Review: Neurodiversity, Autism, and Recovery from Sexual Violence: A practical resource for all those working to support victim-survivors

March 19, 2021January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Sonny Hallett twitter.com/scrappapertiger [Image: Book Cover. Black text at the top reads, Neurodiversity, Autism & Recovery from Sexual Violence Under is an illustration a seated purple figure holding an armful of pink and purple blossoms. More blossoms surround them on the ground and in the air. smaller black text underneath reads, by Dr Susy Ridout, Illustrated by Catherine Haywood Even smaller black text at the bottom reads,”A practical resource for all those working to support victim-survivors”] CN: discussion of sexual violence and abuse Considering how many autistic people struggle with mental health difficulties related to trauma, there is really very little in the way of resources, let alone good practical guides, for those supporting autistic people dealing with traumatic experiences. What little there is is also so often about us rather than by us, and written from rather clinical and pathologising perspectives. Susy Ridout’s book Neurodiversity, Autism, and Recovery from…

Drawing of a Sonny Hallett, a half-Chinese, half-white person with medium-short Blond hair swept back from their face, wearing glasses, and looking over their right shoulder. Two white spectral figures rise from behind and above the person.

alexithymia

Alexithymia and Autism: When Everyone Is Speaking a Different Language

March 31, 2019April 25, 2022 by Sonny Hallett

Autistic people often find it hard to identify and describe our emotions (alexithymia) partly because we have not been exposed to the right language to learn how to do it.

Disability

Meltdowns: How Autistic Humans Experience Crises

March 11, 2019January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Sonny Hallett medium.com/@sonyahallett This post is about what meltdowns feel like to me, what impacts they’ve had, and what I’m learning about them. Other autistic people may have very different experiences, but if you are autistic yourself, I hope you will find something relatable about my descriptions and illustrations, or something helpful or encouraging in the things I’m learning. If you’re not autistic, I hope this gives you some insight into some aspects of a different way of being, different ways that humans can experience crises, and how your reactions could help or hinder. —- I’ve been thinking about autistic meltdowns lately, and how little they’re understood. Too much of what society hears about meltdowns, and what gets written, is about autistic kids, their experiences related by parents and professionals. Of course, many autistic people have also talked about their meltdown experiences very eloquently, but as with so many aspects…