And that it may gatekeep diagnoses. I have other concerns too - email help@iwsensupport.org for more details and sources.
I’m concerned for ND young people and their families. I’d be interested to hear positive and negative experiences. Thank you.

Please get in touch. The model is in Portsmouth, Cornwall, Surrey, North Gloucestershire and the Isle of Wight - soon to be Wirral and Southampton too. I am deeply concerned for many reasons, not least because this model is based on baron-cohens research and behaviourist approaches…

When I started this MA, I genuinely wasn’t sure if it was beyond my capabilities. I’m still not sure, but I want to prove to myself that I am capable, and if I don’t get it, I want it to be because I can’t, and not because I didn’t know myself well enough, didn’t try hard enough or didn’t have…

friend on my course, the whole 3 years I was doing it, which would’ve certainly helped. There’s no way to know for sure ofc, and maybe things do happen for a reason, but I often wonder how things might’ve been different, if I had been better understood back then.

Not the academia per se, but the knowing all the things; when and where to be for lectures and exams, time management, who to ask for help…a million things I seemed to be feeling out in the dark, whilst others navigated easily, and the shame that goes along with it. I didn’t make a single…

I got a 2:2 when I first studied my bachelor’s 20 years ago. There are many reasons I could cite for the grade, but I think a massive part of it was the fact that I was undiagnosed, and had no idea why the things that seemed to come so easily to others, were such a huge struggle for me…

Now, I don’t wanna be counting proverbial chickens before they hatch, and to be clear, I haveta work my arse off; it doesn’t come naturally to me, but I am committed to achieving the highest grade possible according to my ability. I want to be sure that my final mark reflects my potential…

'I remember '17
For a minute there we cracked the screen
And light spilled in the in-between
From under that machine
For a minute there, it could be seen
The people that we might have been
And in the crowds with everyone
I thought I saw a world to come
I saw another Albion.'

‘Then they came with their wrecking balls
And even as the darkness falls
Around union halls the ghost of courage calls’ 🎶🖤

vindicated. I don’t think I will ever forgive the Labour architects who wilfully destroyed the only real hope of change we’ve ever had in my lifetime (I’m in my 40’s). There’s a Grace Petrie song about it and the lyrics are *chefs kiss*, it’s called Start Again :) youtu.be/gBEl-hd-8jg?...

I’m still not over it, too. I still feel visceral sadness, anger and incredulity. And the worst part is, they’ve paved the way for populism. I fear where we will be in a few years time, when the people who voted twice for change realise they were betrayed again, and the people who didn’t vote are

As the elders learnt they were ND, sought diagnosis for themselves and their children and education on what it means to be ND, we have inadvertently created a family/close friend community of ND people. It’s fun and affirming and feels like a great relief when we are together…

…can be in a room full of people who ‘get it’, can come together to create communities, belong, admire and respect other autistic people who mirror themselves back to them. In my own experience, this is the only thing that truly works- I’ve seen it in my own family…