
The Unexplored Link Between Autism and Substance Abuse
Ellie Rebarbar looks at the link between autism and addiction and how addiction resources fail autistic people.
Ellie Rebarbar looks at the link between autism and addiction and how addiction resources fail autistic people.
I completely replaced who I was. My entire life was about drugs and alcohol. It was literally all I spoke about. All I thought about. All of my hopes and dreams washed away and were replaced by what I thought was a “lifestyle choice.”
David Gray-Hammond dispels the myth that autistic people are just adult children incapable of doing self-destructive, violent, or criminal behavior and asks society to consider their role in the circumstances that lead up to a vulnerable and traumatized adulthood.
People see addicts in recovery as “a different sort of addict” to those who have not found recovery. This is invalidating and untrue.
Substance abuse addiction was like an abusive relationship for David Gray-Hammond, and escaping that relationship was a difficult necessity if he wanted to survive.
David Gray-Hammond reviews Joshua Corwin’s poetry anthology, Becoming Vulnerable, a collection of poems documenting the experience of being an autistic addict and finding recovery.
“We live in a world where both neurodivergent behaviours and addiction are seen as a moral failing. This makes opening up next-to-impossible without significant risk of negative repercussions.”
When you’re autistic, it’s easy to begin to lean on alcohol or drugs to help buffer the sensory and social anxiety of group outings. David Gray-Hammond on being autistic and a recovered addict.
No one is talking about autism and addiction, so recovering addict and autistic self-advocate David Gray-Hammond is leading the charge and starting the conversation.
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