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Life

Stimming

Note: I’ve elected to start with discussing some aspects of the criteria for diagnosis in the DSM-5, out of convenience, before branching out to less medicalized/deficit-based facets of the conversation. Please don’t take this to mean that I think the DSM criteria are the most accurate or complete explanation of the autistic experience, nor is this a complete discussion of those criteria. — Another one of the perhaps better-known features of autism is mentioned in criterion B-1: “stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects,… Read More »Stimming

Relationships

Note: I’ve elected to start with discussing some aspects of the criteria for diagnosis in the DSM-5, out of convenience, before branching out to less medicalized/deficit-based facets of the conversation. Please don’t take this to mean that I think the DSM criteria are the most accurate or complete explanation of the autistic experience, nor is this a complete discussion of those criteria. — Criterion A-3 of the DSM criteria for autism spectrum disorder refers to “deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships.” When the psychiatrist… Read More »Relationships

Nonverbal Communicative Behaviours

Note: I’ve elected to start with discussing some aspects of the criteria for diagnosis in the DSM-5, out of convenience, before branching out to less medicalized/deficit-based facets of the conversation. Please don’t take this to mean that I think the DSM criteria are the most accurate or complete explanation of the autistic experience, nor is this a complete discussion of those criteria. — You may have heard that many autistic people struggle with making eye contact. Criterion A-2 in the DSM criteria for autism spectrum… Read More »Nonverbal Communicative Behaviours

Social-Emotional Reciprocity

Note: I’ve elected to start with discussing some aspects of the criteria for diagnosis in the DSM-5, out of convenience, before branching out to less medicalized/deficit-based facets of the conversation. Please don’t take this to mean that I think the DSM criteria are the most accurate or complete explanation of the autistic experience, nor is this a complete discussion of those criteria. — As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a hard time starting conversations. I also have a hard time continuing conversations.… Read More »Social-Emotional Reciprocity

Autism in My Life

I’ve spent a lot of the last three years learning about autism and figuring out what it might represent in my lived experience. When I started telling people about my diagnosis, I learned pretty quickly that most people don’t have years of learning and reflection to pull from in understanding this. In fact, most people have a pretty shaky grasp on what autism is at all. I certainly did, prior to 2023. So, I decided to put together a series of blog posts covering some of what… Read More »Autism in My Life

Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month

Just in time for Autism Awareness (or Acceptance) Month (April), I got to celebrate my autistic awareness (or acceptance) with my very own official diagnosis. This has been a long time coming. I started looking into the possibility that I might be autistic at the beginning of 2023. It’s the main reason that my blog posts since then have been much sparser than they were in 2022. It was hard to find the motivation to write about my mental health when I couldn’t be as… Read More »Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month

40

2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. I always thought people made too much of a big deal of 40. Now it’s here, and I’m not sure how I feel anymore. Part of me is looking back at all I haven’t accomplished in the last 40 years and blaming myself pretty heavily. I can see some pretty big mistakes on my part, and I can see some problems… Read More »40

The Ups and Downs of Knowing Your Limits

2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. It’s been months since my last post. I haven’t really felt like I have anything to say, or if I do, it’s in the form of a song or a story. And I promise, there’s movement on the album and the novel. But recently I realized I did have something I wanted to say, and it wasn’t going to fit neatly… Read More »The Ups and Downs of Knowing Your Limits

Out of My Depth

2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. Imagine this. For the sake of argument, you are not a very strong swimmer. But you do like to be in the water, so you get yourself an ENORMOUS flutter board and you take it out to the lake or the pool and you flutter your way out of the shallows. Then you stand on your enormous flutter board. And it’s… Read More »Out of My Depth

Fire

You ever feel on such creative fire because you’re more than 30,000 words into a manuscript and almost through the demo process for your second EP and then you started a writing workshop facilitated by your favourite teacher from high school and you forget about your blog and don’t write anything for six weeks? Maybe? No? Well, that’s where I’m at. Let’s break it down by project. First off, the novel. I’ve done NaNoWriMo (https://nanowrimo.org) twice before and, although fun, the output from that has… Read More »Fire