By Vicki Koslin Howell “But she talks so much.” If I had to hear that sentence again from professionals assessing my daughter for autism, I’d explode. The truth is, I never thought I’d have a daughter with autism, even though I’ve spent my life with a going on 31 year old ADHD diagnosis tagged on my…

By Zach Labbadia It goes without saying that the acting market is highly saturated, which makes it a very competitive creative profession. Besides connections and talent, to achieve any success you must have an identifiable brand or anything that would make you unique in the industry. Last year, whe…

By Miya Sae It’s crazy what a lack of understanding can do even to those of us who are autistic. I was born in the earlier half of the 90s. There was more stigma. Hateful organizations were the only ones in the spotlight. Stereotypes weren’t being fought against as much as they are today. “End Autis…

When I got my diagnosis of autism, it was like there was suddenly and explosive light that emerged in the darkness of all my mistakes. I am not broken. I am not just a bitch. I am autistic. By Jessica Penot I have administered the Autism Diagnostic Interview the Revised Addition (ADI-R) 132 tim…

This blog post originated from a second reply sent to Myranda Uselton to her Art of Autism post about being a self-diagnosed Autistic. In my first reply to her, I was proud to be self-diagnosed, and in the second, I described why I changed my mind. Debra Muzikar (editor of the Art of Autism blog) as…

Art has been my friend, and given me a great sense of accomplishment in spite of the fact that I cannot keep a job and I can barely leave the house, due to the fact that I am Autistic, a diagnoses I just received a year and a half ago at the age of 41. by Penny Rae Tuffendsam I woke up this morning …

By Kris McElroy I found out I was autistic when I was 30 years old after over two decades of misdiagnoses, misunderstandings, and maltreatment. The diagnosis helped make so much more sense to me about myself and the world around me. It helped me understand I was having meltdowns because I was overlo…

“The question is not what you look at but what you see’’ Henry David Thoreau By Laura Brind Current data tells us that approximately 4 times as many boys are diagnosed with autism than girls. In respect of the International Women’s Day theme ‘choose to challenge’ this article explores how th…

By Connor Long-Johnson My story begins when I was first diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome in early 2017. I naturally both needed and wanted to share my diagnosis with friends, family and co-workers. Thankfully, most of those who I told were understanding and showed me the compassion I desper…

By Joel Ashton-Fogle Duel Diagnosis No, this is not a miss-spelling! For every day is a battle; a combat between symptoms, treatments for them, side-effects of the treatments and subsequent treatments to alleviate the side-effects, leading to more side-effects and more treatments. And so it goes o…

Lotta Wadsten Bynert reflects on her search for God and meaning in her life. Thank you for this beautiful site and letting me share my thoughts with you about life on the autism spectrum, recovery from mental illness, drawing and doing so together with God. This combination is not a problem for God,…

By Tracey Cohen I always knew I was different but never understood why.  I aimed to please, but the world was too fast, noisy, unpredictable and innately counter-intuitive. Yet I was told by family and professionals in more ways than one that I was wrong – I was the problem. And I was told that…

“Empowering your young person is the key to giving them the skills they need to live an independent life. If you do things for them that they could learn or even do for themselves by themselves, then you are DISEMPOWERING your young person,” Tom Iland By Debra Muzikar What is your first…

May is Mental Health Month. The Art of Autism throughout May would like to focus on stories about those with dual diagnoses. By Jeanette Purkis I have a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Condition and atypical schizophrenia. In my 42 years I have accessed a large number of publicly and privately funde…