SPECIALISTERNE NETWORK

International Specialisterne Community

Specialisterne Foundation

Specialisterne Foundation is a non-for-profit organization that works to enable one million jobs for people with autism and similar challenges. The foundation owns Specialisterne Denmark and the Specialisterne concept and trademark.

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Therapy

Many people have asked me how I managed the stressors of graduate school as a neurodivergent. I credit therapy. I may not have needed to rely so heavily on therapy if I’d have disclosed my neurodivergence to the university, but I didn’t acknowledge my neurodivergence...

Twinship

People stare at me, often. When I’m with my sibling, people stare more often. We’re identical twins, and when we’re together people at us constantly. Never do I hear about microaggressions directed towards twins, though they are common.  People other us, and the...

Sensory Gating

Neurotypical nervous systems, wired for complex social lives, allow for effective sensory gating. This means most humans automatically filter out stimuli deemed unimportant (background noise), so they can process sensory information of interest. (1)  Autistic people...

Aloneliness

The worldwide need to quarantine has invited a wide focus on loneliness and its effects on mental health. The pandemic has also forced many people into situations that cause aloneliness. Aloneliness refers to a person’s craving for time to themselves and is the...

Autism and Language

I recall saying in an interview that I see myself as autistic rather than a person with autism because I see autism as who I am rather than as something I have. I then learned that most autistic people see their identity similarly: most autists prefer identity-first...