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…

Helen Wallace-Iles explains different types of empathy and dispels myths about autism and empathy. By Helen Wallace-Iles So many of the general public believe that autistic people don’t feel empathy towards others, so this post is designed to help set the record straight. First of all, what is empat…

“As he was telling me how cold and hungry he was, I watched as he was unable to control his hands. It was like he was playing an invisible piano…He kept staring off and would occasionally look in my direction but never at me…” My Broken Heart: The Story of The Bare-Handed Ma…

From when I was very young, I watched people’s behavior. If someone was purposely rude, or mistreated people, I immediately lost all interest in them. If someone tried to bully me, I immediately thought, well, if I’m too different for them, they’d never accept Anthony…I don&#…

During my years, I had been stuck in a cycle of isolation and of desire. I’d wanted things I couldn’t have. I was invariably failing to search for things I couldn’t attain. But now, I had a means to break free from this habit. The key to liberation was within me and the first step was to accept who …

What if you knew someone who, every time you tried something new and wobbled a bit, or expressed your perspective less than gracefully, got in your face and started berating you, yelling like a drill sergeant, red-faced and spluttering with flecks of spit.  Would you tolerate that? Probably not. But…