Autistic and Living the Dream

Category: LGBTQIA+

  • Allies and safe spaces

    Allies and safe spaces

    Allyship is an ongoing commitment toward understanding and supporting those with different identities and experiences. Performative actions are not enough; true allyship requires genuine effort and involvement. Organizations often claim to support marginalized groups without truly understanding their experiences. Creating truly safe and inclusive spaces requires genuine effort and a willingness to actively fight for…

  • A short guide to gender for Autistic children and young people

    A short guide to gender for Autistic children and young people

    Gender is simple but also a complicated idea – it is how we feel about ourselves whilst we are with other people and when we are alone…

  • Interview with TransActual for Autism Acceptance Month

    Interview with TransActual for Autism Acceptance Month

    What assumptions do you wish people would stop making about Autistic people? There are so many! I think from a trans and wider LGBTQIA+ perspective is that we can understand ourselves and what we need and want from our relationships, and what we need and want from our body, and how we want to show…

  • LGBTQIA+ and Autistic: Community and belonging

    LGBTQIA+ and Autistic: Community and belonging

    This article, originally from Autistic Revolution magazine, addresses the intersection of LGBTQIA+ and Autistic identities. The author explains their personal connection to both spectrums and discusses the challenges faced, including discrimination in LGBTQIA+ and Autistic spaces. They emphasize the importance of creating inclusive spaces and embracing diverse identities.

  • Shedding my labels

    Shedding my labels

    The author reflects on their journey to understanding their neurodivergent identity and the impact of labels and diagnoses on their sense of self. They express frustration with how others perceive and react to their labels and seek connection beyond their specific identities. They acknowledge the importance of labels in some contexts but strive to move…

  • Trans Aware Cancer Care: We almost have lift off!

    Trans Aware Cancer Care: We almost have lift off!

    We had a great planning meeting today for Trans Aware Cancer Care. This is the first time many of us had been in a room together and it was so much nicer than being in constant Zoom meetings. We’ve finally settled on the idea for what creative tools we might want for the workshops too.…

  • What bisexuality means to me

    What bisexuality means to me

    As a teenager I thought in a binary fashion, and this affected how I understood sexuality and gender. My understanding of what it meant to be bisexual was that you liked both men and women, and that you needed to like them equally. The fact that I swayed to one gender over others meant that…

  • Trans and Autistic: Getting my hair cut

    Trans and Autistic: Getting my hair cut

    I haven’t had the energy to get my hair cut in SO long, category was: scarecrow. It’s a worry for me to go in to the hairdressers for a ‘mans’ haircut, people either think I’m being cute or give me a feminine version of it, all the while I get referred to as a ‘lady’,…

  • Internal conflict in queer spaces

    Internal conflict in queer spaces

    There’s an awareness day and month for pretty much every identity, disability and living circumstance. For trans and gender diverse people we have  Trans Awareness Week and Trans Day of Visibility just in case you weren’t aware that we exist! Then we have  Trans Day of Mourning. So, our three trans community moments in the…

  • “You’re asking permission to be yourself”: Autistic adults’ experiences of accessing gender identity healthcare

    “You’re asking permission to be yourself”: Autistic adults’ experiences of accessing gender identity healthcare

    Earlier today Steven Kapp shared this at the Spring Symposium of the University of Portsmouth’s Quality of Life, Health, and Well-Being Research Group. So, I thought I’d share it here too! (Especially as our full work is about to be published!) “You’re asking permission to be yourself”: Autistic adults’ experiences of accessing gender identity healthcareHarley Bruce, Katie…