When you scratch the surface of all autistic advocates, an indelible layer of trauma exists from our early lives, whether we were professionally identified in childhood, adolescence or not until adulthood. Whether the trauma is caused by inadvertent behavioural conditioning from our parents & teachers, abuse in its many varieties (physical, verbal, psychological, etc.), failed […]| …i am my own experience…
I’ve loved music as long as I can remember… from singing along to “Shout” by Tears for Fears on MTV before I could properly talk to stim-listening to the same Manic Street Preachers song repeatedly, music has featured in my life in one way, shape or form. My first ever concert experience was 25 years […]| …i am my own experience…
For this year's World Autism Acceptance Day, I made these fifty pictures and shared them to Autistic Not Weird's Facebook page [all links open in new tabs]. For those who don't already follow it, or want| Autistic Not Weird
It doesn’t seem quite right, does it? That a month designated for raising public knowledge of autism would be so widely disliked by the autistic people it claims to support. But just to clarify: the| Autistic Not Weird
The two questions above are among the most commonly asked by parents of newly-diagnosed autistic children. And wouldn’t it be great if there were a one-sentence answer to it? Sadly, it doesn’t work like that. But here’s my advice, as an autistic man who used to be an autistic child, who gets asked this question a lot. Full disclosure: this is a rewrite of an article that I wrote five years ago (way back at the start of Autistic Not […] The post When should I tell my child they’re au...| Autistic Not Weird
On 29th November 2009, my life started to take the opening few steps towards beginning to make some kind of sense. After a lifetime of knowing I was different somehow to the general population (and too many years believing myself to be ‘lesser’ rather than different), a family member finally gave me an explanation for why, and it started a mental revolution for me. My attitude towards my own brain has changed enormously: what started as a secret word to […] The post Ten years ago today,...| Autistic Not Weird
A few years ago, one of my articles received this comment. “F*** YOU F***YOU F***YOU.You don’t even know anything about autism. It’s a f***ing curse that controls parents’ lives until they finally die!F*** YOU”(Obviously, this| Autistic Not Weird
Content Warning: this article discusses the dangers of making children vulnerable to abuse and manipulation, but does not discuss specific instances of abuse. Not long ago there was a debate on a British morning TV| Autistic Not Weird
I wasn’t very old at all when I first noticed I was different. I didn’t have a word for it until I was 24, but my differences have rarely been a secret – to me or anyone else. And sometimes, sadly, other people make those differences an issue. They shouldn’t be any problem at all, but not everyone appreciates difference. This is another article I’ve put off writing because it’s such a difficult subject, but it’s clearly in high […] The post A brief guide to coping with bein...| Autistic Not Weird
I don’t like Christmastime. And I should be allowed to say that without being criticised for it. Don’t get me wrong, I love what Christmas stands for. But December is that month when Expectation Claus sneaks into your house, instructs you to follow all these traditions (whether you’re comfortable with them or not), and you’re not allowed to tell him you’re sad because everyone is supposed to be happy and joyous at Christmas. It’s the rules. Like everything else in […] The post A...| Autistic Not Weird
The internet is full of advice articles for parents. So just for once, this one’s for children themselves! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this is my fiftieth article for Autistic Not Weird. So I thought I’d do something special for it. I used to be a schoolteacher (and now I work with autistic students outside of schools), and this is the advice I would give to children growing up on the autism spectrum. Something important before we begin: […] The post Fifty pieces of advice ...| Autistic Not Weird
In the summer of 2010, we painted the newly rehabbed 4 bedroom house a forest green. We fenced two acres of pasture and moved in two alpacas, five cashmere goats and a bunch of chickens. Over the n…| Juniper Hill Farms
‘There are new rules and guidelines for Home and Community Based Services being drafted that will dictate what type of living and working situations Medicaid dollars will fund for people with…| Juniper Hill Farms
We are having some gloriously sunny early fall days … Check out our ‘Feeling like Fall’ video!| Juniper Hill Farms
Oh MAN! Someone just broke open the new box of cream puffs that were defrosting for dessert and ate 10 of them! And now there are 5 more of us who are going to have to split the remaining 15R…| Juniper Hill Farms
Ray was gone for three hours in the adjacent woods one afternoon this week. Three hours! I was just about to go looking for him when he came trudging back in rubber boots, cart full of interesting…| Juniper Hill Farms
First cookout tonight. First time eating dinner outside, first deviled eggs from our chickens. First bonfire, first roasting of marshmallows, first toad eating the insects at the porch light. First…| Juniper Hill Farms
It was a great day last Wednesday, our weekly get-together with friends day. It was a Hang Out Winter Wednesday (‘hang out’… because we are definitely NOT getting any work done t…| Juniper Hill Farms
The snow is falling softly at midnight and outside it is just stunning with the porch light reflecting on the white blanket covering our rolling hills. Ray is making his way up the hill to his hou…| Juniper Hill Farms
Imagine this. A place where inclusion just happens. I imagine it can be this way in elementary school classrooms, where children have not yet learned to judge those with differences. That would be…| Juniper Hill Farms