So it’s done! I completed my MRes (masters in research degree) in September and should get my final result sometime next week. It has been HARD! The modules in research design and methodology, philosophy of science, mixed methods, interdisciplinary methods and public health all stretched me out of my comfort zone. But the individual research project I took on? Rewarding, emotional, validating, illuminating and EXHAUSTING! It’s no wonder that I have been ill since my hand-in week (oh the irony!) I am super proud of the result though and would like to tell you about it. Are you sitting comfortab ..read more

Years ago, when I explained to a friend that written words would vibrate and float around she told me that it was a common dyslexic issue. I was surprised as I’d been a fluent reader long before I started school, tested as having a reading age of 13 when I was 7, and was a voracious reader throughout my teens, often reading a book each night until doing an English Literature A level made me lose my love of books for a while. Writing was also easy. I looked into it. I’m not dyslexic. However… I have always described my reading style as staring at a passage, catching the words like fish into a n ..read more

“Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualised patterns or verbal non-verbal behaviour (e.g. extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat food every day).” from the DSM-5 criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder So here’s a thing that I think not many people understand about the majority of autistic people (not all – we autistic folk are as individual as anyone else) and that’s how change can affect us. Most people now recognise that new routines, changes of pace and transition ..read more

This afternoon is one of those afternoons. A cacophony of the oven, washing machine, lawnmowers, birds, someone’s TV, dogs barking, planes overhead, neighbours talking, shouting, swearing, belching hurt my ears but my headphones feel too hot and tight. The light is both too bright and too dim; if I try to read a book then the words jump around; if I close my eyes geometric patterns swirl menacingly across my eyelids. Even writing this is tricky – every word looks like it should have a red wriggly line underneath it. My joints feel cold and greasy. My skin hot and gritty. I am hungry, nauseous ..read more