Tag: women

Demand Avoidance and Katherine May

I spend a lot of time trying to get one over on myself; sneaking around the back so I don’t work out what I’m up to until I’m too late. As soon as I feel like I have to do something, I run in the other direction. The worst thing about it is that the … Continue reading Demand Avoidance and Katherine May

Autistic Heroes

It’s hard not to watch Greta Thunberg speak without being overcome by two things; the first - and strongest - is admiration, and the second is envy. I don’t envy her the criticism she has had levelled at her. I don’t envy her the comments made by those who have no clue whatsoever about autism. … Continue reading Autistic Heroes

The Average Autistic

There’s a line in my play, The Duck, that I keep mulling over. It says, “File it away for later; the things for me and the things for the rest of the world - the unreal and the real.” It’s something that haunts my memories of being a young autistic girl. I needed to learn … Continue reading The Average Autistic

Autism is a Woman-Thing

On Wednesday I put a post up about ten things autism isn’t. Today I shall add number eleven Autism isn’t just a male thing More and more women are being recognised as autistic now that we have stopped making assumptions based on sex. There are no Male or Female brains (Check out Gina Rippon's new … Continue reading Autism is a Woman-Thing

An Autistic Woman

What is it about being a woman that makes me happy? I don’t know if I can answer that. Being a woman just is. It carries some burdens and some joys. I’ve spoken about Bras before and how much I loathe them, I’m not sure I’ve really written much about my experience of being an … Continue reading An Autistic Woman

Beginnings

January swelled and fell with a clash of cymbals. I started the year with the flu. It was my own fault for waxing lyrical (I’ve never been able to work out a pattern for that particular saying, but I love the sound of it) about not getting ill at Christmas since my diagnosis. I invited … Continue reading Beginnings

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

Autism, Labour and Birth

I don’t usually talk about my children, they have their own stories, but those stories are not mine to tell. But their beginnings in this world are my tales, so I shall tell them. I have been in labour five times. The first was in hospital, the next three were home water-births and the final … Continue reading Autism, Labour and Birth

The Power of ‘Can’ over ‘Should’

I love words. I love how they roll around my tongue and catch on my teeth. I love how they dangle and splutter and sometimes struggle to find their way out. Last week I did something new. I entered poems in a competition that required a reading. It was easy enough, I signed my name … Continue reading The Power of ‘Can’ over ‘Should’