:: Like so many autistic adults who are diagnosed later in life, my past clicked into focus once I was diagnosed. All of my awkwardness that led to bullying and more—I didn’t realize how much I blamed myself for those things. Why couldn’t I have been stronger? What was wrong with me? I didn’t realize that I never had a chance because I never received support.
:: Coming out from under a crushing deadline doesn’t mean you’re going to be happy. It can mean the opposite.
:: In 24 hours, the truth was before us, a truth that had probably been there all along. Sometimes things just die.
:: Today, when this fear of death hit me, I realized that I’ve been carrying these thoughts around in the back of my mind for so long that I can’t remember when they started. Perhaps two years of pandemic, of living under a shroud of death, has created this pall.
:: The best jobs give their workers agency, and those workers tend to be happy They get to be creative, and come up with neat ideas, and execute those ideas. Whereas jobs where workers do not have agency tend to have workers who burn out.
:: This used to be an essay about grief, and anxiety disorder, and how we react when the whirl of events overwhelms us. Now it is also an essay about death and loss.
Award-winning author, speaker, and expert on mental health and disability.
