05/01/2026
On this very last day of Autism Awareness Month, I guess I'll post what has been back of mind for me all month. This is the lanyard I wore at the Halifax buyers' show last month. I chose it because it's worn for accommodations at airports, signalling to the flight staff and that the wearer is autistic and may need more time, less noise or other requirements.
I have a hidden disability, sometimes it's not so hidden. The issue with low support needs is that I never know when my disability is fully masked, when it's suspected or even obvious to those around me.
As a sixty year old woman, I'm very good at the things I'm good at, but pants at just about everything else. I used to be able to mask for days on end, but after COVID I found I was less able, and many times less willing, to mask. Masking takes a very large toll on my energy and I've found that energy is really important when you're running a small business and manufacturing all of your stock.
So I'm writing this to say that I'm happy to talk to anyone who has any questions, but mostly want to explain that my AuDHD shows itself in so many ways. I have excessive sensory sensitivities. Sometimes it's a form of face blindness. If I don't have context clues, I'm at a loss for names and so many times grasping for the place in my brain that's supposed to catalog all of that for me.
Sometimes, it's dyscalculia. Dealing with this as a small business owner is it's very own type of hell. It's a processing disorder that makes learning new things exceedingly difficult. I am capable of learning new things, but there just isn't much space in my head to store the information. Unless it's something I need to do almost daily, it evaporates from my brain and I start from scratch each time.
Mostly I'm asking for grace, every so often the business grows past me and I feel a bit underwater. My health these past few months has been a struggle. If something has fallen through the cracks, please remind me. It's not for a lack of caring. I'm learning to surround myself with people to fill in the gaps, but finding those people is also a skillset I struggle with.
