By Martine Mussies 音の洪水 心は溺れる 静寂求む A flood of loud sounds My heart is drowning deeply I long for silence ** 一つの道 深く掘り進む 宝を得る On one path I dig Deeply to find my treasures Passion in my hands ** 人の海に 波の間に立ち 孤独感じ In a sea of crowds Standing strong between the waves Loneliness sets in Martine Mussies …

“A meltdown is a highjack of our emotions.” Ron Sandison By Ron Sandison Most neurotypicals pay little attention to their sensory processing. When you feel cold, you put on a sweater. When music is too loud, you turn down the volume. For me and many other people with autism, our senses provide unrel…

By Kris McElroy If someone would have asked me to rate my anxiety and excitement on a scale of 1-10 when I found out I was going to be a dad in May of 2020, I would have said, “are you kidding me? I’m like a 25 on excitement and a 50 on anxiety”. Before then I never believed I could be a parent beca…

The Art of Autism encourages businesses that serve autistic people invest in art work of autistic artists. By Debra Muzikar In June The Art of Autism was contacted by Justin Kyriannis, owner of Achievable Behavioral Strategies in Las Vegas. Justin had viewed art on the Art of Autism’s website…

By Mahlia Amatina Every city is different from a neurodiverse point of view. And this can vary day-by-day, mood by mood, street by street. In this blog post, I’ll run over my observations on how I’m finding New York as a city to live in. From a sensory perspective, NYC, surprise surprise, is a very …

by W.E.Powers What is it? I see it in the eyes of those battling mental health issues. I see it as a wet, dim band of light cutting through the blues, browns, and greens of those impacted by autism. Sometimes it reflects a struggle against depression or PTSD. It is often a scoreboard worn on the fac…

By Austin John Jones A couple years back, I had an incident at a summer camp I was on the staff for. I was just about to do something one of my co-workers asked me to do, when suddenly, my brain basically slowed down to a halt. My thought processing was very smallish, my speech became robotic and me…

By Rachel Summers Many people see teaching autistic children as an extra challenge, as many of them don’t learn in conventional ways. However, teaching an autistic child simply requires you to look at teaching in a different way. Below are some methods educators can use when teaching a child, …

By Tina Fletcher The hallmarks of the holiday season — holiday twinkle lights, carolers, the aroma of a large home-cooked meal — can be an overwhelming experience for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. As families with children on the autism spectrum plan their holidays, here are so…

There is a stigma associated with the lack of eye contact in communication. We are seen as rude and/or disinterested. I find it incredibly difficult to make eye contact for a few reasons. I’m hypersensitive to sight, sound, taste and touch which affects my communication greatly as I find it very dis…

I think understanding that we’re ALL different and weird in different ways is really important. By Sonya Hallett Everyone’s different, in all kinds of weird and interesting ways. In recent years, I’ve been coming to better understand some of my own weirdnesses and how they impact on how I see the …

By S. Scott Sanderson Everywhere I go there is noise. From my pocket I pull out earplugs. Alone I want to sit and read. But here I am in the midst of people working, moving and busy. Like the eye in the center of a storm, I want to be calm and still. To my right, up high and loud a television blares…

By Debra Muzikar How does it feel when all of your senses are heightened? And how does it feel when your heightened senses collide? Imagine walking down the hallway of your school having to close your eyes because the flourescent lights are too bright, the school bell rings piercing your ears, you w…

By Katherine Lockhead That day was overwhelming for me. I woke up that morning, feeling excited and ready for the event that every student looks forward to from Grade 1. I called salons to get my hair and makeup done. It came as a shock to me that most of these places did not have any slots availabl…