I’m not strange; I’m Unstrange
When Autistic people withdraw during a conflict, too often we are treated as a problem. People assume we step back because we’re not engaged in the conversation or motivated to work through the conflict. Pausing a conversation gets read as avoidance. Creating distance is taken as a refusal to work things through. The underlying expectations […]
Note: This blog essay and resource lists are U.S.-centric because I live in the U.S. and am only familiar with U.S. processes and resources. I apologize for this provincial restriction. If you have or know of similar essays and resource lists for other countries, please let me know so I can link to them. Thank […]
The powers-that-be love to frame autism and Autistic people as problems to solve. Puzzle pieces, if you will. When I saw this incredibly powerful Tweet (what do we call Tweets now? Xes?) by Bishop Talbert Swan, I knew I needed to add my Autistic voice, highlighting transgressions against Disabled people: Image description and transcription of […]
A reflective essay in conversation with Jordan Peele’s vision and the bodymind’s survival intelligence Content note: racism, horror, trauma, child abuse, movie spoilers The Body Learns Silence The house I grew up in was static before the storm. The scent of ozone, leaves turned soapy bellies up, green clouds gathering in the east. I measured […]
The Child No One Wanted in Class A recent New York Times article (October 1, 2025) suggesting autism needs to be broken into two categories cited “a survey of 800 families, conducted this year by the National Council on Severe Autism, [which] found that 80 percent had been told their children were too disruptive even […]
(And Certainly Not a Developmental Halt!) For maybe twenty years, I’ve been saying autism is a developmental delay, not a developmental halt. Something I read today helped me realize that autism isn’t even a delay. I’ve written and spoken of autism as a different trajectory, a separate road. When we fail to meet developmental milestones, […]
President Donald Trump has announced plans to issue an executive order eliminating mail-in ballots and voting machines, forcing Americans to vote only in person and on paper. He frames this as a “return to integrity,” but for millions of disabled people, it’s nothing less than an act of disenfranchisement. Disabled Americans already face enormous barriers […]
A Book About Us, For Us, By Us When I pick up a book about autism and ADHD, my first questions are: Who wrote this? Do they get it from the inside, or are they peering in from the outside? That matters—because lived experience changes everything about how you frame a struggle, a strength, or […]
This bill is moving fast, and your senators need to hear from you now. Right now, the U.S. Senate is considering Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill.” It’s a sweeping, high-stakes proposal that would reshape healthcare, disability access, immigration, education, environmental protections, and more—all in one massive vote. This bill is moving fast, and your senators need to […]
Traffic Laws Are Not “Everyday Examples of ABA” Introduction You’ve probably heard it before: “We all experience ABA every day!” The go-to example? Stopping at a stop sign. Supposedly, we stop because we’ve been conditioned—by tickets or crashes or social pressure—and that’s Applied Behavior Analysis in action. Simple, right? Except… no. This tidy analogy shows […]