Category: Miscellaneous

DCU- The World’s First Autism Friendly University

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

To kick off Autism Awareness Month, this week I’d like to discuss a place that is very dear to my heart, Dublin City University (DCU) where I completed my masters just after my diagnosis. What’s unique about DCU is that in 2018 it became the world’s first designated autism friendly university. While it wasn’t designated an autism friendly university until after I had graduated, I always felt fully supported by the college and staff in my educational pursuits.

So how exactly does a university qualify as autism friendly?

DCU collaborated with ASIAM and Specialisterne Ireland on an 18-month research project to develop seven principles to define an autism friendly university:

  • “Encourage and enable autistic students to transition and participate in university programmes
  • Support and build capacity to equip autistic students to meet the academic challenges of everyday university life
  • Seek to establish an autism-friendly operational environment
  • Seek to combat the stigma around autism and recognise the diverse experiences of those with the condition
  • Develop understanding and relevant knowledge and skills within the university community
  • Establish channels so that autistic students can have a voice in various aspects of university life
  • Increase the employability of autistic graduates through a range of initiatives that will develop their soft-skills to support their transition beyond university”
Designated quiet space for autistic students

With these principles at their core, DCU offers students the following autism friendly facilities:

  • Sensory pods on campus for breaks
  • Five rooms are set aside in campus accommodation specifically for autistic students
  • Virtual maps with a specialized AI chatbot to help you find your way around campus
  • Designated quiet spaces, soundproof pods and recommendations for less busy walking routes to campus
  • Materials and resources for autistic students including sensory tips and advice
  • Disability service supports such as occupational therapy and exam accommodations
  • Social supports allowing autists to connect with other neurodivergent students
  • Autists are encouraged to email feedback to the college on ways to improve the 3rd level autistic experience
  • The college also runs a 3 day summer program specifically for autistic students to give them an introductory experience of third level education to help ease their transition

Autists are actively encouraged to email feedback to the college on ways to improve the third level autistic experience to ensure that the university keeps improving in it’s autism friendly initiatives. In addition, the college also runs a 3 day summer program specifically for autistic students to give them an introductory experience of third level education to help ease their transition.

On another note, the Nubar on the Glasnevin campus is famous for it’s chicken goujons- a beige staple for many autists! I took a trip up to campus last week and went up early just to see if the tenders were just as good 10 years later and can confirm that they are delicious 🤌🏻

This is an amazing initiative and many other universities in Ireland have followed suit in becoming autism friendly or setting up initiatives to become more autism friendly than they currently are. Similarly at an international level, universities in the UK, Canada and Australia are also following DCU’s example.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 🙂

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife

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The Wayfinding Centre Dublin

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

Leading on from my previous post about Google’s ADC, this week I’d like to talk about a recent trip I took to the Wayfinding Centre in Dublin.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the centre, it’s an innovative facility set up to make public transport more accessible for people with disabilities. The first of it’s kind, the centre empowers people with disabilities to navigate public transport by providing hands on training and experience in a safe indoor environment. Upon entering the centre, you walk into a real world replica of the Irish public transport experience including:

  • Street lighting, traffic lights, signage and timetable boards
  • Common transport noises such as pedestrian crossing sounds
  • Hazards including pavements (with accessible textured paving slabs), bollards, benches, fencing, fake roads, and train platforms
  • Replica cycle lanes, bus stops and pedestrian crossings
  • Sample train and Luas carriages
  • A double decker city bus and single level inter-city bus
  • An Accessible taxi
  • An Air France plane with replica airport security and boarding experience

In addition, the centre is also host to the living lab providing a high-tech innovation and research space where they perform user testing and conduct pilot projects, working closely with transport providers to make existing and future public transport more accessible for all users.

You can see a video from the launch of the centre in January 2024 below.

As previously discussed, navigating public transport can be quite an overwhelming experience for an autist. Everything is noisy and crowded and timetables can be confusing to decipher, especially when transport often does not stick to routine. The Wayfinding centre offers autists a unique opportunity to prepare themselves to access public transport to take some of the unknowns out of the equation. Autists can go to the centre and experience what it’s like to step onto public transport free from the sensory issues and pressure of the real world, allowing them to get used to the experience in a safe and supportive environment.

Perhaps the most impressive part of the centre is the experience of preparing for airport travel. Autists can visit the centre to get ready for their first trip to an airport and practice using scanners, putting luggage on carousels, and physically walking down the tunnel and on to a real plane where you can take your seat and comfortably adjust to the cabin experience.

I was really impressed by my visit and completely unaware such an innovative initiative was a mere few hours up the road. I would really recommend a visit if you’re around Dublin to experience the tour or access the facility in preparation for your public transport experience.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife

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Autistic Barbie

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

This week I’d like to talk about something rather unexpected-the first autistic Babie doll! 😀

I know what you’re thinking, Aoife, how can you make a Barbie look autistic? Well the folks at Mattel have certainly given it a try!

As part of their efforts to make Barbie more accessible to every child, Mattel collaborated with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) to make a doll that would allow autistic children to see something of themselves in Barbie.

So what’s unique about autistic Barbie?

  • She wears noise cancelling headphones, loose clothing (with no labels) and a spinnable fidget ring
  • Carries an augmented and alternative communication (AAC) application that speaks aloud when buttons are pressed (kind of like the rapid prompting method)
  • She has a sideways gaze indicating that she doesn’t make direct eye contact (it’s very subtle)
  • Has flat feet and does not wear heels unlike OG Barbie (which is accurate given issues with gait and coordination)
  • Has bendable elbows and hands allowing you to make the doll stim during playtime. Her finger positions are also atypical as if her hands are about to stim.
    • Side observation- the way you can bend her hands and arms around is a little unnatural. While this is probably a coincidence, it is accurate as many autists do have hypermobile joints

You can check out a video about the new Barbie here:

The response from the autistic community has been polarizing. Some are thrilled to see such representation in a doll, some see it is a money grab given that autism is in fashion, while others think it’s an insult when what we really need is more investment in support services. In particular there have been a lot of concerns about how this doll misrepresents autistic women, especially given how many issues there have been with visibility.

Autistic psychologist Dr Kristyn Sommer has said: “I had hoped this Barbie was not going to be labelled autistic because it is every single stereotype of what is a palatable autistic girl and that isn’t true representation or visibility for autistic girls. It’s making them fit into a neuro-normative box yet again while simultaneously destroying one of the few safe spaces they have to just be themselves — their own imaginative world with their (already) autistic Barbies.“

But what did I think of autistic Barbie?

Personally, while the concept is great in theory, I didn’t really see the point of the doll and felt it was a little bit of a gimmicky, woke move by Mattel. Physically, autists don’t look any different to neurotypical Barbie, so I don’t really see the visibility issue that you would have with size, skin tone, or wheelchair users. Granted, I was not diagnosed until adulthood so autism wasn’t on the radar back when I played with Barbie, but were I a child today, I don’t think I would have seen a need for the doll either.

On another level, I worry that while Barbie is striving for diversity after years of stereotyping, I agree with the community that this doll may inadvertently perpetuate autistic stereotypes. I for one do not require ear defenders, don’t need a communication device nor do I tend to favour loose clothing (I’m quite fond of skinny jeans). Whilst there are indeed many autists who do fit Barbie’s description, it does further promote autistic stereotypes that are not relevant for higher functioning autists, especially women. We don’t fit into a box like Barbie, we would need a range of different autistic Barbie’s like the creative autist, animal whisperer or nerdcore Barbie. For example ChatGPT thinks the Aoife Barbie would probably look a little something like this:

I also found that the packaging wasn’t the most autism friendly. It was very fiddly and I ended up accidentally cutting off some of her hair trying to get the plastic tags off 🙈It’s really not practical to put those thin plastic tags that they use to put price tags on clothes into a Barbie’s head, I had to push the remnants into her skull I couldn’t completely get them off. I do not remember it being this hard to unbox a Barbie back in the 90’s! 🤣

All in all, while I’m not the biggest fan of the concept, it was a lot of fun to return to my childhood for a while- athough I must say, I don’t remember Barbie being so tall, or having walkable legs. Making her hop was half the fun!

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend! 🙂

Aoife

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Christmas greetings 2025

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

How has is the year over already?! Time is moving way too fast as we hurtle towards 9 years of this blog next month.

As always, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers for their continued support this year. I appreciate each and every one of you that takes the time to stop by to read or leave comments, I see them all.

Wishing you and yours all the best for the festive season!

See you in 2026!

Aoife

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Autism in your social circle

Greetings Earthlings!

This week I’d like to talk about something that a lot of neurodivergents have observed in their social circle- that lot’s of our friends are also neurodivergent! Prior to my autism diagnosis, I did not have any friends on the spectrum, or so I thought… Over the past 11 years, many of my friends have sought or are currently seeking autism and ADHD assessments. In the last year alone I’ve had four friends seek my advice about getting diagnosed.

During my school years, I didn’t really have a core group of close friends; people just didn’t get me, nor I them. Going to university opened up an entirely new world, widening my social pool and enabling me to meet more likeminded people. I quickly found tribes of friends who were equally quirky with similar interests that I connected with on a level that I couldn’t explain. We would connect within minutes as if we had known each other our whole lives, feeling completely comfortable in each others presence, unknowingly unmasking.

After my diagnosis, I slowly started to notice common autistic traits among my friends. At first I thought it was funny when friends would say the more they listened to me talking about my traits, the more paranoid they became that they had autism, but now I see the grains of truth. I’ve spoken about this with my neurodivergent friends and they have also noticed similar patterns in their social circles.

There isn’t really any research on this topic, but it seems that there is a general pattern of neurospicy birds of a feather flocking together. Autists tend towards sameness and familiarity, so naturally our social preferences also mimic these patterns. Studies have shown that friends tend to have similar brain activity patterns called neural synchrony- so on a biological level, we are designed to seek out minds that are similar to our own. In addition, studies have shown that our noses play an important part in forming friendships as we tend to gravitate towards people with natural scent profiles similar to our own. Given how autists are sensitive to smell, it’s fair to say that perhaps our nose is handpicking neurodivergent friends for us!

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend! 🙂

Aoife

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Celebs with autism part 5

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

As autism diagnoses are very popular at the moment, more and more celebrities are coming out of the autism closet. So this week I’d like to continue on from my previous 4 posts on the subject and let you know about some more autistic celebs:

Talia Mar

British singer and Twitch streamer Talia Mar was diagnosed with autism in her mid twenties after years of suspecting that she was on the spectrum. She began to connect the dots after hearing about the condition as a teenager, subsequently learning to mask her struggles with eye contact and discomfort around hugs as so many autistic women do. She has also been critical of media representations of autism as they tend to focus on the severe end of the spectrum.

You can see a short clip of her discussing her autism assessment here:

Emer Maguire

Northern Irish comic and fellow science communicator Emer Maguire was diagnosed with autism in her 20’s after years of jokes from her friends that she was on the spectrum (they playfully nicknamed her ‘Autismo’). She uses her platform to educate people about autism in fun ways, performing many comedic songs about life with autism.

You can see her giving a talk and singing about her experiences of autism here:

Gregg Wallace

Controversial TV chef and former MasterChef UK host Gregg Wallace recently announced on Instagram that he has been diagnosed with autism (his son was diagnosed in 2022). However, there has been a lot of backlash from the autistic community as his diagnosis is seemingly being used to excuse the allegations of inappropriate behaviour on MasterChef for which he is currently being investigated. Moreover, he is also suing the BBC for discrimination on the grounds of his disability… Let’s move on!

Andy Warhol

While we can’t officially diagnose artist Andy Warhol (as he died in 1987), but many people have retrospectively speculated that he likely had Asperger’s syndrome. I mean, who else but a neurodivergent would famously paint a can of soup?! You can read this article in The Guardian from 1999 where they explored how autism likely influenced his art https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/mar/14/vanessathorpe.theobserver

Hormona Lisa

American drag queen and 2025 Ru Paul’s Drag Race contestant Hormona Lisa was diagnosed with autism 7 years ago and opened up about her experiences on Reddit. Hormona said:

“I briefly mentioned this after my elimination, but I want to officially share that I have been diagnosed with autism. I received my diagnosis nearly 7 years ago, and it really helped explain a lot of my life experiences, like never quite fitting in, no matter how much I wanted to, or people not quite understanding me. It can be frustrating at times, especially when I feel like I’m expressing something one way, but others don’t see it the same way. Still, it’s a part of who I am, and I wouldn’t change it!”

Emily Bronte

Many people have remarked that Wuthering Heights author Emily Bronte may have been autistic. Biographers believe that her genius, tendency towards frustrated, angry outbursts and her discomfort in social situations may indicate that she had Asperger’s syndrome.

Cat Burns

British singer songwriter and recent Celebrity The Traitors contestant Cat Burns was diagnosed with autism in 2023 in her early twenties. Cat has said in interviews that she always felt different to everyone else but didn’t have a name for it, but gradually identified symptoms as she got older. She learned to mask by copying her older sister’s mannerisms and from watching how people were supposed to act in films.

You can see her discussing her autism in the clip below:

Professor Green

English rapper Professor Green (real name Stephen Manderson) was recently diagnosed with autism at the age of 40 after seeking an ADHD assessment. Like many of us, the diagnosis came as a relief, allowing him to better understand his past relationships and experiences when viewed through the lens of autism.

You can watch a quick clip of him talking about his late autism diagnosis in the reel below:

Julia Fox

Actress, model and media personality Julia Fox revealed she was autistic in the comments section of one of her videos. One of her fans commented on how fascinating her random knowledge is to which she replied that it was her autism.

You can see a clip of her discussing her experiences of co-morbid ADHD and OCD here:

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend! 🙂

Aoife

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Paracetamol and Autism

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

It is with my face cupped in my hands that I write this post for you after the latest “recommendations” coming from the States in recent weeks. In case you’ve been living under a rock, US president Donald Trump and RFK Jr., announced that there is a link between the use of paracetamol (also known as Tylenol) during pregnancy and the development of autism 🤦🏻‍♀️Historically this has been the safest drug that a woman can take during pregnancy to treat pain and fever (from infection), but now the Trump administration is slapping a warning label on this essential medication to scare women about the risk of autism when they’re at their most vulnerable.

So let’s separate fact from fiction- what does the research actually say?

Experts and researchers across the world have come out against these recommendations as the evidence largely does not support a causal link between autism and paracetamol. With regard to the current literature, there are often conflicting results in studies as it’s very hard to pin down accurate usage rates from medical records alone as paracetamol is an over the counter drug. Moreover, as it’s often used to treat other conditions, it’s hard to determine if any increase in autism rates is linked to the drug or the condition that paracetamol was used to treat. One of the largest studies of this type examined data from 2.5 million Swedish children from 1995-2019 to see if rates of paracetamol usage aligned with autism diagnoses. This study found that there was an increased likelihood, buuutttt not by much- 1.42% of children exposed to paracetamol were autistic versus 1.33% in those who were not exposed. I don’t think a 0.09% increased risk of autism is anything to write home about!

Sibling studies were also conducted to compare pregnancies where paracetamol had been given for one but not the other. These were performed as siblings are raised in the same environment, share genetic traits, and the health of the mother would have been similar for both pregnancies, removing a lot of factors that can influence the development of autism. This makes it easier to tell if paracetamol is having an impact in pregnancy. No links were found between the drug and autism in these studies.

On another note, researchers are of the opinion that the latest review of the research being pushed by the Trump administration hasn’t used the most robust of research methods. A more rigorous review of higher quality research was published on this topic earlier this year, and again, found no clinically significant risk of developing autism after paracetamol exposure in utero. The conflicting results seem to indicate a motivated agenda- and we all know how well that worked out last time with vaccines…

Research aside, telling a pregnant woman to “tough it out” instead of taking paracetamol is simply not good enough. High fever in pregnancy can be extremely dangerous, increasing the risk of complications like miscarriage, preterm birth, or neural tube defects (congenital malformations of the brain and spine such as spina bifida and Anencephaly- a fatal brain defect where parts of the brain don’t fully develop). If doctors are discouraged from administering this vital medication, the outcomes could be so much worse for the baby than autism. It beggars belief that Trump essentially deems the risk of autism to be worse than death. Even more so given that most experts agree that the American president himself is on the spectrum!

The important thing to remember about the research is that this link, however miniscule, is just an association. Just because it’s associated with autism, does not make it the cause. My mother, and thousands of others on social media, never took paracetamol during pregnancy, but all of them have children on the spectrum. If you’re an expectant mother, don’t let Trump scare you into avoiding paracetamol if you require it. Listen to your care provider and make the best decision for your health and your baby’s.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend! 🙂

Aoife

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Autism and Screens

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

Leading on from my previous post about virtual autism, this week I’d like to take a more specific look at the impact of screen use has on people with autism.

Whilst screen use is largely seen as a negative thing for the general population, screens can actually have a positive impact for autists:

  • Communication, connection and social skills– screens can help autists to connect with peers and communicate without the pressure of face to face interactions. There’s no need for eye contact, and plenty of time to think about and edit your response, allowing autists to relax. Removing these social barriers will also help autists to develop their other social skills which can then be applied to the real world. In my work for example, I’ve found that AI chatbots can be very useful when I’m struggling to find the right words and tone to deal with an awkward email
  • Regulation– Screens can offer a calming, safe (at least perceived as safe to an autist) and familiar presence for autists in an overwhelming, out of control world, enabling them to manage anxiety and meltdowns. For example, one of my autistic friends whips out her phone to look at cute animal videos anytime she is anxious, helping her to re-centre
  • Accessibility and gamified learning– screen based technologies can be very helpful for autists struggling with learning issues and verbal communication. The use of augmentative and alternative communication devices (AACs) and speech-to-text/text-to-speech tools can be hugely beneficial for autists. Similarly, gamified learning can be used to encourage autists to learn through the use of educational games which can help autists who struggle in a classroom setting. While studying for my leaving cert French oral, I used to study my notes while I played Mario Kart, which somehow made the information stick a lot better in my memory 😂🙈
  • Life skills– the internet is filled with useful apps and videos that can help teach autists valuable life skills that they struggle with in the real world such as personal hygiene, cleaning, map reading, cooking and shopping. Online shopping has been a complete gamechanger for me as I can shop peacefully with no pressure or risk of sensory overload
  • Specialist interests– having access to a screen enables autists to easily explore their specialist interests which can further help them to regulate when overstimulated. Back in the early days of dial up internet, I would happily spend a couple of hours waiting on a page to slowly load on the ABBA website just to read the historical chart information for all of my favourite songs. I would have bored everyone senesless with ABBA facts had I access to a mobile phone back in the 90s! 🤣
  • Executive function- planners, reminders, alarms and body doubling ADHD apps (such as Dubbi) can be very useful to help autists who struggle with organization

However, there are also many negative implications for autists that overindulge in screen time:

  • Overstimulation– excessive exposure causes over stimulation of the brain, increasing stress levels and disregulating emotions
  • Addiction– as previously discussed, autists can be prone to addictive behaviours. As screens are highly addictive for neurotypicals, the risk can be even higher for an autist
  • Cyberbullying– autists are often an easy target for bullies, and granting them access to social media unchecked can have disastrous consequences. Growing up in the early era of social media, I didn’t know how to act appropriately online and often emulated those around me without thinking. This autistic tendency for masking and mimicry got me into hot water a couple of times, but if I were unsupervised and allowed to emulate the way users behave today, things would have been so much worse
  • Decreased focus and sleep issues– overuse of screens can impair concentration and attention spans for autists, which may be already impacted by co-morbid ADHD. The blue light emitted from these devices can also disrupt sleep patterns which are often dysregulated for autists. Sleep and screens is often an issue for me, especially if I have been watching content at double speed (it’s like listening to fast speech revs up the speed of my inner monologue which can overstimulate me before bed)

Some studies have also suggested that there is a link between screen usage before 2 years of age and the risk of developing autism, buuutttt it doesn’t look like this link is causal. Perhaps the link is coincidental given how virtual autism manifests.

As with most things in life, moderation is key for autists when interacting with screens. There’s no set amount of hours that one can follow, but monitoring your child’s screen use and it’s impact on their behaviour will help you determine how long is too long.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend! 🙂

Aoife

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Autism assessments for trans kids?

Greetings Earthlings!

Leading on from my previous post about gender identity and autism, this week I’d like to discuss NHS proposed guidelines in the UK where children who are referred to gender clinics will also be assessed for neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and ADHD.

But is this a good thing?

While some people believe that this is part of the growing anti-trans agenda in the UK, the majority feel that this is a positive step for the autistic community as experts estimate that trans patients could be 3-6 times more likely to be diagnosed as autistic. As such, it’s important that gender dysphoric patients are properly assessed so that they can be fully supported. This is especially important given the long term ramifications if a patient transitions but their dysphoria was a temporary product of their autism.

I have read many stories over the years from families with undiagnosed autistic kids who identified with trans ideology as they did not feel like they fit in. These children then began the transitioning process, only to find that after an autism diagnosis, they no longer felt at odds with their birth gender. Statistics among de-transitioning patients are difficult to estimate, but studies have found that as many as 15-20% of these are autistic.

It’s actually quite common for neurodiverse children to temporarily disassociate from their bodies as they naturally approach puberty. In my own case, I often felt that life would be so much easier if I could just click a button around 9 years of age (after having the dress up experience of one’s first holy communion of course 😂🙈) to switch genders as being a man seemed so much better than the realities of womanhood. Other than these passing thoughts as an undiagnosed kid, I have never ever felt at odds with my gender. Despite being quite tomboyish in my younger days, my friends describe me as quite feminine in my 30s with a wardrobe that’s bursting with dresses. Were 9 year old Aoife to express such thoughts today, I would likely be landed in a gender clinic being assessed for gender dysphoria, when what I really needed was an autism assessment.

Whilst many autists may be genuinely transgender, we need to do due diligence in gender assessments to ensure that no decisions are rushed. In my opinion, this is an excellent plan from the NHS to ensure that autists and people with gender dysphoria are getting the best care possible.

On the other hand, this proposal begs the question as to why similar guidelines have not been recommended for other conditions that are often co-morbid with autism. Many people who are assessed for ADHD are receiving subsequent autism diagnoses. Overlap is estimated to be as high as 80%, yet an autism assessment is not always considered during ADHD assessment. Moreover, it’s thought that 23-32% of patients with eating disorders are also autistic, an issue that is quite common for undiagnosed women, yet autism assessments are not factored into treatment. These co-morbid issues impact an arguably higher number of autists than gender dysphoria, yet patients are generally not co-screened for autism.

A larger conversation is clearly needed around co-occurring mental health and neurodiversity if we want to properly support the autistic community.

Hope you enjoyed my post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife

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Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s Autism Beliefs

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

I can’t even remember what I was planning to write about this week, so incensed am I about these comments that Robert F Kennedy Jr. (the US Health secretary) has been making about autism in recent weeks.

For those of you who haven’t heard, RFK Jr. has vowed to find the cause autism by September, as he believes that it is an entirely preventable epidemic resulting from exposure to environmental toxins. A vaccine skeptic, he plans to launch a major study to identify the right toxin to rid America of autism, going against the multitude of studies that indicate a genetic cause (he claims genes just make you more susceptible to environmental toxins🙄). This study is coming on the back of the Trump administration’s ban on research and services related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Naturally, the autism community is in uproar about these flippant, uneducated comments leaving RFK Jr. baffled by the “tsunami of anger” that has come his way.

Here’s just a taste of his comments:

“These are kids who will never pay taxes. They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”

This sort of statement beggars belief… He has since clarified that he only meant the 25% of autists who are severe level 3, but that doesn’t make it any better. Let’s go through this checklist for a minute:

  • Never pay taxes or hold a job? My employers and Irish revenue would beg to differ (the latter have made a fortune from me!)
  • Play baseball? I could (badly) if I wanted to, but baseball is boring
  • Write a poem? I’ve written many (and this blog can attest to my writing skills)
  • Go out on a date? I recently sat through 32 speed dates (though it did require painkillers and chicken nuggets to reset after 🫠)
  • Use the toilet unassisted? Always- unless I need a hand getting out of a jumpsuit!

Every single neurodivergent I know will equally pass this list. As we have discussed many times on this blog, autism is a spectrum, you cannot make generalizations. We’re all unique and experience autism differently. Not to mention how damaging it is to claim that he intends to “cure” autism, seeing our existence as a problem to be fixed.

And when you think things can’t get any worse, it’s been reported that there are plans to monitor autism records and make major cuts to disability services. The National Institute of Health (NIH) is collecting private medical records to provide researchers with data for RFK Jr’s new study, with reports saying there are plans to craft a new registry to track people with autism🤦🏻‍♀️.

Compiling such a list could have huge implications for data security. Who’s to say this registry wouldn’t be made available for potential employers who could use it discriminate against candidates? As much as we’d like to believe we live in a society more accepting of neurodivergence, prejudices still exist when it comes to disability in the workplace. Whilst my current employers are very supportive (they’ve even asked me how to make the snacks more autism friendly 😂), I’ve had other experiences where I was discriminated against for my diagnosis.

Even worse, if this registry made it into the hands of criminals, they could create a campaign to defraud you, playing on your social inadequacies and trusting nature. It’s a disaster waiting to happen…

Just saying, it’s beginning to sound an awful lot like another person with harmful ideas who took a registry…

This will be an interesting story to follow over the next few months.

Hope you enjoyed this post (or at least my commentary since the subject matter sucks)!

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife

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