It centres the experiences of neurotypical family members and disregards the Autistic child’s experience — I came across the term glass child for the first time recently on a Facebook ad for one of those parental courses for “challenging” behaviour of Autistic children. That should give you some idea of where this is going. What is a Glass Child? The term is used to identify…

An Autistic perspective This is not the first time I’ve written about anxiety here. It stands to reason since it’s such a constant in my life; an ever-present background hum. The thing about the background hum is that I never know when it is going to build to a rumble…

And stop wasting women’s time and money — I’m tired of looking for an ordinary product only to find that what I assumed to be a simple task has been complicated by the gendering of said product. I’m certain this demarcation of consumer goods is becoming more pronounced with each year. It’s a dirty little alliance where capitalism…

I looked closely at the situations in which I needed alcohol — I don’t drink alcohol very often these days and sometimes I go for weeks at a time without it. But at no stage did I make a decision to reduce my alcohol intake. …

What comes afterwards is hard work — As with other choices that go against the grain of society’s expectations, you don’t go no contact with a parent unless you absolutely have to. Unless it is crucial to your mental health and emotional wellbeing. In August this year, my father’s death from a terminal illness unleashed ancient family…

I’m finding better ways to use my skills and energy — Two months ago I parted ways with my employer of eighteen years and I have no plans to find a new job. I didn’t just outgrow the role I was in, but the notion of being employed and working within the institutional structures of the workplace. …

Christmas is the season for sensory overload — I recently wrote an article about ‘quiet hour’, an initiative in Australia (and probably other countries) where supermarkets and other public venues provide a low sensory environment for an hour a week. Some are providing it more frequently in December as a salve to the pre-Christmas madness. Fluorescent lights are…

I’ve mined it for a bunch of my stories — Facebook is above all a massive time-suck. It’s power to distract sends me down one rabbit hole after another. Other times it’s more like I’m just kicking the dirt around them. Either way, it’s rich pickings for writing. It’s where I can engage with life at its most random, idiotic…

My local aquatic center tells me all I need to know about how men and women share space — I was doing my regular lap swim recently, when the woman I’d been sharing the lane with happened to be stopped at the end of the pool as I pulled up to it. As I turned in her direction by way of acknowledgment, she said: “Swimming with you is an…