Psychosis
Some 4(ish) years ago, my debut blog post on this website was Standing on the corner: Where autism and addiction meet shortly covered by Recovery services as an Autistic adult. Back then My writing was merely an attempt to scream into the void, offloading my frustrations. Little did i
Autism
For many of us, medication is a necessary part of life. For a huge portion of the Autistic population, that medication is prescribed by a psychiatrist. Psychiatric medication can be a troublesome topic, psychiatry itself is a relatively young discipline, and can often be found to be neuronormative in nature.
Mental Health
I am Autistic. I also have a psychotic condition. One might wonder why these two things are even related, and yet they share an intimate relationship. As an Autistic person, I have a monotropic bodymind. I hyperfocus into a subject, and find it very difficult to switch tracks, even when
Autism
What is Autistic joy? Is it different to neurotypical joy? Honestly, I can't answer the second question. I am Autistic, and always have been. The neurotypical mind is a puzzle I can not solve. I can however discuss what is Autistic joy is to me. Inspired by the
Healthcare
This article is not intended as medical advice, please speak to your prescriber for any medical questions pertaining to medication. This article is something of a survival guide based on my own experiences, other's experiences may differ. Recently I started a new medication on the advice of my
disability
Today I am 6 years sober from addiction. During those six years I have learnt many lessons, but in this reflection I would like to consider something that has played on my mind for the past three years of my advocacy work. Inspiration. While not overtly a bad thing, it
disability
Life is full of ups and downs. My passion in life is helping people climb back from the "downs" into "ups" that often seem impossible at the time. In order to do this, I had to go through a personal hell and walk out the other
disability
This article was co-authored by David Gray-Hammond and Katie Munday Trigger warnings: This article discusses gaslighting, trauma, criminal exploitation (on various topics including sexual exploitation), substance use, mental health, cuckooing, county lines. Due to the extensive trauma that we experience as Autistics in our formative years, many of us find
Mental Health Treatment Rights
This article was co-authored by David Gray-Hammond and Tanya Adkin Trigger Warning: This article contains strong language and discussions of fabricated or induced illness, ableism, discrimination, bigotry, child abuse, medical abuse, systemic abuse, institutionalised bullying. Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII) is defined by a set of "alerting signs"
Addiction
During my years of active addiction, I had no concept of who I was beyond being a drug and alcohol user. For this reason, I felt trapped into my substance use, unable to escape the horror that I was habitually inflicting upon myself. I finally found sobriety, but was clinging
Autistic Pride
This article was co-authored between David Gray-Hammond and Tanya Adkin Trigger Warning: This article contains discussion and examples of ableism and discrimination against Autistic and disabled people. Mentions the R-Slur. When you're first confronted with the word "ableism", it seems a bit abstract and unreal. This
Neurodiversity
This article was co-authored between David Gray-Hammond and Tanya Adkin Trigger Warning: This article contains discussion of systemic abuse and trauma inflicted by professionals. Some of the research cited contains person-first language and other problematic or ableist language. There is also discussion of sexism and racism. The first part of