How I Went From Hating The Irish Language To Wishing I Was Able To Speak It.

Like most Irish people, I'm a monolingual English speaker. That's broadly how it is across the country. Within Europe, Ireland is a weird outlier in that way. Before I developed severe travel anxiety, I visited Germany, France, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Iceland, Italy and Norway, and there, people who speak both their native language and English … Continue reading How I Went From Hating The Irish Language To Wishing I Was Able To Speak It. →

Why I Believe In Labels

So, labels are bad apparently. So how does one go about describing themselves? Well, I’m tall, no, can’t use that, that’s a label. I don’t want to define myself by being tall. I’m bald. No, that’s a label, can’t say that either. I have a beard, no. Four hours later............ So, I would describe myself … Continue reading Why I Believe In Labels →

So What About That Whole Need For Sameness Thing?

Part 5 Of My "What Is Autism" Series So it’s finally time to write my blogpost on the concept of “Need For Sameness”, an issue many autistic people have. And before I write my autism blogposts, I typically have a very, very naive notion in my head. And that notion is, “This blogpost is going … Continue reading So What About That Whole Need For Sameness Thing? →

Attempts to Divide Autistic People Into “High Functioning” and “Low Functioning” Only Create Misconceptions About Autistic People

Labeling people and putting them into boxes presents misconceptions and stereotypes. This article was originally uploaded to Facebook, and in it I discuss the labels of "high-functioning" and "low-functioning" autism, and the challenges they present.

Person First Language, Why It’s Not For Me

So, should I be referred to as an autistic person or as a person with autism? Well, as a person with Irishness and a person with masculinity I would like to give my opinion on this! My own preference is to be called an autistic person, but if somebody says person with autism out of … Continue reading Person First Language, Why It’s Not For Me →

The Term Neurotypical Isn’t All That Great, But We Need It For The Time Being

I wanted to talk about the term neurotypical. Some people who might be described as neurotypical have objected to the term, and I actually understand their reasons for feeling that way, but I’m going to argue that for now we need to use that term, but hopefully in time it can be replaced with something … Continue reading The Term Neurotypical Isn’t All That Great, But We Need It For The Time Being →