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…
Category: Relationships
Work, school, family… they are all about relationships.
Here we are on December 31, 2018, and many of us reflect on the past year and make plans for the coming year. As readers know, 2018 has included all the elements of this blog since 2007 — and the cyclical nature of my life since at least junior high and…
November 23 was my last blog post, and I was sure then that I would revive the blog and podcast on a weekly basis. That didn’t happen. As the weeks became a month, my frustration increased but my free time did not. I slept less and less, trying to keep…
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who reads this blog and follows the podcast. Unfortunately, I’m not feeling great and it is anything but a good holiday in our household. Back pain is winning and I’m not in the mood for any holiday time. I was barely able to walk on Tuesday,…
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,…
Night after night, I find myself grading papers well into exhaustion. Often, well after midnight. My weekends are spent grading, too. In fact, right now I’m pausing between papers to gather my thoughts before yet more grading. Teaching this semester continues to interfere with everything that isn’t school-related. At times,…
Neglecting The Autistic Me blog and podcast was not my intention with my return to teaching, but that’s been one of the costs. Trying to triage my schedule and to-do list has required prioritizing teaching duties — particularly grading — that require far more than 40 hours per week. Teaching,…
Podcast 0019; Season 02, Episode 05; October 2, 2018 People ask me how an autistic parent can be a foster-to-adopt parent. I might not be perfect, but with my wife’s support, I do okay as a father and I’m always trying to be better. Transcript (lightly edited) Scott: Hello and welcome to The Autistic…
Podcast 0017; Season 02, Episode 03; September 18, 2018 Autistic visual artist and advocate Bobby Roma discusses the ways in which autistics are devalued by society because our thinking processes seem strange to others. We’re called “immature” and told we lack “depth,” yet sometimes our concrete clarity is exactly what’s needed to…
Approaching middle-age (50 years) as an autistic adult can be a miserable, difficult journey. For me, it has been one perceived failure after another. It can be difficult to see the great things in life when I look only at my career path. Thankfully, I have an incredible wife and…