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…

Infinitely Polar Bear articulates an encouraging message about the ability of neurodivergent individuals to be successful parents, a goal they can achieve through love and support from their partners and from their children. By Nils Skudra This week I had the opportunity to watch Maya Forbes’ 2014 p…

“To be loved means first of all to be recognized as existing.” Thich Nhat Hanh By Jill MacCormack What does it mean to love and be loved? I cannot say for certain but I do know that what the great Vietnamese peace activist, poet and mindfulness meditation teacher, the late Thich Nhat Hanh said, th…

Areva Martin is an award-winning attorney, best-selling author, legal commentator, talk show host, and a critical voice for social justice. By Ron Sandison Areva Martin has a son Marty who has autism. I interviewed Areva Martin for Black History Month because her advocacy for Marty reminded me of m…

By Nils Skudra This weekend I had the opportunity to finish watching the new Amazon Prime series As We See It, a compelling 8-episode portrayal of three young autistic adults dealing with the challenges of independent living. This series provides a highly insightful and sensitive look at the issues…

February is Black History Month. If you have someone you’d like to add to this post, please comment below. The list is dynamic. 1. Anita Cameron Anita is one of the original disability rights activitists in the United States. She worked on the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act …

By Aaron Bouma For my peoples with disabilities, stigma is something we continuously face. It is how we are perceived to be, to act, and what we are believed to be capable of as well as what expections people have when they become involved with us. Expectations can be like a scale. It can be good …

By Steve Staniek I spent 40 years in Health Physics, protecting workers and the public against nuclear risks, and by the time I retired I was a stressed-out wreck. We moved to the country where I began to study shamanism as a path to healing. I took a couple of basic shamanic courses from FSS, and b…

My name is Angel, and this is my autism confession. By Angel Nikki Mann I loved being quarantined. Now before you get upset, please understand that I’m not saying I like Covid. When I first started hearing about “coronavirus,” I, like many people, was alarmed. I had just started working at a child …

I feel tired, numb and tense. My head hurts and everything seems too much. By now I recognise these symptoms: I have stress! But what exactly is stress, how does it differ from healthy excitement and how can you make yourself resilient to stress? In this blog, I explain what I think stress is. I als…

As we close out 2021, The Art of Autism would like to acknowledge our 2021 top blog posts. All of them were older blog posts yet still get a lot of traction because of search engine ranking. We are grateful to the many people who submit to our website. #1 Samantha Crafts: Female and Autism / Asp…

A movie review of the 1986 film Children of A Lesser God By Nils Skudra This weekend I had the opportunity to watch Children of a Lesser God, a beautiful 1986 film about a romance between a hearing teacher and a young deaf woman working at a school for the deaf and hearing-impaired. I felt that thi…

What I Felt After Being Diagnosed at 20 Potential Energy, Infinite And soft, Rolling Clear waves Of starry Blossoms. Steadily Growing Like iron On trees, Morphing Into Wavering gold By a few simple words. After My Diagnosis: A Journey My heart and my brain Now grow in unison, Thinking as one, and wo…

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 …