What on Earth has a polytunnel got to do with autism? What even is a polytunnel? What are you talking about? Is this a tangent too far? All fair questions, and all with answers - tangential as they might be. I’m writing this from my polytunnel. It’s a ten metre, steel-framed structure covered in some … Continue reading Finding your Polytunnel: Autism
Category: Neurodiversity
Ten things Autism isn’t…
I was going to write about what autism is, but as I wrote it transmogrified into what autism isn’t, so here is my list of what autism is not:- 1. Autism is not being socially awkwardIt’s not awkwardness. Autistic people are often excellent at socialising with each other, where they can avoid eye contact, stim, … Continue reading Ten things Autism isn’t…
Autistic Gifts
Christmas, for me, is about showing the people I love how I feel about them. It’s a time when it’s okay to build routines, because we can call them traditions and that makes them indisputable. One of the things I learnt when I found out I was autistic, is that when I get terribly run … Continue reading Autistic Gifts
Neither Use Nor Ornament
It’s been a funny old year, and it’s not over yet. Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in hiatus? That’s how I’ve always felt. I’ve constantly been waiting for life to begin; constantly holding off for things to happen; constantly thinking, ‘Once I’ve finished this bit, I can start doing that bit’, but that’s … Continue reading Neither Use Nor Ornament
Autistic Life Hacks
11 Autistic Tips for every day life
Hiraeth for Autism
Hiraeth pronunciation:- Hi - The Hi from Hiccup Rae - pronounced the same as the wry of a wry smile (if you pronounce wry with a rolled 'R', but let's not overcomplicate) Th - The Th from Think Hiraeth is an untranslatable Welsh word. It’s often described as homesickness or a sort of nostalgia, … Continue reading Hiraeth for Autism
Autism Aware
In January I decided that this was the year that I would step outside my comfort zone. The secret to being able to do that, is first you have to build a comfort zone from which to step. Being an undiagnosed autistic woman meant that I lived in the desert. I was permanently outside … Continue reading Autism Aware
Sensory Seeking
I am a sensory seeker and always have been. As a small child I was never without my comfort blanket, as I got older I was never without my scraps of “the right sort” of fabric, which I would rub between forefinger and thumb. The texture would have to be “right” and the “rightness” has … Continue reading Sensory Seeking
Spectrum Thinking
Neurotypicality is a spectrum. Neurotypicality: a brain that works like most of the population's, i.e. not autistic or epileptic or any other kind of neurodivergent brain type It’s not something that you usually have to state, because nobody expects people with brains that work in expected ways, to all behave identically. That would … Continue reading Spectrum Thinking
Autscriptic: Mild Autism
In 2016 I wrote a post that seemed to capture people’s imagination in a way that others didn’t. Autscriptic has since been shared far and wide. It taught me that there is great power in sharing conversations between neurotypes: Laying bare the misunderstandings that tangle us up. The first Autscriptic was about the trials of … Continue reading Autscriptic: Mild Autism
