Sarah Boon

As 2025 comes to a close, I thought I’d share my top neurodivergent reads of the year as a neurodivergent author and writer. I’ve selected these books based on my Story Graph ratings over the year. All of which I either rated 4.75 stars or 5 stars. Although I have rated some books on Goodreads… Read more: My Top Neurodivergent Reads of 2025

CW: Minor Spoilers  Last year, after watching Wicked Part 1 and seeing conversations suggesting that the lead character Elphaba could be autistic, I decided to throw in my own two cents. I have been a fan of the musical for a long time, and way before I even knew I was autistic myself! As it’s… Read more: Opinion after watching For Good: Is Elphaba in Wicked autistic?

Spoilers and TW: Suicide ‘I Swear’ was different.  Often, when it comes to media representation of neurodivergence, there’s a lot left to be desired. Usually, it is based on misinformed and outdated tropes that end up mocking people for their neurodivergence and is created for a neurotypical gaze. Media created for the neurotypical gaze seeks… Read more: Why ‘I Swear’ is a vital film for neurodivergent acceptance

Trigger warning: dehumanisation of autistic people and eugenics. Unless you have been hiding under a rock or have no access to the internet, then you have undoubtedly come across the car crash of a ‘statement’ Trump, RFK Jr and their allies put out about autism. It was full of lies, misinformation and the claims lacked… Read more: Everything wrong with Trump’s speech – an autistic’s perspective

Ableism: Prejudice leading to discrimination against people because their disabilities  There have been countless articles, online posts and god knows what else to describe the all too common ableism behind some of the symbols, imagery and narrative around autism used in mainstream media and conversations. Most notoriously the puzzle piece which came from parents “puzzled”… Read more: Puzzle piece propaganda: a new term to describe anti-autistic ableism

I didn’t think I’d need to write this post, as there have been extensive critiques of ABA from many autistic people before. However, I am concerned by the rise of people trying to rebrand ABA as ‘neuroaffirming’, which I don’t think is being talked enough about or called out. So here is why ABA will… Read more: Why ABA will never be ‘neuroaffirming’

Something neurodivergent people talk about a lot is the impact school had on our lives, and for many of us it was far away from a good time. No doubt there are some neurodivergent people who had a positive experience in school. However, for many of us that was not the case! Although our experiences… Read more: Why does school suck for so many neurodivegrent people?

*Please not I am speaking entirely from personal experiences and not seeking to make universal claims about autism, ADHD, AuDHD and monotropism  Monotropism is a theory that was created by Dinah Murray and Wenn Lawson to describe autistic people’s experiences when it comes to attention. Those who are monotropic seem to be able to hyperfocus… Read more: AuDHD and my experiences of monotropism

And what the Age of Diagnosis got wrong! There is a lot of fear mongering around people identifying with autism and ADHD as labels. It’s been going on in the media for a while now, but it’s been amplified with the recent publication of the book ‘Age of Diagnosis’. The author questions the rising diagnosis… Read more: The Impact of Labels: Why Autism and ADHD Matter

There’s a lot of talk when it comes to autism and language. It’s a conversation I engage a lot in too, sometimes by choice but other times by necessity. However, one thing people struggle to understand is that I consider my autism a disability, but not a disorder. It’s probably best to start with explaining… Read more: Why I See My Autism as a Disability, Not a Disorder

*Please note some of the language used in this mod conflicts with my own views. I do not support disorder and deficit based narratives of autism. These terms will only be used when I am directly quoting from the mods description and content* So several years ago now I came across an autism mod and… Read more: New Sims 4 Autism Mod Review

Since the second it was announced back in 2021 now, Spectrum 10K has been a controversial study to say the least, with many autistic people worried about the wider ramification if it went ahead. Many of us spoke out, started boycott campaigns and even protested over the study.  When reading the initial launch of the… Read more: Spectrum 10K Has Been Stopped: So Why Am I Still Worried?

For several decades now, many have sold the idea that autistic people need “social skills training” in order to “overcome” social “deficits”. While there is no denying that as autistic people, we have differences in social communication which often creates additional challenges in our daily lives, I don’t believe that social skills training is the… Read more: Why Social Skills Training Fails Autistic People

Christmas is supposed to be a happy and joyful time for all at the end of each calendar years. However, when you’re autistic this can be more challenging as Christmas is often filled with social norms that are not accessible for us. Personally, I enjoy Christmas overall, but there are certainly parts of Christmas I… Read more: Avoiding Ableism Towards Your Autistic Family Members This Christmas

CW: Spoilers  Wicked seems to be dominating the conversation online. Rightly so, I saw the film yesterday and it’s truly a masterpiece (I don’t say that lightly either).  One conversation I have seen in several places on the internet is if Elphaba is autistic? I had been aware of people asking this question for a… Read more: Opinion: Is Elphaba in Wicked autistic?

I consider myself an autonomous person, and it’s something I value greatly and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I wouldn’t want anybody else making my decisions for me. However, that doesn’t automatically translate to decision making being a straightforward process for myself as my neurodivergence can make this more complicated. Let me give you an… Read more: AuDHD and why is decision making so hard! 

Increasingly over the past few years, there have been more conversations about autistic burnout which is great to see, as still can be easily misunderstood. I experienced my worst autistic burnout before I even knew I was autistic, and ultimately this burnout was one of the factors that led to the discovery I was autistic… Read more: My experience of autistic burnout

If I’m being honest, the world has felt like a dumpster fire during the past several weeks, more so than usual, with the US election being no exception to this. Being on the other side of the pond, I am not going to pretend I am an expert in all things US politics. However, seeing… Read more: The left’s problem with weird and neurodivergence

I have always been neurodivergent, so naturally it’s had a big influence on my life. However, something I’ve learnt through self reflection recently is how masking as a child has very much informed my life as an adult.  For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of masking, it’s a term used… Read more: How childhood masking affects me today as a neurodivergent adult

If you have been following me on social media, then you would have been well aware that I have been posting about the publication of my first book ‘Young, Autistic and ADHD: Moving into adulthood when you’re multiply-neurodivergent’ A LOT. However, it not every day you have a book published and I am just so… Read more: Young, Autistic and ADHD: 4 Days to go until publication!

For those of us who have always been neurodivergent, but discover that we are when we are adults, we can have a lot of feelings about how things could have been. Although this is something I have made peace with now, there are still things I wish my younger self knew about being neurodivergent.  Yes… Read more: 9 things I’d like my younger neurodivergent self to know.

Every now, and then I’ll be browsing on social media and a conversation that comes up among autistic people is when autism training is delivered by non-autistic people. Historically, autism training was always delivered by professionals with no autistic involvement. Although this is starting to change, I still suspect that a lot (if not the… Read more: Autism training by non-autistic people? What is that all about!

Having been in neurodivergent spaces for a while now, I’ve been noticing a new term ‘neuro-affirming’ is increasingly being used in the last year or so. Although I am not aware of a formal definition of neuro-affirming that exists – the general consensus seems to be that neuro-affirming is an approach used in professional practice… Read more: Does neuro-affirming always live up to what it’s cracked up to be?

Autistics being dehumanised is nothing new. In fact, most information out there about autism and the history of autism research is full of dehumanisation. However, this week has shown us that being dehumanised for being autistic may not necessarily end when we take our last breath. A few days ago, controversial autism researcher Simon Baron-Cohen… Read more: Our dehumanisation continues after death

School attendance policies have always been a sticking point with many neurodivergent people, as lots of us could not attend school for reasons beyond our control. Some of us (and our parents) would have faced unfair consequences as a result of low attendance during school. However, often it’s not due to us “skiving”.  Fresh after… Read more: How the UK government’s attendance policy is harmful: a neurodivergent perspective 

Hello everyone, My post will be rather brief today, but that’s because I have more of an update rather than a longer blog post. This week, a paper I co-authored on was published in a journal! It’s a true pinch me moment. Growing up, I was not considered academic and instead received the backhanded complement… Read more: I’ve published my first academic paper!

2023 has been a bit of a rollercoaster year to say the least! (Although most of the chaos stemmed from 2022, and rolled over into this year). During all the chaos I finally finished writing my first book! It is currently being fine tuned by the editors, ready for publication in 2024! Once the publication… Read more: How I wrote a book while being neurodivergent

Hello, me again! Many of you reading this will know me from either my writing on this blog or my various posts about being an autistic ADHDer on social media. Alongside my writing and social media posts, I have provided support for fellow neurodivergent people and their families, and designed and delivered training related to… Read more: I’m available for hire! Need help with improving your understanding of autism and neurodiversity?

Something we see a lot of in today’s society is an obsession of resilience and demands from people to ‘be more resilience’; particularly so from people with power over others. E.g. a school teacher telling a child’s parents that ‘they need more resilience in the classroom’ without considering why a child may be struggling at… Read more: What being autistic taught me about people’s obsession with resilience

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of autistic masking, I would recommend my previous blog post about autistic masking before reading this one ‘Autism and Masking’ A few weeks ago I posted a meme after watching the Barbie film, comparing Stereotypical Barbie’s character as representing autistic people masking with Weird Barbie representing autistic people… Read more: Weird Barbie and Autism, Let’s Talk.

It’s a debate that has been going on for decades, more or less since autism has been described as a spectrum. This debate has recently come up again since a recent article was posted about the Autism Europe conference earlier this month ‘It’s time to embrace ‘profound autism’ However, subgrouping can lead down a dangerous… Read more: Why Subgrouping Autism is Dangerous

I don’t often watch BBC Panorama, however recently a few of their documentaries caught my eye ,as they either relate to my work, my lived experience or both. The 3 Panorama documentaries in particular I’m referring to here are Autistic people (or close to someone who is autistic) are unlikely to be surprised that young… Read more: BBC Panorama and autism: identifying the dots, but who is connecting them?

April has always been a difficult time for the autistic community because of autism awareness and acceptance days, weeks or Month (referred to as ‘autism month’ going forward).  To the average person this may seem like a confusing statement, as they assume that this month is for us and “raising awareness” of the issues we… Read more: Autism day/week/month. What’s the point?

*Please note this is a critique of Simon’s research and published work and not personal character defamation. As I have never met Simon, I cannot comment on his character* Simon Baron-Cohen is arguably one of the biggest names in autism research. Unfortunately, his research has negatively impacted autistic people for several reasons. However, this can… Read more: A Brief Overview Of Simon Baron-Cohen’s Autism Research

Quite often I tend to tweet things in the moment if I feel a strong emotional reaction to it. This isn’t always wise but the nature of my neurodivergence means this happens from time to time. However, recently I tweeted about autistic people suffering from ableism rather than autism itself. Again this was an in… Read more: “Suffers from autism”

What is masking? Masking (sometimes known as camouflaging) is when autistic people adapt their behaviour to hide their autistic qualities to fit into a neurotypical world (non-autistic world). Below are some other autistic people’s descriptions of masking.  Why do autistic people mask? How long is a piece of string? There are many reasons why autistic… Read more: Autism and Masking

Original Thread: A common belief I hear that’s it’s “essential” for autistic students to “socialise” in our schools, otherwise they will never develop the “social skills” they need in the real world. As an autistic adult, I fundamentally disagree with this view.🧵 — Sarah Boon #StopTheShock (@Saraheboon) November 27, 2021 A common belief I hear… Read more: Autistic Children Socialising in School

*This blog post is not parent shaming. It’s critiquing the documentary* This Wednesday on BBC one, there was an incredibly high-profile autism documentary in the UK. Naturally, being an autistic person living here, I was curious but extremely cautious about the documentary. I was cynical before watching it, as autism is frequently misrepresented in the… Read more: My actually autistic perspective on ‘Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism’

Before I knew I was autistic, I was only observing autism. This may seem like an odd thing to say as I’ve always been autistic, but I was masking 24/7, and my internalised ableism at the time meant I was viewing everything through a neurotypical lens as the “right” way to experience the world. I… Read more: Observing autism vs being autistic: it’s not the same

SPECTRUM 10K HAS CLOSED, PLEASE READ ‘SPECTRUM 10K HAS NOW BEEN STOPPED, SO WHY AM I STILL WORRIED?‘ Within minutes of the spectrum 10K announcements, it’s has been an emotional rollercoaster for many of us, with many twists and turns in the last few weeks. Like many other autistic, I’m exhausted. Also, a lot has… Read more: Spectrum 10k paused. Good? Bad? Let’s break it down. 

SPECTRUM 10K HAS CLOSED, PLEASE READ ‘SPECTRUM 10K HAS NOW BEEN STOPPED, SO WHY AM I STILL WORRIED?‘ Click here to read my initial article “The Dangers of Spectrum 10K”. The last two weeks have been challenging and emotionally draining for the autistic community since the announcement of Spectrum 10K. There has been an intense… Read more: Why I still don’t trust Spectrum 10K

SPECTRUM 10K HAS CLOSED, PLEASE READ ‘SPECTRUM 10K HAS NOW BEEN STOPPED, SO WHY AM I STILL WORRIED?‘ It was just an average Tuesday morning while I browsed through my Twitter feed when I came across the glossy brand Spectrum 10k research project. At first glance, it may seem harmless to your average member of… Read more: The Dangers of Spectrum 10K

If you’re a general member of the public and have only come across the word autism in the media, you’ve likely read that autism is the worst tragedy that could happen to your child, and they will have no quality of life. Or that we all have savant-like abilities and will advance the human race… Read more: A tragic epidemic or human super power? What has autism got to do with it?

For the full strategy, please click here If you’re based in the England, you may be aware of ‘The National Strategy For Autistic Children, Young People and Adults 2021 to 2026.’ Basically, it’s the government’s plan to make our (autistic) lives better for the next 5 years and address the barriers we experience. The big… Read more: Is the new autism strategy any good?

I‘d plan out social situations in advance, so I didn’t mess them up. /1  I pretended to be somebody else whenever I was around other people for my safety /2  Not knowing when to join conversations and by the time you’re about to contribute, the conversation has moved on. /3  Laughing along to fit in socially without actually… Read more: Things that I thought were social anxiety but turned out to be autism

If you have been following me on social media for a while, you probably think I see my multiple forms of neurodivergence as a positive thing. That would be correct, but that doesn’t mean I still experience challenges living in this neurotypical world. Although I don’t view myself as deficient, I do consider myself disabled.… Read more: Why I view my neurodivergence as a disability

One thing I’ve been fortunate enough to do is to travel, and in my late teens, I discovered the joys of travelling by myself rather than with a group of people. I was talking about this recently, and many autistic people were interested, so I thought I’d write my next blog post about it.  With… Read more: Why travelling solo is liberating for me as an autistic

TW: Eating disorder  Intro  My relationship with food has always been complicated, and my autism is undoubtedly part of why very few people, (including professionals) struggle to understand why. This post is a topic I’m particularly cautious about writing publicly as I have faced so much stigma, judgement, and ableism regarding my diet. However, it’s… Read more: Autism, ARFID and my relationship with food

Since being active online in autistic spaces, I noticed varying opinions regarding people’s birthdays. This got me thinking about my own birthday in a few days time, but the question is, do I enjoy them or even look forward to them? The simple answer is yes (although in the last few years I’m not so… Read more: How do I feel about birthdays?

Some autistic people have borderline personality disorder (BPD) sometimes also referred to as Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD). However, there are some autistic people whose autism is not recognised and doctors think it’s BPD instead. Many autistic people receive the incorrect diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) before discovering it’s unrecognised autism. In 2018 I… Read more: Why I thought I had borderline before discovering I was autistic and had ADHD.

Now, I’ve talked a lot about how my masking made me become a people pleaser to extremes and how I was the shy, quiet student who always followed the rules at school. The type of child an old school behaviour focused teacher would describe as a ‘Model student.’   So if you’ve been following me on… Read more: Why I identify with PDA as part of my autism

I’ve written up my ADHD thread as a blog post. If you relate to many of these signs and it impacts your life significantly the it might be worth doing some research into ADHD (please note this is not a diagnostic tool and is purely based on my lived experience). There is info at the… Read more: Signs of my ADHD that I did not realise were my ADHD

When I received my ADHD diagnosis, I wasn’t surprised as I had related to other people’s lived experiences a lot. However, I was convinced that my ADHD was only inattentive. Still, it turned out I have combined ADHD (both inattentiveness and hyperactive). that surprised me as I was never the child bouncing around the classroom… Read more: Quiet hyperactive ADHD, seven ways I experience it.

For me, receiving my autism diagnosis at age 24 was a euphoric sense of relief. I was happy and finally on the path to discovering my authentic self. I thought that my diagnosis would only be a positive thing. Although this is true for me most of the time, but I can’t help thinking what… Read more: Grief Post Diagnosis: How Do #ActuallyAutistic People Feel About This?

Recently a study was published where three researchers (Dr Suzanne Macar, Dr Angelina Vernetti and Dr Katarzyna Chawarska) at Yale did an experiment where they aimed to scare both autistic and neurotypical children, trying to establish a link between distress and autism in early childhood, while suggesting it may impact ‘emerging affective and behavioural symptoms.’ … Read more: Is Yale University Justifying Child Abuse?

Some of you may be familiar with the concept of the ADHD tax. ADHDers have extra expenses due to their condition. E.g. I’m always buying new umbrellas because I can’t remember where I put it! (this happens to me every winter multiple times).  However, I feel that this concept could be extended beyond just ADHD.… Read more: The Neurodivergent Tax; Beyond Just ADHD?

This is a post I’ve meant to write for a while, but now seems the right time to share it.  You hear a lot of ‘Your disability doesn’t define you’ and ‘You’re more than just your autism.’  An outsider might see that as a compliment, but it doesn’t reflect my lived experience.  The thing is… Read more: Yes My Autism Does Define Me

To be openly autistic or not to be openly autistic, that is the question, and there is no easy answer. I decided to be opening autistic as masking regularly was slowly destroying me, and I craved to live more authentically. However, the fact that I have a choice to mask or not is a privilege… Read more: Openly Autistic, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

We may not give standard or expected answers. Usually, in job interviews, the interviewers will already have some idea of what type of answers they are looking for when asking their questions. However, an autistic person may provide an entirely valid answer, but is not appreciated or misunderstood by the interviewer. Additionally, the interviewer may… Read more: Why can Job interviews be so challenging for autistic people?

Hello everyone, please read the following post by Gemma Short. It highlights how badly autism can be respresented in academia. The other day I posted a tweet, which was pretty random and just simply venting a feeling that i’ve had for a while. It read: “Honestly one of the … The worst part about being… Read more: The worst part about being an autistic psychology student by Gemma Short

Many people would assume that autistic people cannot be teachers, but trust me there are many autistic teachers out there! (Just have a look at autistic twitter). I have previously worked as a teacher as an autistic woman, so I thought I would share what it’s like from my perspective and experiences. It can be… Read more: What is it like to be an autistic teacher?

Osime is disabled. He is vulnerable. He has been failed by the services and people that were supposed to protect him. He has been harshly and wrongfully imprisoned. He is traumatised and has been worryingly ill since July (he has a heart condition that has previously required two surgeries). Now he faces being torn away… Read more: CALL TO ACTION: Help Osime Brown

TW: Bullying and Sexual Assault It isn’t an easy topic to write about, but it’s necessary. Its been on my mind to write this post for a while. But one tweet I saw recently made me realise it was essential to talk about this, as I am not the only one. So thank you, Dr… Read more: I was the perfectly behaved girl, but school traumatised me

Most people think if you are autistic or an ADHDer, then you’re diagnosed as a child and then all of a sudden, it magically disappears when you turn 18. Oh, how naïve this assumption is. I didn’t even get my autism confirmed until I was 24, and my ADHD the following year. Now I’ve talked about gender-bias a… Read more: Did my ADHD mask my autism? (and vice-versa)

If you’re involved with education or neurodiversity advocacy, chances are you came across a recent article in the guardian ‘The battle over dyslexia’ by Sirin Kale. The main part of The article explores Julian Elliott (an educational psychologist) views on dyslexia. Naturally, as a dyslexic person, I was intrigued by the headline alone and wanted… Read more: What does a dyslexic person think about ‘The Battle over dyslexia’ article?

So two weeks ago was the anniversary of my autism diagnosis. As being diagnosed autistic late was such a positive thing for me, I decided to celebrate as if it was my birthday. I was aware of the other autistic people acknowledging their autiversary on the anniversary of their diagnosis. I love this idea, so… Read more: My Autiversary: Celebrating the first Anniversary of my autism diagnosis

Feb 2025 update – The Sims mod reviewed is no longer available on the internet – please click here for my latest review of a newer Sims 4 autism mod. If you follow me on twitter, you may be aware I’m a Sims fan. I loved the video game since I was a child during… Read more: Review: Sims 4 Autism Mod

For the original twitter thread see here: https://twitter.com/Saraheboon/status/1249393998579597312 Too often, autistic girls go through school undiagnosed or unrecognised as being autistic. As a late-diagnosed autistic woman, I thought I would share a thread on my experiences of going through the education system. (Pls share with those who work in education/anyone interested) I was seen as… Read more: Going Through School as an Undiagnosed Autistic: Twitter thread

Now unless you have been through it, being assessed for autism may seem like a mysterious process. To be honest, it is, and I had very little idea of what my day would entail until it arrived. I completed the whole assessment process in one day, with the diagnosis confirmed by the end of the… Read more: What Is An Adult Autism Assessment Like?

I’ve often heard people say ‘Why do you need an Autism Diagnosis? You’re an adult!’. However, receiving my diagnosis in my twenties was genuinely life-changing. Here is why I consider it crucial that I received my autism diagnosis later, rather than never. I’m not going to outgrow my autism Autism is lifelong and isn’t exclusively… Read more: Why Getting My Autism Diagnosis As An Adult Matters

I have been autistic all my life, but it was not recognised until my twenties (which was a massive relief) However, the signs were there, even if they were less noticeable.  I am going to write about what signs there were before I was recognised as autistic. Hopefully, this article will help some people who… Read more: 10 Signs Of Autism That Were Missed

Now I know you might be thinking really? With this headline. However, after watching Frozen 2. I am convinced Elsa is autistic. As a woman on the spectrum, she displays a more subtle profile (on a surface level) of autism, as many autistic women do. So here are my reasons why I am convinced Elsa… Read more: 19 Reasons Why I Am Convinced Elsa Is Autistic

Hello and welcome to my first post on my blog! And thank you for taking a look. I thought the based place to start is how I found out I am autistic in my mid-twenties. As many people are diagnosed in childhood. Not for me! Here is one of many stories of discovering you are… Read more: How Did I Discover I Was Autistic?