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…

By Alice Farion It’s going to be ok. I’m going to be ok. It’s just 8 hours. I’m going to be normal. But I’m not. I am faking it, I am not ok. I am not normal. Everyday, I play an act. I have been an actress my whole life. I am a researcher too. Everyday, I observe other people, list facts, organise …

Rudy reminds me of the simple things in life like a good meal. No matter what we have for dinner, Rudy is under the table begging for his scraps. By Ron Sandison In December 2018 I was experiencing severe anxiety and depression. I felt overwhelm by traveling and speaking at over 70 events a year an…

By Kris McElroy The holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year while also being one of the most difficult for me. I love the decorations, music, and lights of the holiday season, but I struggle with sensory overload, crowds, and the social expectations and requirements of holiday gatheri…

By Nera Birch Knitting is one of my special interests. I learned to knit when I was in second grade, but due to abusive situations all of my life, I wasn’t allowed to pursue it the way I wanted, until now. I have very quickly become obsessed with it, as one tends to do with an autistic special inter…

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,…

I immediately felt a total sense of security as the muffs cupped my ears and hugged my head. By Angie Arcuri This morning after we had woken up and were having our coffee, my wife received a couple packages in the mail. We new it must have been some things that she had ordered for me for Christmas.…

Tal Anderson plays the character Sid on the Netflix original series Atypical. By Ron Sandison My favorite Netflix original series is Atypical. I love watching Keir Gilchrist portray Sam Gardner, a young adult with Asperger’s. I was excited to interview Tal Anderson, a young adult actress with autism…

By Claudia Casser “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” is a stylish Korean drama on Netflix centered on a healing romance between a warped bitch fairy tale author and a self-sacrificing psychiatric nurse. This kind of extreme-opposites-attract is a staple of “K-Drama,” which I occasionally watch despite the a…

By Aaron Bouma For much of my life I have been mainly focused on military history and military affairs as my main special interest. Just as many autistics, I possess a strong interest in a specific topic which I fixate on. A year after high school in 2007 I attempted to join the Canadian Forces but…

Poetry by Sophie Dutsch-Zdanowicz Into the Black Pound in my head, chill in my skin Rattling breath stuck in my lungs Into the black Full moon in full glow, but does not Shine to where I stand Into the black Abandoned street, broken windows Hustle and bustle of maintown Muffled by distance and an ev…

By Martine Mussies A while ago, I received a postcard of a beautiful Japanese art print. On the backside, someone had written a joke about “fighting like a girl” and concluded with the words “Thank you for being a strong woman in our dojo.” I was happy and touched by this act of kindness. But…

For us autistics, J.K. Rowling is promoting the ignorant belief that autistics are not able to figure things out about themselves on their own. She is using autism, our autism, as a weapon to defend her very transphobic beliefs. By Dana Trick For those who haven’t heard, recently J.K. Rowling, the a…

When I finished seminary as a young minister with autism I often felt excluded due to my lack of social skills and sensory issues. Disability and the Church is the perfect fit to help churches understand neurodiversity and learn ways to equip individuals like me for ministry.” Ron Sandison Ron…