Many autistic people find accepting compliments and being kind to ourselves difficult, especially if our experience has been that other people lambast us if we dare to exist openly while autistic. Struggling with self-acceptance is a vulnerability we autistics would often prefer to hide. Personally, I used to dismiss any and all compliments. If someone...

I am cautiously pleased about autistic representation in the current streaming era, in which shows like the excellent Hulu series Dinosaur, co-created by and starring autistic Scottish comedian Ashley Storrie, are balancing out stereotype-laced series like Atypical. Dinosaur features Ashley as Nina, a Glasgow paleontologist (dino scientist) whose life...

For the majority of its 53 minute runtime, ASD Band: The Movie offers a straightforward, fly on the wall account of a band writing and recording songs while preparing for the first live gig. This might sound like a criticism, or at least faint praise. If the documentary were about another bog standard rock group who has seen this kind of cinematic treatment...

What does it mean to have a sensory-friendly home life? Our senior editor Shannon Rosa shares her perspective as a parent of young people with pronounced and varied sensory support profiles. She also invited writer, artist, and podcaster Johnny Profane to balance her take with his lived experience as an autistic elder. Here’s what they both have to...

Sensory Icks: The Tags, the Seams, the Itch—And Everything in Between Have you ever had a clothing tag itch on the back of your neck? Me too. For many neurodivergent people, a tag can feel like a cactus or sandpaper rubbing against their skin. While other items can trigger a similar sensation, tags are the ultimate “sensory icks” factor for me. I can’t...

What is autism, you may ask? When you search on Google, you may find dozens of articles telling you many different things about the neurological difference. Essentially, autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that affects the way speech, coordination, language development, and motor skills are structured in someone’s life. The Latin word for autism...