Category: Blog Posts
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Autism day/week/month. What’s the point?
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…
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A Brief Overview Of Simon Baron-Cohen’s Autism Research
*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…
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“Suffers from autism”
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…
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Autism and Masking
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…
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My actually autistic perspective on ‘Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism’
*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…
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Observing autism vs being autistic: it’s not the same
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…
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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?‘ 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…
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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?‘ 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…
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The Dangers of 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…
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A tragic epidemic or human super power? What has autism got to do with it?
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…
Sarah Boon 