‘Anxiety Recovery’ whilst Autistic
I spent my teenage years chasing the idea of ‘anxiety recovery’ that I later discovered didn’t exist. I wanted a life without anxiety, because all I understood was that it was limiting, destructive, painful, and stole too much from me. I also thought that was what I was meant to want. At church, year after year, people prayed for my anxiety to go…
Autistic Joy: My Favourite Part of Autism
‘Autistic joy’ describes the all-encompassing, very intense feeling of joy and excitement that many autistic people experience. This may be over things which seem small to other people (but definitely aren’t small!). The joy completely absorbs us in that moment. It can feel…
Challenges Autistic and ADHD Children Face at School and What Can Help
There is a reason why 92.1% of children with school attendance difficulties are neurodivergent, with 83.5% being autistic (according to one sample by Connolly & Mullally, 2022). And why children with Special Educational Needs are 50% more likely to struggle with school attendance (Office for National Statistics, 2021). And why…
My Journey of Discovering My ADHD
My journey of discovering my ADHD has been very different to my autism one (which you can read about here). Although there have been moments of imposter syndrome, from the moment I was told that I was autistic aged sixteen, I knew that the diagnosis was correct. And I knew…
Book Announcement - ‘Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering My Autism Saved My Life’
I can’t believe I am FINALLY able to share this (believe me, it’s been a secret for a long time!!!). My book ‘Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering My Autism Saved My Life’ is out 28th March 2024 and is available NOW to pre-order!! Link here.
I feel like I’m dreaming. I spent most of my childhood with my head…
Why You Are Not ‘So OCD’: OCD Myths
I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people say ‘I’m so OCD’ when they just want something to be tidy, clean, arranged in a particular order or done a certain way. Or, how many times I’ve seen phrases like ‘Obsessive Cat Disorder’ on mugs or prints. Or, how often I’ve been frustrated by people declaring they wished they…
Grief after Pet Loss: Losing Coco
My dog, Coco, died on the 9th October. He was six and a half and the centre of my family’s home and life. He loved absolutely everyone and he was so incredibly loved.
I don’t usually write blog posts like this, but I don’t know how to process this, and writing has always been my outlet. Telling…
Challenges Autistic People and ADHDers Face in Therapy and What Can Help
I remember being fourteen, sat in a CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) session and being completely bewildered by what the lady was trying to teach me. I was having daily panic attacks - some of them more likely meltdowns - because I was so overwhelmed. I began describing how I didn’t want to go into the canteen because…
How I’m Learning To Manage Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) is incredibly difficult to live with. It is an extreme emotional response to either real or perceived criticism or rejection, commonly experienced by neurodivergent people (though originally coined by Dr William Dodson as specific to ADHD).
I am very lucky to be receiving ADHD coaching with Leanne Maskell, the founder of ADHD Works and author of the…
Executive (Dys)Functioning: What it is, its Relation to ADHD and Some Strategies
Executive functioning is how we plan, make decisions, follow steps and processes, focus our attention and balance different tasks. It incorporates a set of skills which help us to learn, work and complete tasks. There is so much we couldn’t do without them.
Think about your daily tasks. Even getting out of bed and…
My Autism Survival Kit
There are lots of things we like to have in every-day life, right? But as an autistic person, there are some things I really struggle without.
This is my autism survival kit.
Emotionally-Based School Avoidance in Neurodivergent Children and The Discriminatory System of Prosecution
I was described as a child on the verge of school refusal. I ran away from school multiple times. I would hide in the toilets and have daily panic attacks. I would refuse to go to lessons, sitting in the library instead. The anxiety I felt every single day was monumental. It led to self-harm, depression and…
The Interest-Based Nervous System and ADHD
I often feel like my brain is in a constant battle of knowing there is something I should do, but just not being able to do it. Every day, I will spend hours and hours procrastinating something. It is quite common for me to spend the entire day just trying to get in the shower. And…
Why Travelling and Holidays Can Be Hard for Autistic People and What May Help
Travelling and holidays can be super fun, but they can be more challenging when you are autistic.
I find the number of steps in the process of travelling combined with the uncertainty of what to expect and sensory sensitivities is difficult…
Autistic Special Interests: Our Brain’s In-Built Coping Strategy
For the first thirteen years of my life, books were my whole world. I read everywhere, all of the time. I became absorbed in different authors’ lives and the storytelling process - I had an urge to know absolutely everything. I read everywhere, all of the time. I would even have my nose in a book walking to school - which, looking back…
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - by someone with OCD
My first memory of OCD is of eight-year-old me, consumed by the worry that I was going to catch nits. I worried about it all day every day, for weeks at a time. I wouldn’t want to go near other people, tried hard to stop my clothes from touching anyone else’s, and would spend excessive amounts of time looking through my hair. Of course…
Challenges for Autistic University Students
Autistic students are more likely to drop out of university or take time out of their course than any other group (North East Autism Society, 2023).
36% of autistic students who enrolled on an undergraduate degree in 2019 did not complete their degree after three years…
“It seems like everyone is getting diagnosed with ADHD or Autism these days”
Of course more people are being diagnosed with ADHD and Autism, when…
* based on UK facts and statistics *
These diagnoses are relatively new. Autism was only introduced into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) in 1980…
Social Templates - Dealing with Situations as an Autistic Person
Last weekend, I stood in the middle of an unfamiliar leisure centre changing room, completely overwhelmed. The goal was to shower, but there were so many uncertainties in each step of the process that I didn’t know where to begin. I didn’t know where to leave my bag, what to wear into the shower…
Sports Day - Challenges and Suggestions for Autistic (and other neurodivergent) Children and Young People
I hated sports day. It was - aside from my primary school swimming gala - the worst day of the school year. I cried in-front of my PE teacher when she told me I had no choice but to do a race, because I was so anxious about the whole school watching, convinced I would embarrass myself. I hated the noise, the crowds and….