Ponderings from the Autiverse

  The month of April is often filled with social media posts about Autism Awareness, Autism Acceptance, and puzzle pieces (or why we shouldn't accept them as symbols to represent the autistic community). It can be hard to know what to think if you are coming across it for the first time, and if it is something you are familiar with, you may be asking 'so what's the point? Do we need this?' I wanted to share my experiences of coming to realise that I am autistic, and how this realisation transformed my life. And how I have come to not only be aware, or accept it, but embrace it as a part of myself that I wouldn't change for the world. How it all started I'm not going to go back to my birth and take it from there, don't worry (!) but growing up, I was aware enough to notice that I didn't fit in, but not aware that I was autistic. This meant that instead of looking for an answer, I blamed myself for being stupid and not being able to pick up on things that ...