Too THIS To Be THAT

Surveying The Terrain IV: Autism Training for Counsellors, Social Workers and Allied Health Professionals

Between June 2020 – Feb 2021, I participated in over a dozen online surveys relating to adult autistic experience (more info here). Most were research projects focused on the very things I was living at the time – mental health & suicidality, autistic burnout, financial not-so-well-being, among others – and the surveys provided me a […]

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Surveying The Terrain III: ARCAP Research Priorities of Autistic People

Between June 2020 – Feb 2021, I participated in over a dozen online surveys relating to adult autistic experience (more info here). Most were research projects focused on the very things I was experiencing at the time – mental health & suicidality, autistic burnout, financial not-so-well-being, among others – and the surveys provided me a

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How Do I Feel About Empathy?

‘Aspergers have no empathy’.  Of course, I understand this statement is an over-simplification of much data and some consistent patterns, and I use it here for dramatic affect.  This dangerous statement has been reinforced in clinical diagnostic attitudes, misconstrued via public stupidity and perpetuated as meaning ‘All autistic people, especially those ‘with’ Aspergers, are insensitive,

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Autistic attention IV: Specialised Interest vs Social Disinterest

In other posts, I’ve touched on some of the different ways I experience my own ‘autistic attention’ – ranging from very helpful (eg heightened creative focus, problem-solving, mindful awareness) to hinderance (eg anxiety, depression, rumination).  As described in Part I, regarding my years of obsessive drawing, when this hyperfocus is channelled into a particular topic,

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Autistic attention III: Patternmaking & the Curse of the Million Bits

Human brains, alike the brains housed in other animals, are intrinsically geared towards patternmaking as a fundamental survival function; via the interface of whatever senses are available to us, our brains (and nervous systems) are constantly scanning the environment, receiving sensory (and extra-sensory) signals, from which we unconsciously select, interpret, classify, and translate into smaller

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Autistic attention II: Positive distraction vs denial

A feature of Aspergers I know I share in common with many other autistic people, is a pronounced sense of ‘authenticity’.  Put another way, I have a kinaesthetic response of ‘wrongness’ if something seems inauthentic, fraudulent, pretentious, insincere, unjust, unethical or patently untrue.  This trait is well-documented in research into Aspergers behaviours, and voiced in

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