Autistic and Living the Dream

Tag: Shielding

  • Embracing Authenticity in Academic Presentations

    Embracing Authenticity in Academic Presentations

    The author reflects on speaking at various queer and autistic conferences, emphasizing the challenges of conforming to normative presentation styles. They found comfort in familiar environments and shared experiences with attendees. Despite difficulties, they aimed for a conversational approach, valuing personal storytelling and community engagement over traditional presentation norms.

  • Trans and Autistic: Living in two closets

    Trans and Autistic: Living in two closets

    The overlap of Autistic and LGBTQIA+ identities is a growing topic of conversation especially for those of us who occupy both spaces, and there are lots of us! We are all at differing points in our neurodivergent and queer journeys, some of us are clear of who we are, some of us are confused, some…

  • Autistic Shielding: Being authentic is a privilege

    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…

  • Autistic shielding: reclaiming my weird

    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,…

  • The difference between Autistic masking and Autistic shielding

    The difference between Autistic masking and Autistic shielding

    “Autistic shielding appreciates that there is no such thing as invisible differences or disabilities – simply that people do not care enough to educate themselves and really see other people. Shielding is projecting the most intense, strange and wonderful things about yourself – waving our freak flags high for all to see. ”

  • What is Autistic shielding?

    What is Autistic shielding?

    Autistic shielding is leaning into your neurological differences and behaviours. It is embracing neuro-anarchy: being who you are, doing what you do and bollocks if others don’t like it. Shielding for me is being aggressively Autistic and Attention Hyperactive and doing my OCD rituals and behaviours with no shame. Shielding is liberation; protecting myself by…