auditory processing Archives — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

Book cover with a black background. At the top are planets of various sizes. Underneath is an unclothed person with light skin and dark hair, on their knees with their arms spread. Rainbow-colored waves are coming out of their head, and water-like waves are coming off of their arms.

Reviewing Resonance: An Autistic SciFi Novel by Dora Raymaker

June 12, 2022 • By Shawna Spain

Dora Raymaker’s new novel revolves around marginalized folks finding their voice and their place in this world—through magical sci-fi lovely weirdness, but still, they find it!

Photo from the perspective of someone standing at a train station. To the left is a small transit shelter structure with six vertically stacked square translucent windows on the inner portion, and an array of larger translucent windows framed with bright red crosspieces. There is a curved roof overhang visible at the top of the structure. A sidewalk runs directly ahead, patterned with the shadows of trees and architectural features. To the right are tracks, a road with vehicles on it, and a line of green trees, in that order. The sky is dotted with a stylized pattern of detailed leaves, and the image overall is high contrast to emphasize details and edges. Photo © Anne Corwin

Please Stop Playing “Gotcha” With Autistic Accommodations

January 18, 2022 • By Anne Corwin

Pro tip: it’s fine to want to understand your autistic friends’ sensory and accommodations issues, etc., but please don’t frame it as a “Gotcha.”

Photo of a pair of blue insertable low-gain hearing aids lying on a dark brown wood-grain surface.

Two Autistics’ Experiences With Low-Gain Hearing Aids For Auditory Processing Problems

August 9, 2021 • By Naomi M. and endever*

Overall, the hearing aids have been hugely helpful. It’s easier to participate in conversations and less tiring. I no longer feel like someone’s spraying me with a hose full of confusion and painful sounds—I’m just interacting! It’s also much easier to be around background noise.

Photo of Shona Davison, a white woman with straight shoulder-length dark brown hair. She is looking to her left, and smiling.

Why I Do Not Hate Autism

July 24, 2018 • By Shona Davison

Do autistic people suffer? Sadly yes, lots of us do. Do we suffer from autism? No, I do not think so. That is why I do not hate autism.

Headphones As Accommodations: My Letter to Bose

April 18, 2016 • By Tito Martin-Nemtin

For someone like me—so sensitive to noise that I can actually perceive the bio-mechanical sounds of my own ears ringing aloud—my headphones are an incredible blessing.

Too Noisy

April 5, 2016 • By Shannon Des Roches Rosa

TPGA is observing Autism Acceptance Month by featuring accounts from autistic people about the differences accommodations (or lack thereof) make in their lives. Today’s story is from Kathryn Hedges, about how noisy environments can disrupt her ability to process and function. Kathryn Hedges www.khedges.com I don’t fit the autistic stereotypes people learn from “autism awareness”

Autistics, Media, and Misrepresentation

October 4, 2013 • By Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Paula Durbin-Westby is an Autistic advocate and an autism parent. She and her son recently appeared in the PBS P.O.V. documentary Neurotypical, a film meant to challenge public perceptions of Autistic people as well as allow Autistics to represent themselves. Paula’s portrayal in the final version of the film, however, was not at all what

Photograph of a field of tightly packed snail shells.

(Not) a Little Slow

June 4, 2013 • By Cynthia Kim

Literally speaking, I guess I am slow. My verbal processing—both receptive and expressive—is impaired to the point that I often need more time than the average person to understand or respond to someone.