Many of the autistic writers with children I’ve read were diagnosed later in life. For some, it was the diagnosis of a child that led to their diagnosis. These autistic adults had “Aha!” moments as they tried to help their children obtain appropriate supports and services. People commenting on the…
Tag: perceptions
“You need to smile more.” Professor in graduate school. “You need to stop seeing all the negatives around you.” Colleague at a university. “Why are you always depressed?” Teacher at a conference. The perception that autistics are depressed is a common stereotype. Commenting on things I want to fix, noticing…
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…
There are times when nothing makes sense. The universe, despite its patterns, seems random, chaotic, and even cruel. Yet, reality simply is. We can study statistics, predict possible outcomes, develop complex models for nearly every contained system… yet on the personal level those models are useless. We can predict that…