Women – To Aspie or Not to Aspie

Finding Balance: How an Autism Diagnosis Helped Me Be a Better Mom

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 ourContinue reading “Finding Balance: How an Autism Diagnosis Helped Me Be a Better Mom”

Autistic Women and Facial Expressions

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. ForContinue reading “Autistic Women and Facial Expressions”

But Everyone is a Little Autistic, Right?

If everyone is a little autistic, then wouldn’t it be the norm?

Autism, Depression, and Interacting in a Neurotypical World

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. SinceContinue reading “Autism, Depression, and Interacting in a Neurotypical World”

I’m NOT Fine, Thank You. How are You?

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 thisContinue reading “I’m NOT Fine, Thank You. How are You?”

What Does Identity Language Choice Mean for an Autistic?

Is LinkedIn promoting its polling feature? I must have missed the memo. All I see as I scroll through LinkedIn these days are polls. Polls about leadership and jobs and benefits. Polls about inclusion and interviews and, well, it turns out you can make a poll about any topic. Just scroll through your LinkedIn feed;Continue reading “What Does Identity Language Choice Mean for an Autistic?”

Autistic Employees and Workplace Social Skills

Just like most things in our society, we’ve structured the employment process around neurotypical social skills. Unfortunately, autistic social skills do not align with these expectations. It’s disheartening to read in Forbes that “a staggering 50-75% of the 5.6 million autistic adults in the U.S. are unemployed or underemployed.” As an autistic, I know howContinue reading “Autistic Employees and Workplace Social Skills”

Why Don’t They Believe I’m Autistic?

My gynecologist said it first. But she was not the last. Everyone I discuss my diagnosis with has a similar response: “You don’t look autistic.” What do people expect to see when they look at an autistic person? Autism is so integral to who I am that their disbelief is hurtful. I was diagnosed withContinue reading “Why Don’t They Believe I’m Autistic?”

What’s In a Name? Asperger’s vs. Autism

Humans have fluid identities. The names or labels we use influence how we see ourselves and our place in the world. We build our experiences, emotions, and communities around those labels. As new labels are added to our lives, we reevaluate our identities to incorporate our new understanding. This process happens after an autism spectrumContinue reading “What’s In a Name? Asperger’s vs. Autism”