Autistic and Living the Dream

Category: Social Justice

  • Abnormality: The new normal?

    Abnormality: The new normal?

    ‘Abnormal behaviour’ is socially constructed through culture- and context-embedded concepts of normativity; the extent to which behaviour is considered abnormal is often dependent on the perception and capacity of others (Emerson & Einfeld, 2011). The perceived characteristics of the individual may also define the extent to which their behaviour is considered abnormal. For example, differences…

  • Advocacy: small steps, big impact

    Advocacy: small steps, big impact

    There’s an idea that online advocacy has to be that you reach X amount of people that you have to be on all the platforms, and you have to continually make content. I see too many Autistic advocates online apologise for going quiet for periods of time. You don’t need to apologise. What you’re giving…

  • 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’,…

  • Community psychology and models of disability

    Community psychology and models of disability

    Community psychology examines and supports people’s attitudes, actions and thoughts within the social contexts of their lives, supporting marginalised groups to challenge systems, institutions and legislations which oppress and discriminate (Orford, 2008). Additionally, community psychology (CP)  can contribute to the understanding of social issues for both professionals and participants by framing people within their local…

  • Child-centred play therapy for Autistic children and young people

    Child-centred play therapy for Autistic children and young people

    Child-centred play therapy (CCPT) is a psychotherapeutic intervention used to support children to explore and express their thoughts, emotions and experiences through play. During these sessions, children are allowed to free-play with very few limits imposed upon them, allowing the therapist to observe the child’s decisions, choices and play style (Landreth, 2012). Play therapy is…

  • “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…

  • 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…

  • Tired but not broken

    Tired but not broken

    I asked the community: If you could let people know one thing about being Autistic what would it be? This blog is based off your amazing answers. Anyone of any identity, culture or heritage can be Autistic so we obviously aren’t all the same! However, we do seem to experience similar things across cultures, namely…

  • Are Mental health groups accessible to Autistic people?

    Are Mental health groups accessible to Autistic people?

    Content warning: mention of abuse, neglect, suicide, hospitalisation, food, body image, mental health. Autistic communities exist on and offline, some of them are based in charities, some of them are less formal, and some are Autistic led. They may not suit everyone but there is a choice for most Autistic people, if you have the…

  • Stop the shock: An update before the next protest

    Stop the shock: An update before the next protest

    Due to the organisation of Stop the Shock Protest and Hill Day, on May 22nd (12-5 PM) on Boston Commons, adjacent Park Street Station. I thought I would reshare the hideous atrocities within the Judge Rotenberg Center. Content warning: abuse, neglect, ableism, death, and systemic rascism. The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), in Canton, Massachusetts, is…