What am I? Who am I? It’s easy to dismiss the questions as a bit silly. The “who” is a philosophical question beyond the what, yet the answers create a Venn diagram because who we are is what we are. I am a father and husband. Those are the roles…
Category: Accessibility
Posts on the accessibility of physical and virtual spaces.
“I celebrate every autism diagnosis!” declares a post circulating among autistic self-advocates. I read this in several ways. First, the positives. Diagnoses help individuals receive services and supports. For many people, a diagnosis also helps understand struggles. Diagnoses also ensure, with disclosure, some legal protections. The negatives exist, too. Believe…
I used to consider software development one of the few careers, outside librarians and medical examiners, surely insulated from the extroverts too often in charge of human society. Then, along came various project management schemes that forced programmers to act like extroverts. This post discusses Agile software development project management…
My grand plan to write daily fell apart on the night of April 18-19, after a losing battle with an online employment system used by a university. I spent three days preparing documents and then the HR system being used (Workday) choked while uploading my materials. The application was marked…
“The world isn’t designed for the neurodiverse,” is a claim I read over and over on social media. “It’s made for neurotypicals.” Another variation uses “autistics” and “allistics” instead of neurodiverse and neurotypical, but not every non-autistic (allistic) is neurotypical, so I’m not sure that works as well at conveying…
Podcast 048; Season 4, Episode 12; November 17, 2020 What I’ve Learned about Teaching I’ve learned a lot about teaching over the last 30 years. Like everyone else, I’ve been learning about teaching since my first day as a student. Unfortunately, the lessons suggest that education is broken, and so…
In 2017, I set an older recording of my “Personal Teaching Statement” to kinetic text, an animated abridged transcript of sorts. The speech was more about my community than me, as I wanted to capture the classism, racism, and ableism I observed as a student. The intolerance of teachers is…
Podcast Episode 0032; Season 03, Episode 04; October 29, 2019 Driving isn’t easy for me and many autistics avoid driving. Some of the challenges are the same ones I experience as a passenger on public transit, especially the sounds and vibrations. I don’t like to feel crowded, either. Heavy traffic…
The autistic me is the disabled me. Last week, I sat for an interview conducted by a graduate student interested in autistic adults and our educational experiences. The interview offered a chance to reflect on how different communities understand the label “autistic.” I also reflected on the nature of disability…
Podcast Episode 0024; Season 02, Episode 10; November 13, 2018 Daniel Sansing discusses the complications of disclosing an autism diagnosis. When do we tell friends, family, schools, and employers? What are the risks and benefits of disclosing we are autistic? My Ambivalence on Autistic Disclosure My experiences suggest coworkers, supervisors,…