Understanding Needs

Space as Sanctuary

Image is a hand-drawn floorplan of a railroad style apartment on graph paper, with rooms labeled Transition, Eat, Rest, Work, and Play.

Having a safe-space to retreat to is essential for my wellbeing, and I have designed my entire home to be such a self-accommodating sanctuary. It is the one place in the world where I can feel at ease in my body without thinking about it

Sleep Strategies

Image is a photo of a full moon in a dark starry sky

#AskingAutistics What are your top tips for getting to sleep and staying asleep?

Pilates for Autistic Bodies

Photo of flat pebbles balanced in a pile on the beach

I am an autistic woman, I have been working in the autism field as a mentor, adviser and advocate for many years but I trained as a Pilates teacher in 2016 with the aim of providing more autism friendly teaching and classes.

Joy

Joy, Morning joy, I’m always up before the birds and the sun, Always been a morning person, Partly due to a strategy developed in my early twenties, To hit the deck as soon as my eyes opened, In order to avoid falling into the depressive abyss.

I often lived inside of

Routine

Honouring my inflexible adherence to routines actually enables me to be more flexible when I need to be, not less.

Falling mask, sights unseen.

Image shows a willow tree overhanging a lake or river

With a late autism diagnosis, I am learning to better identify my sensory landscape, and to understand how social interactions work (or don’t).

Option D

Image is of an unmade bed under a window with slatted blinds

“If I don’t actively carve out time to be inactive, I fall apart.”

Image is of a diary, smartphone and headphones on a scarred wooden table

In 2019 I carried out a study to explore how late-diagnosed autistic women (like me) managed their health and wellbeing. This is the first of four blog posts describing the themes I identified when analysing the interviews