THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

It is still incomprehensible that we lost Steve Silberman more than a year ago. While got it together well enough to speak at his memorial service,  it has taken me until now to be able to share my tribute to him, from that ceremony.
For those who didn’t know Steve, please read his compassionate history of autism, NeuroTribes—recently reissued in a 10th anniversary edition—or look up his voluminous writings on autism, science, and The Grateful Dead. In the meantime, here is what...

Recently, I asked my son to take his night meds, and his nervous system disability activated his fight-or-flight response. He pushed me, I fell, and then he hit and scratched, leaving red marks on my arms and chest.
Later that night, he texted to start the repair process, but I wasn’t ready. The wounds were too fresh, both on my body and in my heart....

Content note: This essay discusses suicide.
“It’s really dark in here,” my frowning boss told me the moment she came into my office. She knows I’m autistic; I’ve been here for three years. We also work in an industry that claims to know about autism, and to support autistic people....

A lot of times now when parents of newly identified autistic kids ask me what they should know, the first thing I say is:
“We get tired.”
This is so important. The way we autistics process is often on hyperdrive. The activities that are like strolling for many allistic people are like sprinting for us. We need rest, more frequently and in greater durations than non-autistic people....