Autistic Christmas Readings

Merry Christmas to you and yours! I wish you the warmest, most joyful and blessed holiday season. My prayer for all readers is that you have an opportunity to experience peace and love in your homes and communities as the year comes to a close. May your sacrifices and struggles reap rewards and may you be blessed with love and acceptance.

As always, it’s best to gain insight into the autistic condition by listening to the voices of autistic people. Here are a selection of articles on Christmas that are authored by individuals on the spectrum.

Autism Interview #84: Mikhaela Ackerman on Advocating for the Autistic Perspective

Mikhaela Ackerman is an autistic writer and speaker. She blogs at Edge of the Playground where she shares resources for individuals on the spectrum and the families who support them. Mikhaela earned her Juris Doctorate in law in 2016 and plans to use her legal skills to advocate for others on the autism spectrum. This week she shared information about her advocacy work and how neurotypicals can be more aware and accommodating of sensory sensitivities.

Autism Interview #83 Part 2: Gillan Drew on Fatherhood and Autism Advocacy

Gillan Drew

This is Part 2 of our two-part interview with Gillan Drew, a British author and father of two. He was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at 28 and blogs about his life at Aspie Daddy. Gillan is also the author of An Adult with an Autism Diagnosis: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed. This week he shared his thoughts on his role as a father and weighed in on some important advocacy considerations for parents of autistic children.

Autism Interview #83 Part 1: Gillan Drew on Late Diagnosis and Autistic Adulthood

Gillan Drew

Gillan Drew is a British author and father of two daughters. He was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at 28 and blogs about his life at Aspie Daddy. Gillan is the author of An Adult with an Autism Diagnosis: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed. This is the first part of a two-part interview with him. This week he shared his experience grappling with a diagnosis later in life and offered advice for offering support to other autistic adults.

Moving forward while glancing back…

This article was written by Emma Dalmayne, an autistic advocate, activist, and writer from the UK. It was originally published on her website and is reprinted here with her permission.

Parents often ask with concern why when their child has made a gain of some kind in development do they seem to reverse in others?

As an Autistic I can tell you that if your child has, for instance, become toilet trained recently, they may revert to a previous special interest or sensory seeking behavior for comfort and reassurance.

There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact, it makes perfect sense, any progress is still a change even if it is good. More recognized is the regression Autistic’s display if there has been a traumatic experience.

Autism Interview #82: Michelle Swan on Modeling Autism Acceptance

Michelle Swan is an autistic Australian writer, speaker, mentor, and neurodiversity rights advocate. She has experience in peer support, mentoring, education workshop presentation, community building and advocacy with degrees teaching and psychology. Michelle is also a mother to six neurodivergent children and is the author of The Real Experts: Readings for Parents of Autistic Children and the co-author of The Respectfully Connected Anthology. This week she shared information about her advocacy work and offered advice for how parents can model autism acceptance in order to help build a positive autistic identity for their children.

Autism Interview #81: Englebert Lau on Late-Diagnosis Asperger’s Syndrome

Englebert Lau
Englebert Lau is an autism advocate and Information Technology Business Analyst. Englebert was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at the age of 30 and blogs at The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome where he shares a lighthearted perspective on Asperger’s syndrome. He’s also been published in Autism Parenting Magazine and The Art of Autism. This week he shared some of the most valuable resources he found upon first receiving his diagnosis.

How We Approach Reducing Meltdowns with a Variation Budget

The following article was written by writer and public autistic advocate Jamie Knight. Many autistic individuals speak of the fatigue they experience navigating a neurotypically-dominant society on a daily basis and the stress sudden changes can cause. In this post, Jamie offers a unique representation of how he handles the stress that comes with the inevitable changes and unpredictability of life. This post was originally published on his blog Spaced Out & Smiling on July 6, 2017 and is reprinted here with his permission.