Category: Autism

  • Part 13: Autistic Routine and Cognitive Load

    I want to suggest a particular way of looking at the autistic insistence on routine, sameness, and ritualised behaviours. Rather than seeing these traits as things that need explaining in themselves, I want to examine the possibility that they are an adaptive strategy: a long-term way of managing the heightened cognitive demands of living as…

  • Part 12: Autism and ABA Therapy

    Hello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. Does being autistic require therapy? The idea that autism requires some kind of medical or therapeutic intervention is controversial. This controversy is related to a war of ideas being waged over autism, which, in its simplest form, is a conflict over whether autism is a disorder, or…

  • Part 11: Autism: Is Self-Diagnosis Valid?

    Hello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. One of the most hotly debated autism-related subjects on social media is that of self-diagnosis. Powerful arguments are regularly made both in favour of and against self-diagnosis. But many of these debates miss a central point. Here, I will examine the most robust positions on either side…

  • Part 9: Do Vaccines Cause Autism?

    Hello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. One of the most provocative questions about autism is: Do vaccines cause autism? The answer to that question involves one of the biggest scandals in the history of the autism field.

  • Part 8: Empathy and Autism

    ello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. One of the most damaging myths about autism is that autistic people lack empathy. Here, I will be unpicking that myth.

  • Part 7: Theory of Mind

    Hello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. There are many inaccurate and harmful myths about autism and autistic people. Some of them spring from research and publications in the fields of psychology and psychiatry that have since been strongly disputed by professionals in the field. The Theory of Mind (ToM) deficit model of autism…

  • Part 6: Autistic Burnout Explained

    Hello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. Today, I am discussing one of the most important problems faced by autistic people: Autistic burnout.

  • Part 5: Autistic Masking Explained

    Hello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. Wearing a mask is a way of changing or hiding your appearance.  It can be done for fun, for example, when going to a costume party, or it can be done with bad intentions, such as someone covering their face when carrying out a crime. Autistic masking is neither of those things.

  • Part 4: What is The Autism Spectrum?

    Hello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. What is the autism spectrum? The word spectrum is used frequently in relation to autism, and the most common label currently used in autism diagnostics is Autism Spectrum Disorder (or Condition). In casual conversation about autism, spectrum is often mentioned, but frequently the term is misinterpreted. It…