Today, autism information is fairly abundant. However, quality of that information is a huge issue. There is a lot of information that tells more about prejudices and subjective interpretations of its producers than about reality of autism. Some of that information is used to give credibility to actions that cause autistic people suffering or are […]
The concept of ”hiding autism traits” is quite commonly used especially when discussing autism on women. I can only hope this will change one day, since this notion is a poor description for the phenomenon it attempts to describe. First issue is, that talking about ”hiding” refers to intentionality. However, autistic masking is not nearly […]
My relationship with my local healthcare provider has improved greatly since the arrival of online booking system. Making appointments online instead of calling is nice, but most important improvement is, that now the doctor can see first my written description of my symptoms instead of learning about my problem via interviewing. I used to tell […]
Update/2022: We now have a new word, created by me my collaboration for ASY’s (Suomen Autismikirjon Yhdistys ry.) project for equal glossary for autism. In the project a Finnish glossary was created to replace outdated and unequal autism terminology. The glossary also included some new terminology to describe autistic experience. By definition, nentism is prejudice, […]
One of the greatest misunderstandings regarding autism is understanding autism spectrum as a line where people can be placed according to their ability to function. At one end are ”quirky people” and at the other end deeply autistic people with developmental disabilities. Linear model of autism spectrum is harmful to everyone and causes suffering. It […]
In last weeks’ blog post I mentioned in passing that sensory sensitivities -including that awful version that sends me to bed for days to recover- usually are not all bad. Food sensitivity is just the exception that affirms the general rule. This week, I’ll discuss these happier times. A few years back I visited Iceland. […]
Back when I started to learn about autism and sensory sensitivities, I learned that one possible sensitivity people can have is food sensitivity. Since I am one of those people whose major sensory sensitivities are seasonal or attack-like, I tucked this information into the corner of my mind. From what I had read, I gathered […]
One misconception that often comes up when discussing sensory friendliness is, that the term means some sort of minimalism or decluttering, and that we can call a certain place sensory friendly when it has been made as quiet, colorless, scentless, and drab as possible. This idea is probably distant cousin to the idea of minimalism […]
After going public with my autism I have noticed, that sometimes people find dealing with such openness really difficult. Openly using the word ”autism”, I mean. People I have encountered have attempted to substitute it with words such as ”flaw”, ”handicap”, ”illness” and ”restriction” -all of which, for starters, are far from being decent substitutes […]
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man. The only thing that is constant is change. Heraclitus My current jog has stayed the same for about fifteen years. According to neurotypical people in my life, this is somehow odd. Sometimes they hint, […]