At the end of every semester I experience a sense of failure and wonder how I could do better. The insecurity and anxiety paralyze me. I read the evaluations and reviews, but instead of noticing that I score higher than university or program averages (and medians, too), my mind locks…
The Autistic Me
For the last few months I haven’t had much time for blogging, or even quiet reflection on life. This was an overwhelming semester, and I am surprised that I managed to function through the last 16 weeks without total collapse. Partial collapse has followed, though. This semester was too much.…
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…
As readers know, blogging frequency varies with life events and schedules. This semester, my schedule allows little time for blogging — or even taking much-needed breaks to recharge my body and mind. The list of activities remains long, as always. I’ve mentioned my to-do list many times on this blog…
One of my personality quirks is that I like clear delineation of my space in the world. I don’t like fuzzy barriers between the bits of the world I occupy and the rest of (human) world. I don’t mind if my yard leads into a forest. That’s great. But I do…
As a professor, sometimes I am faced with conflicting impulses: positive advocacy vs. negative reality. Like many advocates, I wish to remind people that most autistics are not violent, bullies, or any more risky than other people in classrooms or workplaces. If anything, people with special needs are more likely…
Perfection and compulsive organization drive me to over-prepare for the courses I teach. I’ve found that some instructors, especially at the college and university level, are comfortable with a loose seminar approach to teaching, I like to have lots of notes, outlines, slides, and handouts. Without the structure, I would…
Although I am complaining lately that my syllabi, lecture notes, quizzes, and homework prompts have yet to be finished, the reality is that I look forward to the start of school and the return to scheduled, predictable days… and a paycheck. I’d be content sitting at home and writing. That…
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)…