Last updated on November 26, 2023
Podcast 0105, Season 6, Episode 15; 20 June 2023
Loss, and its accompanying trauma, alter our minds. The neurodiversity of PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, illustrates how stress alters us. For autistics who rely on stability and routines, losing friends and family results in multiple traumas. In this episode, Marinda Dennis explains how two significant losses affected her autistic son.
Marinda K. Dennis
From Marinda:
I wanted to share my story to help others struggling with grief, especially those on the autism spectrum. My 15-year-old daughter took her life this past year. She was bright, vibrant, and full of life.
Her 12-year-old brother is on the spectrum. It has been quite the journey attempting to navigate my own grief while helping him through his. She was his world. He was her little shadow, following her everywhere. He wanted to be just like her in everything he did. He is lost without her.
I want to share what we have been through, what I have learned, and what has led us on this journey toward trying to help others heal from pain.
In addition to losing his sister, five years ago, my son was in a fatal car accident with his father and sustained multiple life-threatening injuries. We had to ensure that he was stabilized before we could even tell him that his father did not survive. It has been a long and difficult journey for him, yet he’s thriving right now despite it all.
Links and books:
- Website: https://www.energy-threads.com
- Grief Anthology: Love Lingers Still (https://a.co/d/32mFIW5)
- Suicide Book Recommendation: Aftermath: Picking Up the Pieces After a Suicide (https://a.co/d/cvQq7eF)
Marinda K. Dennis
Energy Threads LLC, Owner, Author, and Editor
MA, MFA, Adjunct Professor of English,
DA Student of English Pedagogy, MA Student of Publishing
Transcript
in Progress
Welcome to Perspectives on Neurodiversity, a podcast dedicated to challenging myths and assumptions about Neurodiverse life. I am your host, Christopher Scott Wyatt, speaking as The Autistic Me.
{Transcription in progress}
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Perspectives on Neurodiversity. Remember to subscribe to the podcast, and please leave a review if you found the discussion useful.
Don’t forget to read The Autistic Me blog and follow my posts on social media. Look for “Autistic Me” as one word on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Links to The Autistic Me on social media are included in the show notes.
I am Christopher Scott Wyatt, speaking as The Autistic Me.
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