Here you will find a collection of information about supporting your Autistic loved ones and the barriers that you may face as a parent, child, or adult. Below are a growing collection of articles and resources. More will be added to this over time.
For information on some of the basic knowledge around neurodiversity, try this linked page.
Also, check out Aucademy if you are newly diagnosed.
Individual Posts
The shocking state of autism diagnosis in the UK
Autism is under-diagnosed. This fact has been a truth within our online Autistic spaces for as long as I’ve been in them. Despite mounting evidence that many adults are struggling through life without access to formal identification, many of us face discriminatory and financially inaccessible systems that feel as though…
Keep reading
“How do I help my Autistic child?”
Read this article if you are wondering what pieces of information may be most likely to help you support your Autistic child!
Keep reading
Autistic Parenting: Supporting our Autistic children’s mental health when services won’t
This article was co-authored by David Gray-Hammond and Katie Munday There is an ongoing crisis in services such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) when it comes to Autistic young people’s mental health. Failing to support our Autistic young people can have a big impact on our wellbeing…
Keep reading
How do CAMHS make parents and carers responsible for their child’s struggles?
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the UK exist to help children and young people who are experiencing mental health problems. Despite this, Autistic children and young people are finding that such services either refuse or fail to deliver meaningful intervention, even when they are in the depths…
Keep reading
Five things I want parents of neurodivergent children to know
It can be very difficult to wrap your head around neurodiversity when you have spent your life being taught that any deviation from the status quo is a disorder. It’s all the more overwhelming when your child is discovered to be neurodivergent, and suddenly, you live on a battlefield between…
Keep reading
Five things that help me when I’m experiencing Autistic burnout
Autistic burnout can present itself in many different ways, not just the depressive state that observational models have taught us to expect. Despite assertions to the contrary, sometimes burnout is more than a need to withdraw. Conceptualising Autistic Burnout One might describe burnout as “Having All of Your Internal Resources…
Keep reading
5 tips for Autistic people to survive the holidays
Holidays can pose challenges for autistic people due to social, sensory, and schedule modifications. Crucial coping strategies include setting boundaries in social situations, curating a pleasing sensory environment, not overscheduling to please others, knowing in advance about gifts to reduce anxiety, and understanding that gifts don’t require financial expenditure. Embracing…
Keep readingCAS Series
Creating Autistic suffering: In the beginning there was trauma
This article was co-authored between David Gray-Hammond and Tanya Adkin Trigger Warning: Some of the research quoted in this article contains person-first language or references to aspergers. While the authors do not agree with the use of such language, we must access the research and statistics available to us. We…
Keep reading
Creating Autistic Suffering: Neuronormativity in mental health treatment
This article was co-authored between David Gray-Hammond and Tanya Adkin Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of systemic mistreatment in the mental health setting, traumatisation, references to pathologizing theories and language, mention of cultural ignorance, and discussion of mental health conditions inlcuding cluster B diagnosis and misdiagnosis. It seems to…
Keep reading
Creating Autistic Suffering: Professionals, why don’t they know?
This article was co-authored by David Gray-Hammond and Tanya Adkin Trigger Warning: Injustice, professionals, Autistic suffering, mentions of theory of mind, weak central coherence, and older autism theory. We often sit and have conversations about our work. We never cease to be astounded at the lack of basic autism knowledge…
Keep reading
Creating Autistic Suffering: What is Atypical Burnout?
This article was co-authored by Tanya Adkin and David Gray-Hammond The literature around Autistic burnout is in it’s infancy with regards to academic papers, most of what exists comes from lived experience and blogs written by Autistic people themselves. The first academic paper on Autistic burnout was written by Raymaker…
Keep reading
Creating Autistic Suffering: Interoceptive stimming or “challenging behaviour”?
TW: Discusses Challenging Behaviour, Disordered Eating, Sex and Related Activities, Self-Injury, and Victimisation
Recently David posted an infographic about interoceptive stimming. This proved to be a very popular topic and we felt it necessary to expand on this more via this series. In our experience working directly with Autistic individuals…
Keep reading
Is there an autism epidemic?
The article addresses the detrimental perception of autism as an “epidemic.” It presents studies suggesting autism’s strong genetic basis, with heritability rates ranging from 64% to 91%. The increase in autism diagnoses is attributed to the reproduction of autistic individuals, who are (in the absence of data) assumed to be…
Keep reading