Tracey J.’s Post

I've experienced alexithymia all my life but have never had words to describe it so it makes sense to neurotypical people, especially close family and romantic partners. Now I can just forward them this article as a resource! For all of those who know and/or support autistic individuals, please take a moment to read this.

This is one of the hardest parts of autism. Combined with the shame from ADHD struggles and confusion around NT sarcasm, plus childhood trauma (loss of my brother) I think my catchphrase for much of my childhood and 20s was “are you angry with me?”. I said it so often (and meant it genuinely) that it ironically wound people up… :( It is now something that has become a strength at work! Because identifying emotions has been difficult, I have learned to help others to do it well. I am pragmatic about it. It’s interesting how powerful it can be to pause a group during a workshop and ask them to name their feelings. Typically these may range from “excited” to “frightened”, from “curious” to “embarrassed” for the “SAME” event happening in a room. Talking about how we are experiencing an event is an extremely powerful way of rapidly building high trust and high performing teams. There is nothing I enjoy more than getting my hands on dysfunctional or low-performing groups of people and supporting them to become high performing. And the ability to do that has been hard won - but is a direct result of the work I have had to do because of this very common autistic trait. #NeurodiversityRocks #ActuallyAutistic #ADHD

Do you believe autism/ADHD/Dyslexia etc. are deficits, or benefits? April is autism awareness month. One of the topics we promote is Neurodivergence as benefit. Imagine a world with no Albert Einstein, Greta Thunberg, Richard Branson, Marie Curie, Michelangelo, Mozart, Abraham Lincoln, all of whom are/were on the spectrum. In our Substack piece recently we cited ongoing research into the fascination topic of Neurodivergence, specifically Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Notice the last term. Here's hoping the disorder part can be replaced soon, possibly with the simple designation Identity? Let's move the needle toward acceptance, and recognition that different = good. #neurodivergence #autism #autismawareness

Autism Acceptance: A New Understanding of Neurodivergence Be neurodiversity affirming. Accept people as they are and support them. https://ow.ly/UI2T50RpMpk #neurodivergence #understandingneurodivergence

Dive deeper into the complexities of #autism this month in our 2-part blog series. Part 1 explores Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) and Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), shedding light on often overlooked aspects of the autistic experience. Read part 1 here: https://bit.ly/3WduLW9 #AutismAcceptance #Neurodivergent #MentalHealth

A serious question here. I've been thinking about this one over the weekend. If neurotypicals are better at change and adapting than #autistic individuals, why don't we see more #inclusiveness? I'd assume if the perspective is that individuals with #autism are resistant to change, neurotypicals would be more accommodating of change. But many like myself have yet to see this. The myth is that autistic people do not like change, but all I tend to see in places is an autistic person changing for the neurotypical world. I think autistic individuals are far more accommodating; otherwise, we wouldn't see the prevalent practice of 'masking and camouflaging of autism ', where individuals suppress their autistic traits to fit into the neurotypical world. Our degree of change is not just about fitting into many places that are not designed for us. It's about changing for you, and not being accommodated due to our #disability. We need your understanding and support. Just a thought... #ActuallyAutistic #AutismAdvocate #Neurodiversity #Neurodivergent

They call it a miracle trial, I call it bullsh*t. Trigger warning: ableism. Autism cannot be cured and doesn’t need a cure. It’s not a virus, or a bacteria, or anything of those sorts. It’s neurodevelopmental. I was born autistic and I will die autistic. I’m not gonna go into why this trial is nonsensical (hello, a 2 people sample? Seriously?). I don’t have the energy. What I wanted to highlight is how the parents believed the scientists. They’ve said: “Through this approach, we have witnessed the radical recovery of one daughter - who presents today as a joyful, engaging, spirited, extremely bright four-year-old.” It's not a radical recovery because there was nothing to recover from. Perhaps this 4 year old didn’t present as “joyful, engaging, spirited and extremely bright” 🙄 because her way of showing that is different from neurotypicals. And because she was probably lacking proper support. I'm living proof of this. I was depressed until I left Spain and came to the UK. Why? Simple. I couldn’t regulate in Spain. When I started regulating in the UK, depression went away. But (shocker) autism didn't go away. I’m still autistic. It’s sad that these "scientists" are using vulnerable parents to reach whatever their goal is. There’s nothing wrong with being autistic. Stop trying to find a cure for something that doesn’t need it. If you’re a parent of an autistic child, you’re not alone. Check the The National Autistic Society for more information about autism, or approach autistic people on social media who are open to talking with you. I’m one of those people, so feel free to reach out to me if you wanna talk! PS: You can check Charlie Kiley's recent post about this. She provides an overview of the research! _______ #AutismAcceptance #AutismEmpowerment #Neurodiversity #ActuallyAutistic #Parents #Parenthood Image description: An image of 2 news articles about the research, calling it a 'miracle' trial and saying that autism can be reversed.

The date is April 2nd, 2023. This means another World Autism Day (part of the wider Autism Acceptance Month) has arrived, and as the month progresses, we will, as a community, share in the triumphs and comfort one another in our losses. This month can be a bitter tasting pill for many, with World Autism Day representing a day that should be ours. #actuallyautistic #Autism #autismacceptance #autismacceptancemonth #autismawareness #autismawarenessmonth #autistic #government #legislation #neurodivergence #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #neurofuturism #neurofuturist #neuronormativity #normative #normativeviolence #normativity #oppression #power #powerstructure #worldautismday

 Founder of the neurodivergent movement dies   Steve Silverman is widely considered one of the founders of the neurodivergent movement. His book, Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently (2015) has revolutionised how we think and engage with people with an autism diagnosis. https://lnkd.in/gw4kEZBz   Steve died on August 29th this year aged 66.   Australian sociologist, Judy Singer, is likewise one of the founders of the neurodiversity movement. Her book is NeuroDiversity: The Birth of an Idea (2017) https://lnkd.in/gDGfPUcj     This article from The Conversation provides an overview of Silverman’s work and the revolution he started in terms of how we think about people with autism. Very interesting read.