by guest writer April Ryan.
[ID: A woman, wearing a white shirt, is holding a white sheet in the air, it is covering half of her face.]
by guest writer April Ryan.
I don’t quite remember when I started getting that dreaded knot in my stomach before April. Part of me ponders if it’s because, being called April, I am already bracing for that truckload for name related jokes everyone’s been gasping to sling my way throughout the year. Still, I suppose if I were to think about it critically, as a woman with Asperger’s Syndrome, I guess terms like “Autism Awareness Month” ignite it.
…
by guest writer Jennifer Greenberg
[ID: A white woman lays face down on a bed that has white sheets and grey pillows. She is peering at the camera through strands of her long blonde hair that lay over her face.]
by guest writer Jennifer Greenberg.
As the cast of Friends officially confirmed their reunion show, I leafed through the copious roommates I’d had since leaving home. While Joey and Chandler had hit it off by season 1, I had yet to happen upon the same fortune. Sure, I’d traded in a dinner table for a foosball table, and I’d had too many housemates bring home…
by guest writer Lydia Wilkins.
[ID: A pile of books sit on a table next to an open book and a cup of coffee. A vase with flowers sits at the back of the table, in front of white lace curtains.]
by guest writer Lydia Wilkins.
A mixology of tragedy tropes and puzzle piece symbology; what do you get at the end of this equation? Autism Awareness Week is now over — and the idea of Autistic people being ‘the problem’ has once again been challenged, ridiculed, too. I even wrote about this for Conscious Being — and you can read that here:
Allyship and…
by guest writer Charli Clement.
[ID: A blonde woman looks down, her hand at her throat. She is wearing red lipstick and a silver watch. The image is refracted, so you see two impressions of the woman.]
by guest writer Charli Clement.
As an autistic person who, like many others in the community, is completely against the use of functioning levels being ascribed to us, I was intrigued when I first heard the term “neurotypical passing” on TikTok and later, Twitter. …
by guest writer Lydia Wilkins.
[ID: A white woman wearing black jeans and a white shirt, with long blonde hair swept over her shoulder, stands with her hands on her hips, in front of a yellow wall.]
by guest writer Lydia Wilkins.
Autism Awareness Week is happening this week — and there is a high chance you have seen platitudes everywhere about ‘people with Autism’. There will be tragedy stories brought out and widely disseminated on Twitter, with many using the term ‘special needs’. Some well meaning charities will pull stunts to attract attention. …
by guest writer Jennifer Greenberg.
[ID: A brother swings on a wooden swing, above a path full of crisp autumn leaves. In the distance is his sister, hands in pocket, watching.]
by guest writer Jennifer Greenberg.
“I hate being Bi-Polar, its awesome,” Kanye West wrote on the cover of “Ye,” his eighth studio album. I was fascinated as the rapper openly addressed his recent mental health struggles during his interview with David Letterman. As the Netflix special unfolded, his incessant foot tapping and restless disposition felt dangerously familiar.
They were the same tendencies that I had after losing a full-time job to mania.
When the…
by guest writer Amy.
[ID: A conceptual depiction of the brain and brain stem, using shiny, rippled fabric like texture, with small blue circles expanding out from it.]
(TW: Surgery)
by guest writer Amy.
March is Brain Tumour Awareness month. What better time to tell my story, then now. My name is Amy, I am a 30 something writer and small business owner, who has lived with a condition called Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2), for my whole life. NF2 causes tumours to grow randomly on the nervous system, particularly the spine, head and neck. 19 years after I was first diagnosed with NF2, I…
by guest writer Lydia Wilkins.
(ID: A woman stands amongst a wall of flowers, with the flowers cascading around her face. She looks thoughtful.)
by guest writer Lydia Wilkins.
Have you ever had one of those moments in life when something clicks, and it seems that — in a moment of clarity — that everything just suddenly makes sense? They may only happen a handful of times — but it can really help, especially if it helps you pivot towards a better path.
Prosopagnosia is also known as Face Blindness — and you can find out more information from the National Health Service here. It…
Get to know dare devil deaf presenter Alana Nichols and be inspired by her new travel show, launching today.
Travel may be off the cards right now for many of us, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get inspired and start planning for our next trip abroad. One way to get inspired is by checking out Follow Alana Switzerland — a new show launching on digital platforms today! Here at Conscious Being we had the pleasure of catching a preview of the show. We also had the opportunity to interview the host herself, Alana Nichols.
Born deaf, Alana has…
by guest writer Lydia Wilkins.
(ID: A woman with brown hair stands on some steps, looking over her shoulder. She has a white backpack style handbag slung over her shoulder.)
by guest writer Lydia Wilkins.
Executive Functioning is something that many Autistic individuals may struggle with at some point. Think of it like this: our brain has a little Personal Assistant (PA) who helps us with things like sequencing and completing tasks. To an Autistic person, it may feel like the ‘cogs’ which allow us to do this are a bit slow, overused, as well as cumbersome. Personally, this manifests in things like cooking —…
Elizabeth Wright
Elizabeth is a disability activist, Paralympic Medalist and keynote speaker on disability, inclusion, and allyship. linktr.ee/elizabethlwright
