Challenging stereotypes and describing some lesser-known Autistic traits — A lot of non-conforming and marginalized people are misdiagnosed in healthcare, (including mental health) and psychological diagnoses. This includes female-presenting people (including cis-women), transgender folks-basically anyone in the LGBTQIA2+ community — people of colour, people impacted by poverty, and many others. Identifying someone as Autistic can be difficult, especially if…

PBIS Is Just ABA With Different Letters — PBIS P.B.I.S. stands for Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports, and was the foundation for Manitoba Education’s 2011 policy document, Towards Inclusion: Supporting Positive Behaviour in Manitoba Classrooms. That’s not a typo, the document intended as a guide for creating inclusive schools and classrooms has its roots in behaviourism. The year isn’t…

A real-life example of what ableism and micro-aggressions look like in action — Death by a thousand paper cuts For the record: I am white, which gives me privilege I did not earn. I have not experienced systemic racism. I am Deaf, neurodivergent, and female-presenting, so I have indeed experienced ableism, audism, and sexism. …

Thanks for catching up, academia. — A recent study concluded that ADHD on its own was not a significant cause of mood disorders or mood-related symptoms. When the researchers controlled for functional problems and executive functioning, the correlation dropped from 48% down to only 15%. …

It’s a gong show, but still the best — We’re one week in to our 5-week epic adventure, and it’s been amazing so far. We’ve had a couple hiccups, including one fairly major hurdle before we even got started. Trying to get meds for a long trip They sure don’t make it easy As I’ve been sharing, we’re going on a five-week epic road and camping trip. …

So don’t forget me when I’m gone! — The great purge Last month I was getting really excited, I had surpassed nine thousand followers, and was steadily getting closer to my goal of 10K. Then the purge happened. Medium got rid of a huge number of spam and fake accounts, for which I am grateful — it’s not as though their…

I am fortunate enough to have read more than 20 books over the past two months, so I thought I would share my top 3 — We soon depart for the longest and most epic part of our summer road and camping trip. I’m excited. I’m not at all prepared. I shouldn't’ say that, I have taken care of a very important detail: I took a large stack of books out of the library to read…

They are more connected and similar than you may think — Near the end of last year, I wrote an article outlining many of the ways in which we understand ADHD to be primarily caused by genetics. My writing was sparked by Gabor Maté’s insistence that ADHD is caused by trauma. It’s not. There’s no evidence of a causal link, but…

Both are inaccurate and useless at best, harmful at worst — External and internalized ableism The Autistic community has explained (and explained some more) how and why functioning labels are unhelpful, inaccurate, and often harmful. Many just ignore us, but those who do listen seem to understand the words, but not the concept. …