Blogs & Insights
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...
Autistic Gender
Gender is a social construct, which means a person’s gender is determined neither by genetics or society but by the individual. Gender is not sex, for while sex determines whether a person is female, male, or intersex, gender doesn’t determine anything. People...
Disclosure
As discrimination is common for anyone who lives on the margins, disclosing neurodivergence is risky. That the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), created to protect disabled people from workplace discrimination, prohibits employers from discriminating based on...
Autistic Interests
The autistic mind is a monotropic mind. We’re pulled strongly towards our interests. Compared to our neurotypical peers, autists have an increased ability to focus on tasks and activities that interest us. Autistic interests, commonly termed special interests,...
Dyscalculia
Many are familiar with dyslexia; those of this neurotype struggle with words. A lesser known neurotype is dyscalculia, one of my neurotypes. Dyscalculia, a Latin term that translates to “counting badly”, disables me from math-related concepts. In college, despite...
Divergent Minds
When I disclose my autism, I do so out of a sense of pride, and I don’t tend to think of myself as disclosing so much as sharing a crucial aspect of my identity, the way a person may talk about their race or gender, or share their profession or place of origin. I...
Employing and Empowering Neurodivergents: Some Solutions
Some employers are looking to hire a certain number of neurodivergents, often autistic neurodivergents, but an employer will disservice themselves and their employees if they hire someone simply because they feel the need to hire someone of a particular neurotype,...
Employing and Empowering Neurodivergents: Sensory
Although divergent thinkers enter the workforce with an array of natural advantages, neurodivergence is, for many, a hidden disability, as society is built for neurotypical minds, rather than neurodivergent ones. According to the social model of disability, followed...