Tag: Autism

  • Extra! AFI: The Podcast that Explores the Intersection of Autism and Financial Independence

    At AFI, we are autistic people talking about the autistic experience. Historically, the loudest voices talking about autism have not been autistic.  We believe autistic people should take the lead in conversations about autism. 

  • Part 16: Is Autism a Disability?

    One of the most fiercely debated autism-related subjects is that of whether autism is a disability. Even a quick glance at social media reveals quick-fire disagreements that often disregard explanation or nuance, and just give an opinion: Of course it’s a disability, or No, it’s not a disability.

  • EXTRA: Response to Uta Frith

    Hello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. Uta Frith, Autism and Epistemic Injustice Many readers will be aware of the recent controversy following media comments attributed to Uta Frith. Her remarks have caused considerable consternation within the autistic community, and I believe it is necessary to put forward my position on this issue. Uta…

  • Part 15: Neurodiversity and Neurodivergence: The Difference

    Language changes all the time. It evolves. Sometimes a word can start off meaning one thing, but as time goes by, it comes to mean something else entirely. But the fact that language evolves should not be used as an excuse to attach any meaning whatsoever to any term, whenever you want. If definitions of…

  • Part 14: Autistic Black-and-White Thinking

    The phrase black-and-white thinking has become closely associated with autism, and there seems to be a commonly held belief that it is one of the defining characteristics of autism. Like many common assumptions about autism, it is frequently repeated in the media and on social media, often without reference to the evidence. Today, I am…

  • 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.