Autistic and Living the Dream

Tag: #ActuallyAutistic

  • What’s spoons got to do with it?

    What’s spoons got to do with it?

    Spoon theory is a metaphor used by people with chronic illness and / or neurodivergence. Spoon theory suggests that: * A person has roughly the same amount of energy each day – each unit of energy is represented by a spoon. This amount may be changed by previous activity or inactivity and can be changed…

  • Why I struggle with demands

    Why I struggle with demands

    Many of us Autists struggle with every day demands including making choices about what to do, where to go and what to eat. Some demands are avoided due to extreme anxiety, sometimes I go into shutdown when being told what to do if it is new or confusing. This is also due to processing verbal…

  • “It’s only words” – yes, but words hold so much power!

    “It’s only words” – yes, but words hold so much power!

    Recently I engaged in a study about language around Autistic experience and it made me feel so emotional. When asked about words I really disliked, I replied: Impairment,Deficit,Disorder,Burden,Abnormal,Lack of,Challenges,Difficulty in, These words are disgusting! They make us Autistic people out to be problematic, weird and unsupportable. And these words are consistently seen in research and…

  • Autistic listening: no eye contact please!

    Autistic listening: no eye contact please!

    Eye contact can be an issue for a lot of us Autists. Looking at someone’s eyes when you talk to them is such a strange concept but in a lot of cultures it is considered rude not to use eye contact.  Personally, I find it difficult to listen to what is being said if I…

  • Doing gender the Autistic way

    Doing gender the Autistic way

    Gender is tricky – it is reliant on the complex interweaving of cultural and social factors, including race, class and disability – for many Autistic people this means our gender is inextricable from our neurology (see Autigender: is autism and gender entwined?). Gender norms are influenced by culturally specific expectations, attitudes and norms, modelled to…

  • Alt text and screen readers

    Alt text and screen readers

    Lots of different people use screen readers to translate and process text and images on screens (mostly visually impaired and blind people but also dyslexic people. I use one as I have trouble reading long text on screens). Emojis Many of these screen readers can translate emojis, but some older ones cannot. There can also…