*This blog post is not parent shaming. It’s critiquing the documentary* This Wednesday on BBC one, there was an incredibly high-profile autism documentary in the UK. Naturally, being an autistic person living here, I was curious but extremely cautious about the documentary. I was cynical before watching it, as autism is frequently misrepresented in the media in a harmful way. Knowing that millions of people would be tuning in, I was very concerned about the message that could be portrayed and how this would impact the general public’s views and consequently autistic people in their daily lives ..read more

Hello everyone, it’s been a while! I’ve realised in the last year I have not posted as frequently on here, this is mainly due to all my time I have for writing is taken up by my debut book “Young, autistic and ADHD” (working title, so TBC) and life being chaotic the last 12 months with moving last summer and having a significant arm break just before Christmas (note to self, never do IKEA flat pack again) on top of working too. However, I have recently co-authored a post on my friend’s blog Hassaan’s House. Hassaan is a fellow autie and we share our love for the TV show Gavin and Stacey. We no ..read more

It’s a debate that has been going on for decades, more or less since autism has been described as a spectrum. This debate has recently come up again since a recent article was posted about the Autism Europe conference earlier this month ‘It’s time to embrace ‘profound autism’ However, subgrouping can lead down a dangerous path, and why I’m ultimately against subgrouping of autistic people.  But why is subgrouping dangerous? We will have to go back to a dark place in history to reveal the dangers of subgrouping autistic people. In 1940s Vienna, some disabled children with high support need ..read more

I don’t often watch BBC Panorama, however recently a few of their documentaries caught my eye ,as they either relate to my work, my lived experience or both. The 3 Panorama documentaries in particular I’m referring to here are Mental Health: Young lives in Crisis. Undercover Hospital: Patients at risk. Why kids miss school. Autistic people (or close to someone who is autistic) are unlikely to be surprised that young autistic people featured heavily in these documentaries addressing the mental health crisis, abuse in psychiatric wards and children unable to attend school. Mental health and sc ..read more

Hello everyone, it’s been a while! I’ve realised in the last year I have not posted as frequently on here, this is mainly due to all my time I have for writing is taken up by my debut book “Young, autistic and ADHD” (working title, so TBC) and life being chaotic the last 12 months with moving last summer and having a significant arm break just before Christmas (note to self, never do IKEA flat pack again) on top of working too. However, I have recently co-authored a post on my friend’s blog Hassaan’s House. Hassaan is a fellow autie and we share our love for the TV show Gavin and Stacey. We no ..read more

It’s a debate that has been going on for decades, more or less since autism has been described as a spectrum. This debate has recently come up again since a recent article was posted about the Autism Europe conference earlier this month ‘It’s time to embrace ‘profound autism’ However, subgrouping can lead down a dangerous path, and why I’m ultimately against subgrouping of autistic people.  But why is subgrouping dangerous? We will have to go back to a dark place in history to reveal the dangers of subgrouping autistic people. In 1940s Vienna, some disabled children with high support need ..read more

April has always been a difficult time for the autistic community because of autism awareness and acceptance days, weeks or Month (referred to as ‘autism month’ going forward).  To the average person this may seem like a confusing statement, as they assume that this month is for us and “raising awareness” of the issues we can experience. Large scale autism month events and organisations will claim this is their intention. However, the reality is vastly different from the autistic people who dread and endure April as autism month.  Although autism generally gets more attention this ti ..read more

*Please note this is a critique of Simon’s research and published work and not personal character defamation. As I have never met Simon, I cannot comment on his character* Simon Baron-Cohen is arguably one of the biggest names in autism research. Unfortunately, his research has negatively impacted autistic people for several reasons. However, this can be hard to understand as academia can be exclusionary. Therefore, I will try and explain his research problems to a general audience in a more accessible way than academic research.  Before I get into the heavy academic stuff, some of his qu ..read more

Quite often I tend to tweet things in the moment if I feel a strong emotional reaction to it. This isn’t always wise but the nature of my neurodivergence means this happens from time to time. However, recently I tweeted about autistic people suffering from ableism rather than autism itself. Again this was an in the moment tweet where I didn’t realise I was making a generalisation about the entire autistic population with the use of my language. As that wasn’t my intention I deleted the tweet. Although many autistic people on Twitter agreed with me, there are certainly others who disagreed, and ..read more

What is masking? Masking (sometimes known as camouflaging) is when autistic people adapt their behaviour to hide their autistic qualities to fit into a neurotypical world (non-autistic world). Below are some other autistic people’s descriptions of masking.  Mirroring the room, or quietly observing & matching the expression of others. Often it is subconscious, other times it is a conscious effort. It can be as little as smiling to mask anxieties or actively doing what you think is accepted/expected even if it doesn't come naturally. — Aimee (@aimee_speaks) July 2, 2020 Before I kn ..read more