I entered the University of Southern California in 1987 as a quad major. That eventually was reduced to a double major in print journalism and English education, though I came frustratingly close to a general science degree for teaching science. Now, three decades later, I have been a substitute public…
Category: Writing
All things writing related in my life.
Podcast 0003; Season 01, Episode, 03; April 12, 2018 The Autism Connection of Pennsylvania has helped me and many other autistic individuals in the Greater Pittsburgh region. I wanted to have this podcast online Tuesday, but the 3400-word transcript required some time to edit. That was time well-spent, as you…
Editing the transcripts for The Autistic Me Podcast was a cruel reminder that I need new glasses. The automatic transcription service Descript using AI, which means the transcription is imperfect. Plus, I edit the transcripts for clarity because I believe verbatim transcripts often impede understanding. I’ve needed glasses since a winter in…
Podcast 0001; Season 01, Episode 01; April 3, 2018 Transcript (lightly edited) Welcome to The Autistic Me Podcast. I’m Christopher Scott Wyatt. The Autistic Me Podcast complements and extends the existing Autistic Me blog. When I started the blog in 2007, the online format reached a wide audience and was…
And here we are again… Autism Awareness Day. My Apple News, Facebook, and Google News feeds all feature a dozen or more stories on autism, from the Struggling Parent profile to the Amazing Aspie interview. There are also familiar names in the media stories, the known people from the autistic…
The Autistic Me Podcast, long-delayed but almost ready to launch. I am writing to seek your support and possible participation in my latest advocacy effort. Are you an autistic individual who wants to share a story? Are you a partner of an autistic individual, and might you both want to…
There are times when I’m playing solitaire on my phone or computer and realize there has been a good move available for at least several draws from the deck. These moments frustrate me, as I have to admit to not seeing what is suddenly so obvious. Move the cards, open…
Duke University historian Nancy MacLean is currently a trendy historian who spent 2017 touring and promoting her book Democracy in Chains. The book has some serious scholarship flaws, which have been addressed by Henry Farrell and Steven Teles on Vox, a website considered progressive on most issues. MacLean has made the stunning…
When did I ‘become’ the autistic me? That’s a complex question and one that raises questions about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders from the American Psychiatric Association. This post, however, does not engage in a debate over the DSM-IV and DSM5 criteria for autism. Instead, I wanted to…
Atypical students are, at least according to current data, attracted to the STEM fields. Neurodiverse individuals feel safer in those academic and professional fields with concrete questions and problems, with clear approaches to best answers. Autism is, by definition, a concrete form of processing information and a communication disorder. We think differently…