Election day in the United States is only a few days away. I've voted in every election for the past few years, ever since I was naturalized, so I have a little bit of experience. If you can't vote by mail or as an absentee, you'll have to go physically. Useful tips ( Read more... )

We don't actually know that much about hyperlexia, even though it's fairly common. Hyperlexia is a weird cross between learning disability and splinter skill, and it’s found on the autism spectrum quite a lot. Hyperlexia is associated with atypical development, especially developmental disabilities, but it can be found in otherwise typically ( Read more... )

This entry contains spoilers for Disney's TangledSo what happens to Rapunzel after she gets her happy ending? She's out of the tower where she's spent her whole life. Mother Gothel is long-overdue dead and dusted. She finally gets to meet people. She gets to have her birth family. She finds out she's royalty. The guy she loves just proved how much ( Read more... )

I'm in the process of trying to get a case manager, possibly an aide of some kind. I've applied at the department of developmental disabilities; their waiting list is months long, and I'd need to make an appeal because I had an unusually late diagnosis, since as a child I was denied an evaluation for autism by a mother in deep denial and probably ( Read more... )

Today at around two in the afternoon I was sleeping peacefully in bed, as my wonky circadian rhythm demanded. My alarm radio was going off and had been for about a half hour. I heard a knock at the door. It was the police, doing a welfare check. Apparently, my mother had called them and demanded that they check on me and get me to call her ( Read more... )

I'm not coping nearly as well as I used to in the past ( Read more... )

I am autistic, and my autism is not separate from my identity. "Autistic" is part of what defines me, just like "college student" and "American" and "short". If it's okay for me to say that being female is part of who I am, then why can't I say that about autism? Or is it because disability is something that's so terrible that we need to reject it ( Read more... )

I feel like I have to talk about personal stuff today. If you're here for autism-related rants, I guess this qualifies, but it's much more personal and less theoretical ( Read more... )

I play Minecraft online with some friends. We have microphones so we can chat, but I often find it overwhelming and mute the speakers. If it goes on long enough, every word feels like someone's slapping me across the face, which obviously is not the intent of the usually chatty and friendly goings-on; so it's better for me to just mute it and fall ( Read more... )

Response to Those with ALS redefine what it means to be aliveAn interesting article, and it takes a perspective that's very refreshing in this climate of disability-as-tragedy. Comments on the article, though, still use the tragedy model. Someone with ALS may be happy, surrounded by family, doing purposeful, useful things with their time. But, ( Read more... )