Finding Home

I'm marking the fourth anniversary of my move to Chicago. Thing is, I grew up in Chicago, spending the bulk of my first 24 years here. But as we know, autistic people commonly feel uncomfortable, out of place, wherever they are--and since I didn't know I was autistic, I just carried this mysterious and frustrating … Continue reading Finding Home →

Baby Steps to Diagnosis: Part 4 (The Diagnosis)

If you've been following along with the Baby Steps series (or longer than that), you can maybe imagine the buildup to my results appointment. It took about four weeks following my in-person testing -- I was expecting three weeks, so that extra week was painful and I did end up sending a check-in email in … Continue reading Baby Steps to Diagnosis: Part 4 (The Diagnosis) →

Baby Steps to Diagnosis: Part 3

Following my intake interview, I had some homework to complete before the in-person testing. These were the four questionnaires I was assigned: An online quiz made up of maybe 400 true/false statements. This was the most difficult, since so many of them were judgments or used vague wording or wording so absolute that I wasn't … Continue reading Baby Steps to Diagnosis: Part 3 →

Baby Steps to Diagnosis: Part 2

"I'm seeing a lot of anxiety here." Yeah, that's how you want to start an assessment. But it was true. After close to a year putting these pieces together for myself, it was finally time to present them to an authority on the subject in the hope of validation, which could then lead to some … Continue reading Baby Steps to Diagnosis: Part 2 →

Autism Book Shelf: Autism in Heels, and Nerdy, Shy, and Socially Inappropriate

I've been building my spectrummy book collection, looking for some in-depth self-portraits from actually autistic people. The first two are both by autistic moms who were diagnosed as adults. I was worried about overlap at first, but as I devoured both of these books within a week, their experiences and styles support the adage: If … Continue reading Autism Book Shelf: Autism in Heels, and Nerdy, Shy, and Socially Inappropriate →

A Lifetime of Socially Acceptable Obsessions

Every once in a while, something happens and you're allowed to be really focused on the news. It's "current events," after all--responsible adults respect those who are aware of what's going on in the world. When there's big news that affects your community, no one will think twice about you watching live feeds, keeping a … Continue reading A Lifetime of Socially Acceptable Obsessions →

Sorting Through the Noise

I called in sick today. Since we're working from home and I can technically work from bed, I could have been somewhat effective. But I felt all head-coldy and hadn't slept more than a few hours the past couple of nights, so I figured I might as well take the PTO that I am privileged … Continue reading Sorting Through the Noise →

Masking & Anxiety & Living That Pandemic Life

I have 16 drafts in here waiting to be written or finished. When I first set up the blog, I opened the drafts--some only as titles and some with a bunch of notes--because I have so much to research and examine and make sense of, and I make sense of things mostly by writing about … Continue reading Masking & Anxiety & Living That Pandemic Life →