meeting the author
Howdy – welcome to my blog. This is something I have thought about starting for a long time, and with the Winter semester finishing up and the summer beginning, now felt like the perfect time. Let me take this moment to introduce myself. I am Maddie, a 24 year old autistic gal currently doing my Masters in Political Science. My research focuses on the socio-political impacts of late autism diagnosis in adult woman, a project inspired by my frustration with the lack of resources following my own diagnosis. I am also a cat mother, craft beer enthusiast, feminist killjoy, and critical theorist. I, like many other autistic women, was diagnosed in twenties after a lifetime of being “quirky” in good times, and “a spaz” in bad ones. My intentions for this blog are multiple, but the two main focuses are to (1) keep myself active in writing as much as possible, fine tune my ability to turn my thoughts into words (as an autistic, this is hard) and (2) to help myself process my emotions post diagnosis, to understand how my autism has impacted my relationships though my life, why I struggle to communicate. I make no promises about what this will be, only that it will be a collection of my thoughts, and I hope you enjoy it.
I want to start by clearly stating where I am coming to this from. I began suspecting I was autistic at around 20, after listening to a podcast that interviewed an autistic woman discussing her experience of late diagnosis. I was incredibly taken aback by how much everything she was saying resonated with me. I talked to my best friend about it, but at that time it did not go much further than that. After about a year of doing online research about autism in women, I began to confidently, secretly, self-diagnose as autistic. I talked to my parents, and my siblings, eventually my Doctor who did preliminary screening and referred me to the local adult autism clinic. They quoted me something like 48 months to see a psychiatrist. I thanked them, and sat on their list. Around this same time, I took my first critical disability studies class in university. It radically changed my life. I fell in love with the field for its expansive empathy. I wrote my undergraduate honours thesis about the intersection of autism and trans identities, and have presented this research at multiple events. I was officially diagnosed with autism 3 months ago, after searching out a private diagnosis that cost thousands of dollars out of pocket. I have gone through a formal assessment, have been studying disability and crip identities for years, and have dedicate myself to the tenants of disability justice. All this being said, I am but one autistic gal who speaks only for myself – and I cannot wait to share my experiences here.
Blaming it on my Autism 
Leave a comment