In a few ways, 2016 has been (with a nod to a great children’s book) a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year for my wife and me. We have had medical issues, I have not had a full-time job, and a pair of accidents took our Jeep out of…
Category: Relationships
Work, school, family… they are all about relationships.
It is again that season, the time of year many of us will always consider the “new year” instead of some date in Winter. Yes, back-to-school. For me, this is the end of a busy five-class summer as an MFA student in Film and Digital Technology. I promise (sort of)…
As is often the case, I write a blog on a topic I’m not currently exploring in my research only to discover that I’m about to delve into the depths of that exact topic for an academic article or presentation. A few weeks ago, I confessed that I had not…
Since completing my doctorate, I haven’t had a compelling reason to read much about the psychology of autism. When I read scholarly articles in psychology, they tend to be connected to economics or politics. You might imagine that economics and policy, so connected to rhetoric and persuasion, would delve into…
Sitting at home, with our cats, is where we will be this holiday season. It beats being out and about this week, as Christmas approaches. I have no desire to be among crowds of people or driving in heavy traffic. Peace and quiet are what my wife and I both…
Your disability does not give you the right to be a jerk. This isn’t going to please some advocates, but I am tired of people willing to exploit their challenges to get their way and push others around in the workplace, in school, or in public settings. Jerks exist, with…
My wife and I are from Central California. The region is hard to explain to outsiders, because people assume “California” means L.A. and San Francisco, yet geographically those are little dots within a sea of socially conservative counties. To this day, it feels more like the Deep South (circa 1976)…
Autistic traits can contribute to being abused and exploited by others, as the following survey data suggest: Half of [UK] autistic adults ‘abused by someone they trusted as a friend’ A startling 44% of those questioned admitted they stayed indoors as much as possible for fear of being harassed. Almost…
I was recently asked whatever happened to my planned update to Spectrum of Relationships. The simple answer: I have been distracted by more interesting (to me) things and didn’t really push to get the book updated. I’m not nearly as involved in autism advocacy in Pennsylvania as I was in…
A reader asks, “If you don’t think about the autistic traits, what about your wife? They tend to notice what husbands fail to see in the mirror.” Is my wife more aware of my autistic traits than I am? Probably. I suppose the above is true of all friends and…