I wanted to take the time to say thank you for the incredible community preventive healthcare service that you provide, by collecting potentially contaminated shopping carts and sanitizing them for another person to use.

Your work is so important and so taken for granted. It’s invisible work, and it shouldn’t be.

I know it’s a temporary occupation, and it’s a high risk occupation, which makes your efforts all the more valuable.

Our culture has never valued service in general, and with the politicizing of the evil virus and all the conspiracy theories, most people probably haven’t bothered to thank you…

Most of us want to forget our kryptonites, our flaws and failures — and yes, we usually have more than one. But they’re important to work with because these are the things that trip us up, and prevent us from achieving our goals.

I spent most of 2020 figuring out what my kryptonites are, as I explored my autism and did a lot of introspection along with that.

There are several different types of kryptonite. Everyone has limiting beliefs; thoughts about ourselves which block our productivity. These limiting beliefs often come from our culture or the people in our lives…

I was talking to my therapist about how frustrating it is when I want to do something that I know will be energizing, but I don’t do it because I don’t have the energy to start the thing.

Basically, I need activation energy to begin many of the tasks involved in my special interests or re-energizing tactics (and I need extra activation energy for tasks that I’m not interested in or which stress me out). On good days, everything is fine and I can get started without too much whining to myself. But on bad days, which happen a lot…

My brother has reactive attachment disorder (RAD), so it’s something I’m familiar with (although I’m not a psychologist). We adopted him when he was two, to give him a safe and healthy home, but the damage was already done.

Most people with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) are abuse survivors who cannot form healthy attachment bonds. In most cases that I know of, the people who were supposed to care for them when they were infants and toddlers, abused or neglected them instead.

These individuals have a need to control their relationships, which often leads to the inherited domestic violence pattern…

My brother is adopted. He’s my cousin, biologically. He’s black, he’s on the autism spectrum, he’s been diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, bipolar disorder, ADHD, oppositional-defiant disorder, PTSD, childhood trauma, etc.

He’s a handful, but he’s awesome.

Except, when he gets too stressed, he goes psychotic (yes, that’s a clinical term, in his case), and we’ve had to call the cops on him several times. It’s never pleasant.

So one time, I was exceptionally distressed after the cops showed up.

I mean, it totally sucks when you have to physically restrain someone you love in order to keep them from…

Hi! I’m so glad you decided to read this. Just so you know, I originally presented this at a live event back in 2014 but I’m republishing it today because it feels very relevant to current events. I did my best to edit out the parts that aren’t relevant (seeing as how you’re reading this instead of watching it). However, I wanted to warn you, just in case there’s something I missed. I’m delighted that you’ve decided to read this. I hope you enjoy it.

I’m an author, a fashion designer, and a biomedical engineer because I love transforming ideas…

They’re hot. Swipe right.

Match!

Meaningless chatter….

Lets meet up… Ok…

Logistical details…

…

Dressing up…

….

Date Time!

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

“So…what do you do?”

More meaningless chatter…

….

Basically, you’ve got your “polite” social mask on. You’re putting your best face forward (or is it your best chest forward?)

But do you actually learn anything meaningful about the person you’re on a date with?

Have you discussed your dream lifestyles so you know whether your relationship aspirations are compatible?

Did you disagree about anything that actually matters to find out if you can handle conflict?

Do you actually know…

One of the most common difficulties that people on the autism spectrum face is communication.

But despite this, autism psychologists use the same techniques to schedule and communicate logistical details to their clients that every other psychologist/therapist uses: the telephone call and voice message.

Maybe this works when you’re talking to the neurotypical parents of ASD children.

But when you’re working with adults who are (or are likely to be) on the spectrum, having alternative communication methods may be beneficial.

I mean, with text messages you can assume that people mean what they say, because you have no context for…