Autistic and Living the Dream

Category: Co-Occurring Conditions

  • My experience of Masking

    My experience of Masking

    These are my experiences so they may not match yours, and that’s okay. There is this idea that we totally lose ourselves in our Autistic masking, as if the person we project is a falacy, a made-up persona that we wear often, and, for some of us, all of the time. Identity, for the most…

  • Living with Seasonal Affective Disorder

    Living with Seasonal Affective Disorder

    Content warning: poor mental health. During the winter (which seems to be an ever-growing season in the UK) I am a husk of myself, a sad, low energy person who wants to crawl into a hole and sleep for a long time. I hate the darkness, the cold, the drab lifeless streets, the wind and…

  • The chaotic mind

    The chaotic mind

    I am Autistic, Attention Hyperactive (see Ditching the Disorder and Deficit) and OCD, that means there is a lot of chaos within me. As an Autistic person I love routine, I thrive when I go to the same places, eat the same food and wear the same clothes. It erases so much anxiety around the unknown.…

  • Autistic and ADHD: Who’s driving this car!?

    Autistic and ADHD: Who’s driving this car!?

    Being Autistic and ADHD, I am in a constant struggle to keep both of these elements of myself content, and sometimes, under control. They’re like young siblings, sometimes they love each other and play along nicely, and the rest of the time it’s pure chaos. My Autistic self wants routine, to eat the same foods…

  • Hyper-organised or ADHD?

    Hyper-organised or ADHD?

    I always thought “there’s no way that I’m ADHD – I’m too organised!” I turn up on time for everything, actually I turn up early for everything (well I did the first 30 years of my life before having my son!). I’ve got everything written down. I’ve got lists about lists, post-its and planners. At…

  • Support needs are human needs

    Support needs are human needs

    The use of special and additional needs when taking about Disabled people puts the burden of support on us. Special is not only infantalising, it also softens some serious support needs that so many of us have. Epilepsy medication and procedures are not special, they are life saving. So are many other of the medications…

  • Prosopagnosia – face blindness

    Prosopagnosia – face blindness

    Prosopagnosia  (face blindness) is the inability to recognise people’s faces. Some people with this neurodivergence cannot recognise family members, or even themselves in mirrors or photographs. Others can struggle with people with certain characteristics…

  • My reflections on our cancer service accessibility research

    My reflections on our cancer service accessibility research

    Earlier this week I did my  first session with a disability group for our cancer services access study (find out more about that here). Although I cannot share any of the people’s really powerful insights here I would like to share how I felt about the session. The start of the session was very ADHD…

  • Recruitment: Improving cancer services for Disabled people

    Recruitment: Improving cancer services for Disabled people

    Edit: These sessions have now come to an end. They were conducted with community groups in spaces and ways which suited them. I am involved in this amazing work with another Disabled community researcher under Macmillan Cancer Support, Bournemouth University PIER, Involving People and Wessex Cancer Alliance. Improving cancer services for disabled people. Do you…

  • Prisoner of the bodymind

    Prisoner of the bodymind

    Sharpened senses,mind wanders, skin crawls,Overwhelmed, understimulated,hyperactively stalled. Collapsed, burnt out, no sleep, joint pain,same food, medication, migraine again. Inertia, inhaler to breathe a bit,inactive, hysterical and still feel like shit. ‘lazy’, ‘crazy’, ‘stupid’, ‘mad’, just heat sensitive and seasonally sad. A jumble, a mess, a dumpster on fire.Living my truth whilst called a liar. Sharpened senses, mind wanders, skin…