International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day

It’s been four weeks since we found out about the death of my friend Scott Bradford. And as I struggled with my grief over these past few weeks, I’ve also had the amazing opportunity to share Scott’s story with over 100 Texas librarians. A week before we learned about Scott’s passing, I was invited to

Eulogy for My Father

My father passed away on this day, February 5th, back in 2011. In honor of the anniversary of his passing, I have decided to share the eulogy that I wrote for his funeral.

Día de Muertos

The older I get, the more I appreciate Día de Muertos. Years pass, loved ones pass, and I grow to understand more fully the philosophy behind the Day of the Dead. Holidays can be tough, for years after you’ve lost someone. Memories of the past can come flooding to the surface, and in these moments,

September 25th

September 22nd, 2018. A cool, fall day. My husband drives us across town to visit his ailing grandmother. He’s been preparing me, or himself, or the both of us, all morning – telling me who else might be there, what we’re going to do, what to expect… And finally, he says to me: “The location

Ready Player One

Kyle and I have been saving up for a big trip, so we’ve been waiting for a lot of movies to hit the dollar theatre before seeing them. (Except Marvel movies. We budget to see those twice, right after they come out!) So we ended up waiting quite a bit to see “Ready Player One,”

Thanks

The outpouring of support for my open letter has been amazing. So many people have read “To the ‘Weird’ Girls Who Don’t Quite Fit In” and have reached out to let me know how much it’s meant to them. How they saw themselves, or their daughters, or another loved one, reflected in the experiences detailed

To the ‘Weird’ Girls Who Don’t Quite Fit In

I’ve been thinking a lot this month — about my past, my present, and specifically about my late diagnosis of autism at the age of 34. Looking back, I realized I first started considering the possibility that I could be on the autism spectrum after reading the stories of other women and girls with autism.

I Expected My Autism Diagnosis, but Not My Anxiety Disorder

Did you know you can have anxiety so severe it impairs your ability to concentrate and complete work? Here are some examples of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) at work: Procrastinating because you’re afraid you’ll do it wrong and screw up and everyone will hate you? Anxiety. Starting something and then getting distracted by some insignificant thing that doesn’t matter

Autism Day

Today is World Autism Awareness Day – and it’s also my first Autism Day as an officially diagnosed autistic person. It took me a long time to get here. In elementary school, my parents had my hearing checked by an audiologist. I didn’t consistently respond to my own name. I didn’t talk as much as

What I Want People to Know This Autistic History Month

November is Autistic History Month — an event that is tailored to celebrate autistic history, culture and community, by sharing personal histories, art and creative writing about autism. Being recently diagnosed with autism myself, I thought I’d kick off the month by sharing a short history of autism, giving a quick rundown of what autism

The Surprising Childhood Event That Made Me Suspect I’m on the Autism Spectrum

I have been teaching special education for about four years now. When I first began my job, I was told that most of the students I would have in my class were on the autism spectrum. Eager to prepare myself for the challenge of teaching these kids, I became fixated on researching and reading all

What I Found Missing From ‘Atypical’ as an Autistic Viewer

Netflix recently premiered the first season of its new TV show “Atypical,” about a young man and his family dealing with his autism spectrum disorder. While the show is garnering favorable reviews from critics, it has been a very controversial topic in the autism community. To start, the show doesn’t seem to have any autistic