Do you remember those hearing tests in elementary school? A test administrator would plunk bulky headphones over your ears and ask you to raise your hand every time you heard a sound. I always expected to fail those things but never did. Once my mother asked my doctor to do the test. She was certain…
Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had…and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed. Linda Wooten It’s no secret that working moms have exceptionally high standards placed on them. Society judges us if we give anything less to our children than a stay-at-home in the 1950s. We must justify our…
Facial expressions are a form of non-verbal communication that accompanies a verbal message and can help convey the intent behind the message and the speaker’s emotional state. In short, it rounds out the complete picture for the receiver. And for neurotypicals, a conflict between a person’s words and facial expressions can lead to misunderstandings. For…
The natural communication style for autistics tends to take a straightforward approach. We know what we want to say, and we say it. But there’s more to communicating than words for non-autistics. Words are just one piece of the puzzle, and the non-verbal communication accompanying a verbal message can significantly influence how others interpret the…
Although everyone stims to some degree, it’s necessary for autistics. Stimming helps us regulate our emotions and relieve anxiety. But in the workplace, our stims can distract coworkers – drawing unwanted and unnecessary attention. Not all workplaces are a safe environment for autistics to be our authentic selves. Our social challenges often cause our coworkers…
If everyone is a little autistic, then wouldn’t it be the norm?
My mom often related my childhood reading habits to devouring food. From my mother’s perspective, I was speeding through books as though my eyes were a machine with a conveyer belt tongue feeding me one after another. Convinced I wasn’t actually reading them, she required me to write book reports to prove I retained the…
Along with my autism diagnosis, I received another diagnosis: depression. I don’t remember when I started my personal battle with depression. It always seemed to be there – like those memory balls on Inside Out tinged with the color of emotion. Most of my memories are tinged with blue. It was a constant companion. Since…
As an autistic person, I hate the question, “How are you doing?” When I say that I hate the question, think Grinch-loathes-Whoville-and-Christmas level hate. Seriously, it’s a horrible question. Why haven’t neurotypicals figured this out yet? As most autistics do, I learned about the insanity of this question the hard way. People may ask this…
We all know that interrupting someone is rude. Our parents taught us that. Our teachers taught us that. It’s frustrating to be engrossed in a task or conversation and be interrupted. Just about anyone, neurotypical or neurodivergent, is irritated on some level. I envy the person that can pick up a conversation with, “Now where…