February 2024 is almost over and I haven’t managed to release a podcast episode with a guest since October 2023, nearly four months ago. The best I could do was a quick podcast on how busy we are, which I recorded in December out of a sense of guilt and…
Category: Health
From diagnoses to “treatments” and everything in between, posts about health and autistic life.
I spent Christmas 2023 at home alone. Susan, Leigh, and Anne are in California, visiting family. My anxiety spikes when I’m alone. I worry about all the things that might go wrong because, too often, things have gone wrong while Susan and I were apart. From flooding basements, kidney stones, and…
Podcast 0111; Season 07, Episode 04; 4 December 2023 Our family is tired — exhausted — but we are well. The first half of this school year has gone smoothly, though everyone is extremely busy. We’re so busy that the blog and podcast had to be set aside, much as…
Podcast 0110; Season 7, Episode 3; 25 October 2023 David Villec is the neurodiverse father of Tiger, a 10-year-old autistic savant. Dave discusses his personal challenges and those of Tiger. The Autistic Tiger is 10-year-old Tiger Villec and his namesake character, also known as “TAT.” Tiger is a world-renowned artist…
As we approach the last week of September 2023, I can reflect on the return to school for the girls and me, declaring that survival mode exhausts the entire family. Yes, we’re in survival mode, and it’s a lot like hanging on to a rope suspended above a dark, bottomless…
Podcast 0108; Season 7, Episode 1; 15 August 2023 As we start a new academic year and a new podcast season, I am trying to balance my health and my desire to be productive. At the end of every night, I complain that I haven’t done enough. I feel like…
Podcast Episode 0107; Season 6, Episode 17; 25 July 2023 Dr. Bibi Pirayesh is an educational therapist and learning rights advocate based in Los Angeles, CA. She has spent the last 15 years working with hundreds of children, parents, teachers, and schools to enhance the lives of children with learning…
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…
For many people, getting older means getting a bit “weightier” — and I don’t mean we get more serious. By my third year in a doctoral program, my weight was 220 pounds. I likely weighed more for a time, as even my 40-inch waist jeans were snug. My autistic traits…
Podcast 0104; Season 6, Episode 14; 13 June 2023 It’s my honor to welcome SURJ back to the podcast, this time to discuss his work as a solo artist. Listen as we discuss what music means to him and how being a musician “masks” his autistic traits. SURJ on The…