Giveaway Winner
Congratulations to Tumblr user captain-irrayditation who is the winner of the weighted blanket giveaway. There were a ton of entries and I wish I was able to give every single person a weighted blanket. Hopefully there will be more giveaways in the not too distant future.
Looking for Input from Women Who are Late/Mis/Un-Diagnosed
I’m writing a pair of articles for the Autism Women’s Network about the high rates of late, missed and misdiagnosis in women on the spectrum. If you’ve experienced any of these and would be willing to be quoted in the article, please take a look at a short questionnaire I’ve put together to collect more information on the topic. There are five questions but feel free to answer even one if it applies to you and you’d like to participate.
Nat is Blogging!
Nat, who is a frequent and prolific commenter here (as Quarries and Corridors), has a new blog. The latest post Understanding the ‘Spectrum’ in Autistic Spectrum is a great take on the different ways that the spectrum concept can be interpreted. I especially enjoyed the color wheel/slider bar analogy. I guess you’ll have to go read it to see what I’m talking about. 🙂
My Wall is Bare
Yesterday I took down all of the sticky notes that made up my book outline. Having a visual reminder really kept me on track and I now have a 55,305 word draft.
Yesterday I reverse outlined all of the chapters into a mini legal pad so I can see at a glance what I have and start thinking about what i need to research and fill in to make each chapter complete.
The Survey Answers Keep on Coming
I brought over another 20+ sets of survey answers yesterday. As long as they continue to come in, I’ll keep bringing them over. I’ve only been managing to do it every few weeks but I promise nothing will go unposted, even if it takes me awhile to get them done. Links to all of the survey posts are here.
Another Hiatus Coming Up
I’m going on another big adventure. This must be my year for big adventures. I’ll be gone from the end of September until the middle of October. I’m not sure if I’ll get to do another one Monday post before then so I’m mentioning it here just in case. There’s a chance I’ll post from on the road but it’s slim. Mostly likely, all you’ll get is a lot of silence. We’ll see.
Musings of an Aspie 
Adventure! I hope you’ll have fun!
Thank you! I’m really looking forward to it, although I’m a bit nervous (but also excited!) about how much traveling it will be and about getting to spend two whole days exploring on my own in foreign countries. Maybe I’ll write some autistic travel related posts . . .
That would be really interesting! I’ve travelled abroad a LOT. But that’s fairly easy when you live in a country the size of Manhattan. I’ve always loved different cultures, especially learning a bit of the language (again, a given for me since the only people who do speak my language are the Flemish, Afrikaans is already so different to be nearly unintelligible). But the thing is… it doesn’t feel that different from being autistic in a neuronormative culture. You have to learn the language and the rules and the ways to navigate and it’s just an adventure in a foreign country instead of having your entire life and livelihood depending on it. It’s refreshing.
I’m mostly hoping to not accidentally walk into traffic because it’s going the “wrong way” or something goofy like that. 🙂 I really am looking forward to exploring on my own since I nearly always travel with my husband and so have come to rely on the “two heads are better than one” strategy for figuring out unfamiliar places.
Oddly, I find myself going kind of mute if I travel alone for the first few hours in a new place because my brain is working overdrive to ID and catalog new social rules. If other people are there, I just follow their leads, unless they’re obviously being Asshole Tourists.
It’s easier for me, oddly enough, to travel to places that don’t speak English – I think because places are more likely to cut you slack if you’re struggling to speak their language than if you sound fluent.
New places are a lot to process so it’s not surprising that talking would be low on your list of priorities. I’m generally not that verbal with strangers anyhow so I can’t say for sure if that’s any different in new places.
“I think because places are more likely to cut you slack if you’re struggling to speak their language than if you sound fluent.”
Definitely! Most people tend to give you points for just trying to communicate in a language that you’re not fluent in.
Have fun!
I filled out the survey, I hope it’s helpful.
Thanks for the link to Nat’s blog: got a really clear way of explaining things that will help when I’m trying yet again to describe autism to NTs.
You’re welcome – I was happy to share. I love the different analogies.
WordPress is acting weird. I know I replied to your comment and it was here but it’s gone now.
But yes, thank you again for filling out the survey. I’ve set aside tomorrow morning to go over the replies and do follow-ups.
All the best of luck for your next Big Adventure! You’ll be missed! 🙂
Thank you! I hope to return with lots of new ideas to write about. 🙂
“There were a ton of entries”
Please tell me that the pun was indeed intended. 🙂
Happy traveling.
It was not! Good catch. 🙂
Hi,
For the late/misdiagnosis questionnaire, how late is “late”? I was diagnosed when I was 13, which is late enough that the psychologists et al. commented on how late it was and how a lot of their usual tools were for younger children and didn’t apply anymore… But there still WERE tools, and psychologists in the child&adolescent department willing to try to diagnose me instead of saying “don’t be silly, we would have caught it earlier if you were autistic”.
So I don’t know if it would be useful for me to do the questionnaire or not. I’d be happy to do it if it is useful.
I was asking myself that very question this morning as I was working on the draft. 🙂 I would love if you contributed your story, because while I think 40s and up is “late” for my generation, younger women should theoretically be getting diagnosed now around the time they enter school. So 13 is certainly late in that context and I’d like to talk about that angle as well. It be nice to have your experiences to illustrate the gap that exists for teens as well–more than once person mentioned how hard it was to get diagnosed once they were out of the grade school system where assessments happen at no cost and there are ample tools and trained professionals available.
Have a fantastic adventure and thanks so much for the Monday musings mention! 😀
Thank you! I’m happy to share such great info. 🙂