AUTONOMY IN MY LIFE
Autonomy for me, and what difference it makes in my physical and mental well-being.
DEVELOPING BETTER AUTISM LANGUAGE
The language we use mirrors and shapes how we see and treat autistic people. Let’s do better!
THE AUTISTIC DILEMMA – FUNCTIONING LABELS
Why functioning labels are a problem, why people use them, and what we should do instead.
SELECTIVE MUTISM- THE FREEZING FEAR THAT STEALS VOICES
05.10.2018
3 comments
ACCOMMODATIONS, ANXIETY, AUTISM, CO-OCCURRING CONDITIONS, SELECTIVE MUTISM, SPEECH, TERMINOLOGY
Selective Mutism, a severe anxiety disorder, often gets misunderstood, misinterpreted, misdiagnosed, and the term misused. Here is what Selective Mutism is, isn’t, what it’s like, and what can help.
STIMSTRUCK AND STIMSTUCK – CONCEPTUALIZING STIMMING
We have a lot of existing words to discuss stimming. What we don’t (yet) have are actual stimming-related terms. Here are two I coined, how I use them, and why I find them so helpful.
CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR – AN ABLEIST CONCEPT
“Challenging behavior” is a commonly used term and concept. But it shouldn’t be. Why the concept is discriminatory and harmful and how we can do better.
“YOU DON’T LOOK AUTISTIC!” – AUTISM AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
Many autistic people get told that they “Don’t look autistic.” at some point in their life. Here is my take on why that sentence is never helpful and also always factually wrong. A new perspective on how everything about the way I look IS distinctively autistic – once you understand what you’re seeing!
MASKING AND PASSING – WHAT IT IS, WHY IT’S BAD
WHAT MASKING IS AND WHY IT EXISTS Masking means suppressing everything about yourself that is visibly autistic to appear non-autistic. Appearing to be non-autistic is what we call “passing” – it’s short for “passing as non-autistic”. ON A PERSONAL NOTE: I prefer to use the term “Camouflaging” instead of masking. “Masking” implies putting a mask
NON-SPEAKING AND NON-VERBAL
What the terms “non-speaking” and “non-verbal” mean, and one experience of being intermittently non-speaking and non-verbal.