By Pamela Urfer A lot of people are put off by Jesus because they think of him as a stern taskmaster who is just waiting to whack us if we step out of line. This concept is particularly anxiety-making for neurodiverse people who are, by definition, always out of line. As a woman on the spectrum, I h…

By Pamela Urfer As I posted on this blog a few weeks ago, (“I never thought of myself as weird”), I spent my childhood reading every book I could get my hands on. As a result, I became a writer. My books are odd, as I am myself. One woman, reading my short stories, exclaimed, “You have a very strang…

As an autistic person myself, I do not take being verbal for granted and I understand how powerful writing can be to express oneself. I understand Pam’s saturation in books, her safe places to escape to and think, because I had mine too and still do. I identify with the types of “beyond the norm” gi…

by Pam Urfer (commentary by Kimberly Gerry-Tucker after) Not much was known about Autism in 1942, the year I was born. Nor in 1952, when I was 10. Nor in 1962, when I was 20. I’m not sure what symptoms I displayed as a child, whether or not I spoke late, or potty trained late, or disliked being touc…