What to do when your family doesn’t accept autism“My parents don’t accept that I am (or my child is) autistic. What should I do?” This question ranks pretty...
How do I stop my child using autism as an excuse?I didn’t expect to be asked this question as often as I have been. It’s a tricky one to even...
We asked children across the autism spectrum: “What do you love most about life?” Here are their answers.Note- this article has now been adapted, improved tenfold, and turned into a book! Information about it can be found...
Five ways to damage autistic children without even knowingYep, uncomfortable title. But sadly, these are subjects that I feel we have a responsibility to talk about. Today, I’m...
30 translations for people who struggle with hintsDisclaimer: this article contains a lot of tongue-in-cheek humour that’s not to be taken seriously. And if I know anything about...
How I put anxiety in its placeThis article’s been a long time coming. And it’s not just for autistic people. When I wrote the growing...
I ran an autism survey. The results? Quite revealing.2018 edit- this survey is now outdated. Autistic Not Weird now has a new survey which features more in-depth analysis,...
If you could teach people one thing about autism, what would it be?Last month I ran an autism survey, inviting anyone associated with autism to fill out: whether they were autistic, cared...
200 things to love about lifeOccasionally, people ask me how I recovered from the depression and anxiety I suffered up until last year. Perhaps I’ll...
Conversations with my younger autistic selvesWarning: this article made a few of my friends cry. In a good way, thankfully. Today is my thirtieth...
Working abroad with Asperger’s: 10 life lessons I learned from KindercampPeople often ask each other where their ‘second home’ is. When I tell them that mine is the Jugendgruppenzeltplatz on...
Why do autistic people struggle with ‘inappropriate’?Ah, inappropriate. My least favourite word in the whole of the English language. But the English language has over a...
When should I tell my child they’re autistic, and how do I tell them?2020 edit- this is now an expired article. I’ve written an updated version here, which is based on insights I’ve...
Ten reasons your autistic child needs to learn chess right nowAh, chess. The game of kings… and Aspies. Now, before I begin, I expect a few readers will come...
Dear Katie Hopkins, I’d rather have my brain than yours.The following is my open letter to Katie Hopkins. To any American readers who do not know who she is, please don’t...
How hard can it be to fund a school for disabled children?I’ve often heard that you can judge a whole society on how it treats its most vulnerable. And I’m not...
Story of an Autistic Teacher: encouraging autistic children beyond their ‘natural limits’I usually make my posts very personal. I think the human element is extremely important. This may be one of the...
“You have autism? Oh, I’m so sorry.” What to say (and NOT say) to autistic people.I make no apologies for my Asperger’s. And neither should anyone else. To anyone who doesn’t know, the ‘I’m so...
Taking things literally: When being autistic’s actually pretty funnyProvocative title, I know. But we hear so many sad stories about how tragic it is to live with autism...
Autistic ‘obsessions’, and why we really really need them.Autistic people are famed for their ‘obsessions’. Be it washing machines, vacuum cleaners or dinosaurs (hell yeah, dinosaurs!!), having obsessions...
