A lot of autistic parents want to breastfeed their babies, but a lot of us also struggle with sensory processing disorder (SPD). We are easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli, and babies are like the number one source of sensory input in the world.
Babies scream, they wack you with their little flailing fists, they vomit and poo constantly, and they want to nurse all. the. time. I mean, they’re also amazing little wonders, don’t get me wrong. But taking care of a baby is not an easy task, let’s be honest.
What Do I Know About Breastfeeding While Autistic?
I know that breastfeeding can be really hard!
I have two kids, and I breastfed both of them until I finally gave up on them self-weaning and weaned them each at 4 years-old. That means I breastfed my son throughout my pregnancy with my…
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang is a pretty formulaic romance novel. The premise is a reverse Pretty Woman with a neurodivergent twist: an autistic woman in her late 20s wants to learn how to date and have sex men will like, and believes the problem to be in herself, rather in the fact that she keeps choosing terrible men. She hires a male sex worker to practice sex and dating, and you can guess what happens next.
It’s a cute premise. Unfortunately, the male characters are all terrible people, and most of the women are, too. The plot holds…
One Story of ADHD from the 3rd Century BCE
Today, we’re going to learn about the Obtuse Man of Theophrasus, the earliest known written example of a character with ADHD in Ancient Greece, over 2000 years ago.
Although ADHD is often considered a modern phenomenon, and an abnormality or disorder, did you know that we actually have good evidence that ADHD is a normal neurodivergence?
The presentation or traits of ADHD are due to a genetic variation, or possibly several variations, just like autism and some other things most medical literature currently classifies as neurodevelopmental differences.
How do we know…
This article is improved and expanded from an episode of the Neurodiverging podcast. If you’d prefer to listen instead of read, you can find it here.
When you think of a child with ADHD, and you’re a white person like me, what might pop into your head is the stereotype of the hyperactive, rambunctious little white boy who can’t stop talking. But, the truth is that people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, and races have ADHD at about the same rates.
About 5–10% of everybody on this planet has ADHD. …
Isolation’s different for us introverts.
My first month in isolation was the best month I’ve had in years.
I’m an autistic mother, and significantly introverted. When I decided to have children, they came along with a social life that required me to participate in activities that exhausted me every single day. Before isolation, the amount time and energy I spent organizing everyone’s schedules, keeping the household running, and caring for the kids each day would have me counting the minutes until my partner got home so I could go to my room, to be alone in the quiet dark and…
This Is Us
In fact, we’ve got more than enough
I’m an autistic woman in my 30s. I’m introverted and a little awkward, but I do enjoy meeting new people and making new friends. However, I have this recurring experience in social settings that I find off-putting.
When I am in a room with a group of people who are neurotypical (that is, people with “typically developing” brains), I am often told that I don’t fit their image of what autism looks like. I am told that I seem too intelligent or too “high-functioning.” I am too verbal. My eye contact is too good. …
