How to Create a Neurodiversity-Affirming Classroom
Promoting a neurodiversity-affirming classroom amidst the struggles of today’s educational system is not easy, but taking some of these practical steps can make a big difference for students
ADHD
Mindfulness Exercises for Neurodivergent People
Mindfulness means you are fully aware and in the present moment. You’re not thinking about the past or trying to predict the future—you are just experiencing the moment for what it is, using your senses.
Questioning the Pathological Part of PDA: A Talk With Dr. Deborah Budding
The thing about PDA or “Pathological Demand Avoidance” is that there are a lot of reasons why someone would resist doing something, and it’s often more complex than it appears on the surface.
I Embrace My Robot Overlords (and ChatGPT)
One of the positives of ChatGPT’s engaging with me on topics related to neurodiversity, access, activism, and autism is that I am giving GPT a chance to learn an Autistic perspective from an Autistic person.
Challenging Kickstarter’s Support of a “Torture Device”: Interview With Advocate Rory McCarthy
Anne Borden King twitter.com/AgainstCures The NOIT device in use [image: Screen capture from a video, showing the back of a person’s neck with a small buzzing device attached with a gel pack or some such.] The NOIT product was first flagged by Rory McCarthy, an advocate in the ADHD and autistic communities. The device is attached
Are Co-occurring Conditions Part of Autism?
Photo © NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | Flickr / Creative Commons [image: Photo of two neutron stars ripping each other apart.] Maxfield Sparrow unstrangemind.com Sometimes when I’m talking with someone about autism it feels like we’re talking about two different things. For example, I’ve had countless conversations that go something like this: “You’re nothing
When Autistic People Have Epilepsy
Photo © Ivo Dimitrov | Flickr / Creative Commons [image: Illustration of a human brain, in profile, made of colorful cogs in various sizes and shapes.] Maxfield Sparrow unstrangemind.com [Content note: This post discusses suicidality, mental health, and death.] In the early 1990s, I was engaged to a man with epilepsy. He had tonic-clonic seizures
Autism and Psychiatric Medication: Caution Advised
Photo © RoseFireRising | Flickr / Creative Commons [image: Mandala made out of different colored and shaped pills, on a dark blue background.] Kit Mead kpagination.wordpress.com [Note: This post discusses anxiety, medications, and chemical restraints. It is meant to caution against overmedication and about risk factors in medication for autistic people, with the understanding that
When Medication Is the Right Choice
Jennifer Byde Myers www.jennyalice.com Jack is asleep in my bed right now. He wandered in while I was folding clothes; I pulled back the covers and asked if he wanted to snuggle. He’s non-verbal, but he made a happy sound I know to be yes, and from across the room he leapt in, buried his