Advocate for Inclusion and Neurodiversity

THE DOUBLE EMPATHY PROBLEM The Double Empathy Problem was coined by  Dr Damian Milton . Dr Damian Milton is an autistic person who is an Autism Knowledge and Expertise Consultant, along with other official appointments he holds in the autism space. He holds a number of academic qualifications in a range of subjects: Sociology, Philosophy, Psychology, Education. The Double Empathy Problem is explained in this  National Autistic Society's page . You can also find a summary for non-academics  on the "Reframing Autism" website. A watered down explanation would be: Much as people say autistics have difficulty understanding and empathising with neurotypicals (NTs), a concept commonly referred to "Theory of Mind", NTs have equal difficulty understanding autistics. People with different life experiences and wiring of brain experience and process the world differently. but one is no less than the other, it is just different.  It is funny how people assume the autistic is...

ANONYMOUS QUESTION : this is for my own self reflection, I would like to understand better, what do you mean by love and accept you because of your autism and not in spite of? ANSWER from an autistic person: It means to love yourself in your entirety. Don’t say “I love who I am even though I’m fat” for example. I love myself for my differences - my hyperactivity gives me energy when I need it, my lack of focus enables me to concentrate on many conversations simultaneously, my ability to hyper focus combined with my need to “deep dive” into my special area enables me to be an expert in things I love. Does this make sense. I love who I am because of my Autistic traits. It is a “strength-based” approach to loving who you are. Instead of seeing your Autistic traits through a negative lens, you see them through a strength based lens which means you will love yourself for these traits. MY OWN ANSWERS Examples for illustration below: IN SPITE OF Autism mentality - we dislike ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvvrme5WIwA This video (link above) from a real life story and perspective of an autistic lady of the RICHNESS   which  NEURODIVERSITY can bring to the world, and the acceptance & embracing of the autism part of every autistic.  We have a lot to bring to the world due to our unique experiences which are perhaps unique to the (Neuro)divergent. Some of the great inventions which has moved our society/world forward by autistic brains. To me, the pivotal milestone for this woman is captured starting from 07:50 part of the video. She talk about her discovery of Asperger's Syndrome .  This reminded me of myself - diagnosed late in life (so was she), then able to look back at my life with a different view, from a different lens, with a clearer vision ,  to be able to make sense of my experiences (be it the good, the bad or the ugly, the rich and the poor, the usual and the unique, the ordinary and the o...

We concluded a "Life After Death" Autism Forum on 28th September 2019 Being a groundbreaking first of  its kind initiative, this marks a significant milestone for the Singapore autism community. Here is why: It is Autistic-led, something n ever done before in Singapore. The main organiser who initiated this is an autistic adult . All the panellists are autistic adults. Volunteers are made up of both autistics and neurotypicals (of course it is good to have neurotypical allies, especially those with a genuine heart for the autism community and those with experience in event management) The Forum's focus is a very different spin compared to other Forums and Conferences attended in the past. This Forum focuses on Inclusive Equality which is a concept of novelty. Coined by the main organiser of this event, it is defined as promoting autistics as equal partners with allies, as opposed to being the needy ones. Empowering autistics to take responsibility for our...