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Pushing the boulder up the hill: How Autistic advocates and academics are changing ‘autism’ research
Academia is being dragged up by autistic people not just within academia but also within social media. There are a growing number of Autistic led organisations which are involved in policy and educating Autistic and non-Autistic people, including Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), NeuroClastic and Aucademy. Blog and article writing, activism and advocacy is just…
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A short Q&A for Autism Acceptance Month
I was asked these questions as part of a bigger project and thought I would share here too. How has being diagnosed as autistic impacted on your life? Being formally diagnosed has allowed me to understand myself and to put into place things which help me. It has given me the validation and permission I…
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My thoughts on Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism
Content warning: eating disorder, mental health, sexual abuse, rape, self harm, suicide ideation, institutionalisation and ableism. Christine McGuinness shares an intimate look at her journey to Autistic realisation and the wider implications for Autistic women and girls who are going under the radar. She said she: “was really nervous about doing a documentary that was…
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When living authentically isn’t safe: Autistic, trans and OCD
This is the transcript from my OCD Family Podcast: When living authentically isn’t safe. Listen to S1E30 Part IV here. Nicole: Whoa, welcome back to the OCD family podcast and I am just so excited to introduce our guest today Katie Munday, they are late diagnosed autistic person with OCD and ADHD. You can catch…
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The New Normal audiobook review
I have had the pleasure to listen to Emergent Divergence audiobook The New Normal: Autistic musings on the threat of a broken society. It is perhaps more poignant and powerful when listened to than simply read. The narrator Christopher Harper-Cox brings something to the reading with his deep resonance. The audio version brings to life…
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Understanding Autistic friendships
Friendships have always been something I have struggled with, I have always been more ‘in to’ the person than they are me. I used to put so much of myself into my connections that when things ended it felt heartbreaking. I was basing friendships off TV shows like Friends and Fraser – that friends should…
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My thoughts on BBC’s Inside Our Autistic Minds
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Autistic Shielding: Being authentic is a privilege
Cw: racism, violence, murder, police brutality. Autistic Shielding is not a tool or headstate that we can all obtain in our current world. A lot of us fear being our authentic Autistic selves for many reasons. We can be vulnerable people due to our trusting nature and differences in reading social interactions. Add intersecting identities…
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Stories from across the “double rainbow”: trans and non-binary Autistic narratives [plain language summary]
![Stories from across the “double rainbow”: trans and non-binary Autistic narratives [plain language summary]](https://autisticltd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/326971808_911532346534071_2847542650747188154_n.jpg)
In my research I spoke to 13 trans and / or non-binary Autistic people (people said to live under the double rainbow of neurodivergence and queerness). I wanted to know about their lives, what they thought about representation and their recommendations for double rainbow research. It was important for me to do this work as…
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Autistic shielding: reclaiming my weird
As I have written before, Autistic shielding involves being authentic in our Autistic embodiment (What is Autistic shielding?). This allows us to turn away intolerant people and find our neurokin. My Autistic embodiment involves an uncontrollably expressive face, singing the same jingle or song over and over, talking to myself, narrating all my daily activities,…