The Highs and Lows of Functionality

I want to talk about my relationship with the functionality of Autism. This is not based on research. This is not based on how I compare myself to other autistic people, and how we fit on some imaginary scale of usefulness. This is just about me. I don't like the term High Functioning. Perhaps it's …

Autscriptic

You don't look autistic. Yes I do. You don't act autistic though. Yes I do. Yeah, but you're not like "properly" autistic. Yes I am. You can make eye contact. Yes I can. You don't flap all the time. I do at birds. You flap at birds? I flap at birds. Why do you flap …

From Brilliant to Mediocre

I used to be special. I used to be an interesting neurotypical and now I'm an everyday autistic. I'm not original after all. All those actions. All those ways of being that marked me as an oddity. All those things that both attracted and repelled people in equal measure. All those idiosyncrasies, all my inspiration, …

Me and Disability

I've been disabled my whole life. I just didn't know it. As I tell people about my Autism diagnosis, I reassure them that nothing about me is any different. In some ways that's true. My brain has always worked the way it does now. In some ways it's not. I will now work within my …

Putting the Me in Social Media

I'm not good at this. I'm putting that out there. I'm not good at social media. I'd like to blame the period I grew up in. Just before social media was huge, but not so long before, that I get a free pass from understanding it all. I love technology. I love computers. I love …

You shall not pass!

  I've been thinking a lot about the invisibility of autistic adults. We see a lot of focus on autistic children, and getting them to adulthood with the skills they will need. And about parents of autistic children, and what they should do, and how they can be supported. These things are important. But it …

Awareness is dead. Long live Awareness

So it's over. April and Awareness and Autism are long gone. We've all grown as people and now we can get on with our lives, safe in the knowledge that we have done our duty and made the world a better place. This was my first Autism Awareness day/week/month as a diagnosed autistic person. That's …

Making adjustments for autism can be as easy as honesty

Lots of autistic people are already making many adjustments to fit in with the rest of you. To stop you from feeling uncomfortable. To stop you from noticing us. To keep us all safe from the shadow of "difference". Why are we the ones making adjustments? Because majority defines normality. That's the only reason. It's …

Ode to autism

I’m a Bloody Bunyip! (You may have to bear with me for this one)

When I was little I had a book about a Bunyip. It was a wonderfully illustrated book about this strange feathered and furred creature, that emerged from a muddy Billabong one night and went around asking everyone it could find, "What am I? What am I?" It wandered, shunned and alone. Told it was a …