Life Through the Lens of Autism Archives

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Pity? Ugh! by Lisa Morgan M.Ed. CAS

March 12, 2021 Spectrum Women

**Content warning: suicide I had a service provider working with one of my sons say they were ‘sorry’ to me the other day. This person hadn’t done anything wrong – until their apology. They were ‘sorry’ for the state of my life. Sorry… for my life being the way it is as far as they understood it! Yes, parenting as an autistic adult is difficult. (I imagine parenting as a non autistic adult is difficult as well.) Yes, growing up autistic in the 60’s/70’s was very difficult. Yes, being bullied throughout my lifespan so far has been demeaning and harsh. […]

Advocacy

Imposter Syndrome by Lisa Morgan M.Ed. CAS

October 12, 2020 Spectrum Women

Have you ever felt the thrill of a hard-won success – only to completely doubt your abilities soon after? Maybe you stepped out of your comfort zone, worked very hard, did an incredible job, but then started to rationalize it was all just luck? How about feeling like a fraud, even though you have clear evidence you are not? Even irrefutable, written, positive feedback can be dismissed by the doubt and angst inflicted upon people by the Imposter Syndrome. The Imposter Syndrome is a lying thief. Just as I started moving forward, taking risks, and enjoying successes; it crashed into […]

Advocacy

When so Little was Known of Autism by Lisa Morgan M.Ed. CAS

June 29, 2020 Spectrum Women

Autistic adults who are now in their 30’s and older are a unique group of people twice over. First, they are unique because they are autistic and second because most of them grew up undiagnosed. In the US, autism did not become a common word until the 1960’s, even so, it was still extremely rare to have a diagnosis of autism in the 60’s and 70’s or even 80’s. School kids were helped by IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) from 1975 and beyond, but at first all kids were labeled “disabled” and the techniques used to help them were […]

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Unmet Needs During the Pandemic By Lisa Morgan M.Ed. CAS

April 11, 2020 Spectrum Women

**Content warning: Suicide Crisis supports for the autism community are sparse. Autistic people need support specific to their way of thinking and understanding the world. This often differs from the type of support available for the general public. Thankfully, there is an existing research study published in Molecular Autism that we, autistic people, can use to help ourselves now, in real time, as we need it during the pandemic. This research can help guide us in how we can take care of ourselves and our loved ones as we experience the unexpected changes in the world. The immediate changes we […]

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Today by Lisa Morgan M.Ed. CAS

March 31, 2020 Spectrum Women

My alarm goes off. As my mind transitions from sleeping to waking up, I wonder what day it is. Oh, yeah, it’s today. It’s always today now. There’s no schedule to discern one day from the next anymore. It’s the spring of 2020 and the whole world changed just a couple of weeks ago. Then, I start to remember. This today is going to be a great day! Things are really going to get exciting! I had decided the night before to shake things up a bit and have my coffee in the living room by the window instead of […]

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The Carnival by Lisa Morgan M.Ed CAS

March 7, 2020 Spectrum Women

When I was a kid I went to a carnival. It was one of those small town carnivals celebrating summer with music, craft tables, the smell of fried food, and games to play for a stuffed animal. This carnival had a cake walk. It’s a game like musical chairs where people walk around an area until the music stops. If you happened to stop in front of a cake, you got to keep it. All the cakes were homemade and delicious! But, I digress. It wasn’t a time for cake then as you will see as my story progresses. So, […]

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I Didn’t Know Back Then by Lisa Morgan M.Ed. CAS

February 3, 2020 Spectrum Women

Being born autistic in the 60’s put my life on a trajectory of unknowns. Although there were hints about the way my brain was wired – they were misunderstood back then. People couldn’t figure me out. I couldn’t figure me out. The comments I heard the most were: ‘you are so quiet’, ‘you are too sensitive’, ‘you should try to make friends’, and ‘can I copy your homework?’. ‘You are so quiet.’ I’ve heard this statement so much throughout my life I could scream, but that would be uncharacteristic – wouldn’t it? One of the great mysteries of my life […]

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The Power of Acceptance by Lisa Morgan

December 22, 2019 Spectrum Women

I got a homemade gift the other day. It’s absolutely incredible in so many ways. The gift itself is beautiful, the person who made it even more so. There are many layers of meaning within the gift; I’m still processing it days later. I want to share one meaning because it shows the power of acceptance. The gift is a stunning stained glass picture of an elegant flower sitting atop a strong stem with various swirling leaves. It is important to note that, as the colors were chosen with care, there were colors not chosen with just as much, if […]

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Overcoming PTSD with ASD by Lisa Morgan M.Ed. CAS

December 1, 2019 Spectrum Women

PTSD is a harsh, stern, taskmaster. Triggers are everywhere. They can even come in safe places and through a person you trust. Those are the difficult ones because, if the trigger was very unpleasant, going back to that same safe place or person for help – does not feel safe. Living with ASD keeps the traumatic reliving of memories all close and fresh so to speak. For many, our autism keeps the triggered memories alive through rumination of thought; keeps them graphic through visual thinking and lucid nightmares, and keeps us alone through withdrawing to cope. With PTSD there’s a […]

Life Through the Lens of Autism

Fictional Reality by Lisa Morgan

October 9, 2019 Spectrum Women

Warning : the following article contains a staggering amount of sarcasm, is predominantly fiction, while based completely on real events. Nothing has been changed to protect the guilty. To Whom It May Concern, There is a toxic fiasco that needs to be addressed. There are people all over the world suffering needlessly from a rampant malady affecting the minds of millions, called ‘Ignorance’, with a possible variant called ‘Disdain’. Research has determined this fiasco is credible and undeniably harmful. The symptoms are veiled, which makes it difficult to diagnose the carriers of the malady before innocent people get hurt. Professionals […]