I’m ending the radio silence. With my final year of uni being fully face-to-face I haven’t had much spare time to write posts. Now I’m nearing the end of uni, I’ve got lots more to think about and where my career will finally take off, so I’ll be writing more about that, especially with how being autistic effects employment. Anyway, one of the things that has been taking up my time is Hockey. Yes, I am part of a hockey team and have been ever since the start of uni 3 years ag

I have been busy with my university studies so posts aren't as frequent, but this seminar really rattled me so felt best I write about it. I was sat in a seminar, where the topic we were doing was about medicalisation. In both the lecture and the seminar, it mentioned the term ‘Asperger’s’ and how it has been medicalised, and the benefits of this being a diagnostic term. This lesson made me very frustrated as an Autistic person and I am about to tell you why. Firstly, a bit o

Sorry it’s been a while since I put out a new post. I have just started my final year at university and had my birthday, so I’ve been very busy getting myself used to being back at uni. A few weeks ago, I read another blog post about the things this person needed when they were having a bad day. I read through this and a lot of what was written resonated with me. So, I thought I would do a similar one about my needs. Every autistic person will have different needs according t

I am writing todays blog from isolation. One of my family members has tested positive so I am now isolating for 10 days. One of the differences between Neurotypical and Neurodivergent people is how we process information. Autistic people will not process a situation the same as how a non-autistic person would. It may be different, logical, complex or deep thinking. Social communication has a lot of hidden rules, or social norms. Especially when in conversations. It’s filled w

This question would depend on who you ask. One employer may hire you, while another does not. This is due to a range of factors, other candidates, the job in question, interview skills. Autism affects all of this. But for employers who purposely chose to not employ autistic people is down to one thing. The way they see Autism. They see autism as a weakness or struggles or deficits. Not through our strengths and benefits. However, there are some employers who only employ autis

I thought that this week I would give you an insight into what my educational experience was like, I still haven’t finished my university degree yet, about to enter my third and final year having thankfully passed my second year with a merit. My results came in last week and despite this year’s challenges I am very relieved with my results. I am one of those people who thrived being in education. It would not have mattered what sort of school I was in because I would’ve loved

After months and months of people talking to me about this…… Yes, it is normal, and it’s perfectly okay that I do not stim, and I actually struggle with any conversations about stimming as well. But those who know me understand this and warn me if stimming will be discussed so I can move away and not hear it. For those who are new to this term, stimming is the short word for ‘self-stimulation’ which sounds really odd, so we prefer stimming instead. The other thing to be noted

For those reading this that know me, this may be new information to you. Something you did not know about until now. Nothing has changed in the way I identify. I am still female, but the way I feel my gender is, is different to that of feminine. When I was younger, I used to think the word for me was ‘tomboy’ a girl who liked more masculine things and didn’t really have an interest in the feminine things such as dolls, dresses and make-up. My favourite colour is blue, and I d

I feel this is something that every autistic person can identify with. The how to tell family about your new diagnosis and how you think they will react to that news. When an autistic person receives a diagnosis it can be very relieving to have this new piece of information. But there is also a process to this too. Mine started with being so incredibly happy to finally have the conformation that I was autistic, it then moved to hindsight. Looking back at my life wondering how

Has someone ever asked you ‘are you okay’ or ‘how are you feeling’ and you just don’t know and can’t give them an answer? Well, this is what I have, and its called Alexithymia. Alexithymia is the inability to recognise and/or describe your own emotions. In Greek, this loosely translates to ‘no words for emotions’ and that is exactly what this is. Alexithymia is also a spectrum; some people may be more severe than others. I know some people who are more severe than me, but it

This week is going to be completely different to my other posts, I decided to change the topic last minute because I realised something about myself, and it actually applies to a lot of us. As autistic people, we can be quite hard on ourselves, at least I am anyway, and a lot of people can vouch for that. Especially for those of us who are late diagnosed. But actually, late diagnosed people are amazing! We have accomplished so much as undiagnosed autistic people and we need t

………………..Or in my case, it is a lack of a minds eye. (QUICK TEST: Close your eyes and think of an apple. What number would you say the image you had in your head was? The closer you are to 5, the more likely you possibly have aphantasia) I am a 5. I have aphantasia, this is where there is an inability to visualise mental images, in other words I do not think in pictures. When someone tells me to ‘imagine a…’ I cannot do this, there is literally nothing in my head that resemble

So, I have been a bit busy, I have been writing multiple assessments for my university modules, but the term has ended now, and everything is submitted so can fully focus on writing some more posts for you all. This post is about after realising I was autistic and how I managed to process this information and became accepting of it, while also mentioning the support I got to help me with this. When I took the initial AQ test with my support worker at university, and it was lo

Having only 20 years of life experience, this is not in any way going to attempt to be a professional, or clinical blog but rather a journey of myself through the past and future, as well as sharing and raising the level of acceptance of autism in society. Every autistic person is different. I am just one autistic person and not a representative of the whole community. I am Saffron Anderton, born and raised in Suffolk, UK. I am approaching the end of my second year at univer