Published in ILLUMINATION·Pinned6 Questions I Still Have For the Youtuber who “rehomed” her son#6 Why take two COVID-19 relief loans? — One year ago, the youtuber Myka Stauffer and her husband (James Stauffer) posted a video on one of their channels letting the world know they decided to disrupt the adoption of their four-year-old son. The reaction was immediate and, unlike anything the Stauffers had imagined, backlashed on them. Their video…Social Media7 min read
Published in ArtfullyAutistic·Pinned7 Autistic Signs Everyone Missed in Me as a Child And Teenager#6 Meltdowns — After reading this article, I decided it was about time I wrote about some signs of Autism I had as a child. I read online that writing the signs you had as a child makes it easier to get a diagnosis. I filled several pages with moments from my childhood…Autism7 min read
Published in The Shortform·May 13The One Thing That’s Always Missing from Conversations Around AbortionMoney, money, money — Republicans want women to have children, but how are they supposed to raise them? Half the women who seek abortions in the US live below the poverty line, and 3/4 are low-income. Raising a child in the US costs around $272,049 until the age of 18. The poverty line is…Abortion1 min read
Published in ArtfullyAutistic·May 2Autism Is Not A CompetitionWe can support each other in solidarity. — Author Marian Schembari recently wrote an essay on being diagnosed autistic in adulthood for Cup of Jo, a popular lifestyle blog. I loved reading it. For starters, I can identify a lot with her experience having been diagnosed as an adult myself. …Autism3 min read
Published in ArtfullyAutistic·Apr 18I’m Autistic — Here Are 4 Reasons Why I Love Having CatsThey are a great company when working from home — It was the middle of the pandemic when I got that phone call. On the other side of the line, my neighbor was telling me she had driven 15 minutes to work. Then parked her Mercedes in the garage, and a tiny black cat got out from underneath. “I have…Cats3 min read
Published in ILLUMINATION·Apr 14The Labrants Think It’s Okay to Compare Abortion to GenocideEverything they missed in their documentary — If you’re not familiar with the LaBrant family, lucky you. The Labrants are evangelical family vloggers who post their daily lives on Youtube. More recently, the couple decided to delve into making documentaries. The most recent one focuses on abortion and is stirring controversy online. The documentary focuses on giving…Abortion4 min read
Published in ArtfullyAutistic·Apr 6Can Working from Home Help Solve Unemployment for Autistic Adults?Should we stop going to the office for good? — Millions of people started to work from home during the pandemic. Yet, in the last few months, a lot of employers have asked their workers to go back to the office. I got my first job during the pandemic. I’m working from home and my company has let me choose…Autism4 min read
Published in Invisible Illness·Apr 4What Is Autistic Burnout, and How Do You Recover from It?Having all of your internal resources exhausted beyond measure — I used to think I would do so much when I became an adult, and achieve so many things. But I am so tired. No, tired doesn’t cover it. I am exhausted. …Autism4 min read
Published in History of Yesterday·Mar 31The Brazilian Holocaust That Killed 60.000 PeopleA psychiatric hospital where people came to be tortured and die. — Professor Ivanzir Vieira could not believe what his eyes were seeing. It was March of 1970 and he was right on time for his lecture. Upon entering the lobby of the pharmacy university, dozens of dead bodies of women and men, older and younger stood on the floor. The bodies…History4 min read
Published in ILLUMINATION·Mar 13How to Read and Understand ScienceArticles, articles everywhere — The pandemic caused a lot of misinformation. I lost count of the number of times I’ve rolled my eyes to someone saying “do your own research.” The problem with this is that doing research is a skill. It’s something that you develop with practice. You get better at it by…Pandemic3 min read