If I would have had access to some magical time machine for procuring books when I was a teenager, it would have spared me many surprises, and I might have been able to avoid a few detours on my journey through life to date.
David Gray-Hammond links the systemic factors that contribute autistic insomnia to the pervasive fear of death many of us experience.
Following the trail of where Hans Asperger picked up the term autism I ended up reading a fascinating 1919 German book by Eugen Bleuler titled ‘Autistic and undisciplined thinking in medicine, and how to overcome it’. The content is not at all what you would think. The sands of pathologisation have shifted significantly.
Ellie Rebarbar looks at the link between autism and addiction and how addiction resources fail autistic people.
As a nonspeaker, Trevor Byrd internalized the religious dogma he heard his whole life in silent dedication. As he got older, his values conflicted with his rigid observance of Catholic canon. The support he received from his mom helped him to keep his faith and be true to his values.
From an autistic perspective cognitive dissonance manifests not in terms of contradictory beliefs, but in terms of complete alienation from the mainstream culture in industrialised societies. Most of the so-called foundations of our civilisation amount to a delusional level of wishful thinking. Our society is locked into paradigmatic inertia by fear and busyness.
Nick Barry is a nonspeaker who has his world opened up by gaining access to communication, but his emotional needs were not met until he was enrolled in counseling.
Amanda Madru talks about the intersection of religion and autism and how being autistic made her susceptible to religious trauma.
Sahit Bhagavatula is a 14-year-old nonspeaking autistic who won a writing contest with this essay and his reflections on the covid-19 pandemic.
What does it mean to be an autistic adult? A spouse? A home? A career? Or is it a constant battle to be accepted and working beyond the point of exhaustion into repeated burnouts?
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