happy New Year! And of course, it’s time for another Year in a Review, where I’ll list the ten most-read posts from 2021 so that anyone who happens to find this page can go see what all the buzz is about. But first, I have a couple announcements to make, one exciting, and one more grounded. To start with the exciting news, I am ready to finally announce an official release date for my upcoming book Shake it Up! How to be young, autistic, and make an impact. Completing the manuscript for Shake it Up! was probably my biggest achievement of 2021, and I am very exc ..read more

According to the Miriam Webster online dictionary, “consent” is defined as “compliance in or approval of what is done or proposed by another” or as “a voluntary agreement.” These are simple definitions of a common-knowledge seven letter word. And yet consent is perhaps one of the most important concepts for people of all ages to grasp. Consent is a fundamental guiding principle regarding how we treat other people, forms the basis for many ethical standards, and is something that I believe all people should be taught from a young age as something that applies to all interpersonal interactions a ..read more

When I was little my grandpa would call me “Whirling Dervish.” It’s because I was always spinning around in circles: spinning in place in the yard, spinning while pacing, spinning in my seat, spinning through the air as I skipped. As time has gone on my age has changed and the nickname has lost its grasp, but the movements have not. My body almost always wants to be in motion. I need to pace, to jump, to spin, and to skip. Sometimes I’m literally all over the place. I’m really big on pacing, and I’m pacing just about all the time, including in public places like in stores and waiting rooms and ..read more

That’s right! I’m finally writing a blog post again, after several months of silence! To be fair, the headline is a bit misleading since I never actually went anywhere, I’ve just neglected to post anything here. I’ve been rather busy working on a few different things both personal and related to my advocacy work, not the least of which is finishing up the manuscript for my book. If you don’t happen to be following me on any social media, the manuscript is now complete! Shake it Up! How to be young, autistic, and make a difference (provisional title, but looking like it will become the official ..read more

I turned the piece of glazed ceramic around in my hands a few times, noting the mosaic of colors of the DIY adornment and its distinctive tennis-shoe-print texture. The roughly four centimeter diameter circular piece of painted hardened clay was attached to the end of a piece of string which had been threaded through a half dozen or so multi-colored plastic beads and then tied at the ends into a necklace. What I was holding in my hand was a 1st grade art project, created well-over ten years ago. Our class had rolled clay into a ball and then stepped on it to flatten it. We poked a whole near t ..read more

One unfortunate way that you’ll often see people with developmental disabilities, including autistic people, described is with the concept of mental age. “Oh, they’re a ten year old in the body of a twenty-one year old.” “My daughter’s eleven, but functions as a six year old.” “My cousin’s legally an adult but is mentally four.” This sort of language is used by both professionals and non-professionals alike, and sometimes these sorts of “mental age” assessments are used to make determinations about what sorts of accommodations a person needs or what they will be like to work or interact with ..read more

One of my favorite parts about reading the blogs of my fellow autistic advocates is getting to know them as people. I love reading about their lives, their adventures, and how they overcame the same or similar struggles that I faced. I like reading and getting to throw my hands up in the air and shout “amen” because I know exactly what they’re talking about and couldn’t have put it better myself. I like learning about my fellow autistic peeps and I like making friends. So much for the stereotype of the antisocial autistic, eh? Thing is, I don’t think that I’ve done enough on my own blog to giv ..read more