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Life Through the Lens of Autism

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A Silver Lining… By Lisa Morgan

September 9, 2019 Spectrum Women

Trigger Warning ***This is an article on suicide prevention.*** In honor of September being National Suicide Prevention month, I thought I’d dedicate this column to issues of suicide in the autism community.  While I do understand suicide is not a welcome topic, I believe that is one of the reasons it is such a problem.  No one wants to talk about it.  Although, I believe if we did talk about it more, people wouldn’t feel like they have to keep their feelings a secret and there’s a better chance they will reach out for help. Another unwelcome topic, at least […]

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Life Through the Lens of Autism: Defining Success by Lisa Morgan

August 10, 2019 Spectrum Women

I have never really known how to define success.  For me, it has always seemed connected to how I’m feeling and subjective to circumstances. Along with being diagnosed as autistic later in life, come holes in my general knowledge of life.  Ideas and concepts I probably would have learned if I was included in the social life of school and society while growing up. I’m gradually filling in the holes of my knowledge, such as defining success. For example… the other day, a program manager came to my home to introduce a new support person to help a family member.  […]

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Laughter Means Something was Funny By Lisa Morgan

June 29, 2019 Spectrum Women

‘Laughing all the way to the bank’… I tried it once, but only made it halfway.  My sides hurt, I was holding onto the steering wheel with one hand and wiping the tears of laughter out of my eyes with the other hand.  I’m lucky I even made it to the bank! Ok, yes, I like to have fun with idioms sometimes. I do have a point to this, I really do.  I was just reading an article* from a Scientific American (SA) blog called, “Autism: More than Meets the Eye”.  Haha!  I just pictured someone named ‘Morethan’ meeting someone […]

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Life Through the Lens of Autism: Condition? What Condition? by Lisa Morgan

May 28, 2019 Spectrum Women

I don’t have a condition, do you?   I’m an autistic adult and I keep reading about my “condition”, wondering if “they” know something about myself that I’ve missed.  I think I’m the expert at knowing me.  Now, I read that I have a condition.  Honestly, it’s insulting, demeaning, and offensive to me, but to be fair, I’m going to take an objective look at my life to see if I can find this condition “they” are talking about. Ok, so as far as I know, I’m in working condition for the most part.  I mean, I am well beyond the […]

Life Through the Lens of Autism

Life Through the Lens of Autism: The Growing Pains of a Comfort Zone

May 11, 2019 Spectrum Women

by Lisa Morgan I recently spent a few days at a conference where I had the opportunity to share my story with an audience of about 60 people.  I was not only telling about my lived experience with suicide loss as an autistic adult, I was also advocating for crisis supports for the autism community.  I wanted to do this, knowing ahead of time that nothing good is ever easy. Attending the conference required me to travel about 2/3 across the continental US, present a Thought Leader speech for an hour, be exposed to many types of social situations, and […]

Life Through the Lens of Autism

Can All People be: ‘a Little Autistic’? By Lisa Morgan

April 9, 2019 Spectrum Women

A lot of people have told me they are “a little autistic”.  It’s usually when I’m losing my mask of “normalcy” because of a change, a sensory overload, or from socializing.  I’m reaching out for help by disclosing my autism to a person I’ve deemed safe to help me find a place to regulate and get my mask back on before I really start melting down. Then they say – they are a little autistic too, or – isn’t everyone a little autistic? And, I know I’ve been completely misunderstood…  again. Can all people be ‘a little autistic’? A couple […]

Life Through the Lens of Autism

Anxiety and Alexithymia

March 10, 2019 Spectrum Women

Remember the famous line – “The call is coming from in the house?”- from a classic urban legend horror scene?  When it’s discovered that the prank calls are coming from inside the house, the scare factor goes up exponentially.  Some people consider that scene to be one of the scariest openings in horror movie history. It kind of happened to me the other day.  I was walking around a store and I kept jumping because my heart would explode into thumping wildly just like someone jumped out at me to scare me.  I would calm down, and then it would […]

Life Through the Lens of Autism

What Masking is Not…

February 6, 2019 Spectrum Women

by Lisa Morgan There’s been a lot of discussion these days about masks, why autistic people use them, and how bad they are for us.  Let’s take a look at what masking is not, and how good it is for us to take them off. Masking is not being someone we aren’t because we don’t like who we are, it’s being someone we aren’t because other people don’t like who we are.  While trying to fit into a culture that feels foreign and uncomfortable – many autistic people, me included, were willing to hide our true selves to belong. It’s […]

Life Through the Lens of Autism

Lost – With a Map

January 6, 2019 Spectrum Women

Introducing… Life Through the Lens of Autism, a new monthly column for Spectrum Women’s magazine for all women on the spectrum.  Written from the unique point of view of a spectrum woman who started life after college as a computer science engineer back in the 80’s, a single parent, mother of four (2 biological, 2 adopted from China), teacher of students with special needs, enjoys cats of all ages, survivor of suicide loss, author, advocate, speaker, loves purple, and one who doesn’t take life too seriously because… why?  The column will be an excerpt of autistic life, a bit sarcastic, […]

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