Autistic burnout is a topic that I know intimately, for multiple reasons. As an Autistic person who was not identified as such for most of my life, due to not knowing about my Autistic mind and the accompanying needs associated with my Autistic brain and nervous system, I spent most of my life cycling in and out of Autistic burnout. It was also Autistic burnout that, eventually, led to me finally…
For most of my life, I believed, falsely, that I was inherently flawed and unworthy of compassion, kindness, and respect (from other people and from myself). It’s hard to say exactly when, where, and why this feeling of inadequacy started, because my memory is a bit wonky, and multiple events played into it. However, there are a few events in particular that do stand out to me.
I had nearly 30 years of frequent and totally preventable migraines that left me sick in bed (multiple times a month and sometimes multiple days a week), or forcing myself to attend school and work (with disorientation so intense it was dangerous for me to be out on the road driving, but because I had to work to get paid I forced myself to drive anyway just like I'd been forced to go to school…
There is a lot of talk in Neurodivergent spaces about how much relief late-identified Neurodivergent people find when they finally learn the truth about themselves. However, there’s not as much discussion on the pain and grief late identification can bring. Don’t get me wrong, being diagnosed Autistic (and then later ADHD) did bring me relief and was a critical turning point in my life. Yet, early…
This empowering workbook has been designed to help Autistic adults, whether newly diagnosed or self-identifying, to develop a positive understanding of their unique Autistic identity.
Ten years ago, I walked out of my diagnostician's office with a label and a list of memoirs about other people's lives. No one told me how to figure out mine...
Growing up, I struggled a lot in school. Academics weren't my strengths, with one exception - reading and writing. From my earliest school days, and even before I started school, I was in love with books and dreamed one day I might write them. However, I wasn't sure if I'd ever achieve this goal.
If you’ve never heard of Hyperlexia before, it is when a person can read words very, very well (often better than most people). We may also struggle more with understanding the full context of what we read. In addition, many of us who are Hyperlexic often understand what we read more easily than what is said to us out loud.
Question for my late-identified Neurodivergent readers: Is there anything you wish you'd known or understood sooner? If you could give one piece of advice to your younger, unidentified self, what would it be? I am Neurodivergent, but I didn't know it (or even what Neurodivergence or Neurodiversity was) for most of my life. Being diagnosed Autistic, at the age of 29, a few months shy of my 30th…