NeuroEnchanted

08/12/2026

Such an important thing to remind myself every time I’m pi**ed about the term being used.

08/09/2026

08/09/2026

Dame Uta Frith really should listen to autistic people and embrace our lived experience.

The research that Uta says is so lacking is because non autistic people are doing the research.

Employ autistic researchers as they are the best in the world and have an innate understanding of autism.

Dismissing autistic voices, crushing a vulnerable minority is not acceptable nor is it kind.

The latest interviews by Uta Frith are an abuse of power, she could still give her opinion, but not shrouded in outdated terms, and sweeping generalizations that are causing so much pain and division.

We expect more, we deserve more and that a professional code of conduct be adhered to. A world expert, should also exercise a duty of care towards the community.

I would like to see autistic people and their families be treated with respect, kindness and empathy.

Dismissing our lived experience, dehumanizing our existence is not helpful at all and does not empower bridges of constructive communication at all.

Brian

08/08/2026

Two weeks left until my kids start back at school, and I’m exhausted just thinking about it. New teachers, to whom I have to start over with in regard to extensive explaining around support needs. Ones who might not take them seriously as needs (and not just preferences) when I tell them, due to the high-masking-in-public nature of our family…

08/08/2026

So true this, the spectrum is a spectrum, most professionals get this and are not spouting relentless opinions that are harming vulnerable autistic people and their families

Brian

Check out this post from my good friend Philippa instagram. A great page to follow.

Round Two of the late-diagnosed denier. And if I am honest the only people I see agreeing with her are the editors of the Daily Mail.

w

08/08/2026

I just saw a post about how we do not all have the same 24 hours, and I immediately thought about what the world might look like if we actually led with that understanding.

I am Autistic, ADHD, and live with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.

My energy level on a regular basis? Not high.

My capacity on a regular basis? Not a lot.

But I was taught that everyone has the same 24 hours and that what we do with them is simply a choice.

So now, even when my body is asking me to stop, I struggle to rest without guilt.

Go figure.

We may all live within the same 24-hour clock, but we do not have the same energy, health, support, responsibilities, resources, access, or capacity within those hours.

Rest is not laziness.

Capacity is not character.

And needing more time does not mean someone is doing less with their life.

We Do Not All Have the Same 24 Hours.

08/02/2026

07/31/2026

As a side note, I've always felt that it's a disservice to autistic people that when they get bullied, it's THEM who are offered social skills lessons, and the bullies are offered no intervention for their communication defects whatsoever. It's like society is literally more willing to tolerate bullying than tolerate harmless autistic behaviours.
Oh, and one thing that's not mentioned in this analogy- French people can learn other languages too. ;)
Chris Bonnello - Autistic Author

[Black text on faded background of me holding a microphone at a speaking event. Text reads:
“When we teach social skills to autistic kids, it needs to be like teaching French.
When we teach children how to speak French, we’re not forcing them to become French. We’re teaching them how to communicate with French people, and function well in French society. We don’t force them to get rid of their own identity and invent a new French identity for themselves.
So when we offer social skills classes for autistic children, we should NOT be trying to turn them neurotypical. We just need to teach them how neurotypical people communicate and how to function socially among them. Their authentic autistic self doesn’t have to be compromised or destroyed in order to do this.”]

07/28/2026

After yesterday’s post where I argued against arbitrary boxes for Autistic people let’s look at what the Autistic spectrum actually is and why subdividing “the spectrum” doesn’t work.

Some people seem to think the autism spectrum ranges from mild to severe, or profound.

It’s often where the “we are all a little bit Autistic” often comes from. Which is completely untrue of course, if we were all a little bit Autistic we wouldn’t need legal protections for accessibility.

The reality is that all Autistic people are completely 100% Autistic. It’s not a sliding scale.

Let’s imagine it’s the start of the day and I’ve had a good rest.

I may have loads of bandwidth to play with, plenty spoons in the drawer, energy to spare.

I might be able to speak fluently, stim for fun rather than regulation, and tolerate a wide range of sensory input. A woollen cardigan. A spicy breakfast. A strong smelling cuppa.

This can be reflected on my own expression of being Autistic, my own Autistic Spectrum. I might even have fairly low support needs at this point.

Then let’s move to later that day. Let’s imagine it’s been a highly emotional day. Maybe I’ve had a difficult meeting with a school. Or maybe it’s highly emotional but in a good way - I’ve attended my friends’ wedding.

My own Autistic Spectrum will have changed a lot!

I might have changed out of that top with the cardigan on it.

Be stimming for self regulation and watching a comfort show.

I might be using AAC rather than mouth speak.

I might be eating beige samefoods.

My support needs definitely are higher. I might be relying on friends or family for help.

Let’s move to the weeks after I had my hysterectomy.

My sensory profile fluctuating wildly.

Pain as I recovered impacting my speech

Lots of repetition as I enjoy familiar and comforting music, tv, movies, books, food.

Definitely higher needs again.

I am still completely Autistic at each of these times. No more, no less.

Every moment of our lives this expression of our identity is fluctuating as we navigate the world. It’s dynamic.

If you were to imagine a different snapshot of your spectrum for each minute over a life time, then pulling one out at a time would show just how varied we can be. It’d resemble cutting into a marble cake with all the movement! Our spectrum is fluid, ever changing, and three dimensional.

This is, of course, the same for all Autistic people no matter what their support needs are like.

The old idea of a straight line does not work, but our own individual spectrums reflecting out fluctuations works beautifully.

Likewise, dividing up Autistic people into sub categories does not help us at all. We are strongest when we can advocate and support each other together.

The term “profoundly Autistic” is touted as a separate term but it is a misunderstanding of what it means to be Autistic.

It’s often used to describe Autistic people with other additional disabilities. People often neglect to recognise that these other disabilities are not part of being Autistic. Some may occur more often in Autistic people, but it does not mean that they are an integral part of being Autistic. All of our disabilities deserve support. Too many Autistic people are told that anxiety for example is just a part of being Autistic when it isn’t. It’s a common experience within our community that we have a right to be supported with.

It is essential that we acknowledge and honour the fact that all Autistic people - regardless of our fluctuating support needs - have innate value. We all deserve support and opportunities. We all deserve our rights to be met and a good quality of life.

04/15/2026

I saw this posted in a large Neurodiversity group and I thought, I can answer all of those. Most of these questions are answered by nervous system science!

Autistic people have more sensitive nervous systems, so these become a problem for us easier than the general population. We're the "canaries in the coal mine" which means our threshold for reacting to negative stimulus is lower than average.

- Nervous system state strongly impacts if and how caffeine works. If you're already depleted, caffeine cannot magically create new energy. Caffeine tells our body to borrow from our energy stores for tomorrow and next week and next month, and eventually there is no energy available no matter how much caffeine screams "give me the energy." There are also genetic metabolism differences that affect how fast or slow we process caffeine.

- Most gastro problems are caused by nervous system imbalance and/or hypermobility. IBS-D is associated with fight/flight responses and adrenaline surges where gut motility happens too fast. IBS-C is associated with freeze/shutdown responses where gut motility just stops. Combination IBS can be from flipping between these two nervous system states. Hypermobility predisposes for allergies and food sensitivities because it makes the gut wall weaker and stretchier.

- There's a cluster of 3 genes that is usually inherited together - one codes for Autism or ADHD or similar, one codes for hypermobility, and one codes for immune hyper-activation. This is why so many Autistic people have chronic fatigue syndrome, POTS, MCAS, gluten/dairy/soy sensitivities, chemical & fragrance sensitivity, oral allergy syndrome, and many other autoimmune conditions.

- Stims meet tons of neurological needs. Repetitive motions create dopamine. Many stims are vagus nerve activating activities.

Being sensory seeking works for our brains because checking for sensory input is how our nervous system assesses for safety. For example, if we don't get enough auditory stimulation, our body might believe that our ears don't work anymore and that's scary and stressful to our subconscious. But if we can hear stuff, then the body is like: yep ears work, no worries there.

Proprioceptive sensation is one that easily goes offline for a lot of us. Without knowing where we are in space, it's hard to even know we exist. Moving our body in space tells our nervous system that our hands and feet do actually exist.

- Around 80% of the Autistic community identifies as LGBTQ+. If you are Autistic, you are likely to be outside of the social norm in more areas than just neurotype.

- The biggest thing that Autistics do better than NTs is bottom-up processing. We observe many small details and use those to build complex big pictures. NTs could never. They do top-down processing. NTs approach everything with preconceived ideas of what is expected and then fill in details from there.

Let me know if you have more questions about the Autistic experience! I don't know if I'll be able to answer all of them here, but they will inform future post topics.


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