Welcome!

Through this creative outlet, I intend to touch upon all things relevant to autism, language, connections, research, and new ideas. My mission for this blog is one that is collaborative in nature. I envision sharing not only my perspective, thoughts, and ideas, but also those of other autists as well. I fully recognize that I am both a speaking and motor privileged autistic person; thus, I will never claim to understand or know any person’s own autistic experience as we are all highly unique just like every human on this planet.

One goal is to share my experiences and perspective as it relates to my own personal being as an autistic person living within an allistic societal structure. Another is to stay apprised of the research surrounding autism to share, discuss, and debate together. Thirdly, to pose ideas and topics for us all to reflect upon introspectively which in turn facilitates empathy, better understanding, and personal growth. Finally, I want to use this platform to truly connect with everyone reading whether you are or identify as autistic, neurodivergent, or allistic. One way to progress is to listen and learn from others while validating everyone’s own lived experiences. I aim for this column to be dynamic in nature allowing to flow in and out of topics fluidly allowing us to return to ideas and question them and look for deeper understanding while collaborating to center autistic voices.

So, without further ado, let me introduce myself… I am Jesica (she/her/hers) an autistic individual who happens to currently operate within the world of speech therapy. My professional philosophy which guides me is always presume competence, build connections that foster trust between the client, their family, and myself, utilize both sensory and emotional regulation techniques through mutual or co-regulation to foster positive communication building, positive sense of self-identity, and provide advocacy and support while also helping clients to discover the best ways to advocate for themselves as well.

On a personal note, I am a multiply divergent individual (autistic and ADHD). I have strong special interests in communication building/skills, researching and learning, reading, writing, and animals/nature. I am a complex human with complex ideas, feelings, and emotions as we all are. I look forward to challenging some “truths” that people believe about autism while connecting with others and pushing for a better future for all autistic and neurodivergent people to flourish collectively in their own personal ways. Please join me on this adventure! I hope you learn from me, other autistic voices, and I hope to learn from each of you as well. Hopefully we can better ‘see’ and understand each other through these posts and the comments sections. My only requests are that we all come from a place of respect, compassion and empathy while communicating with each other. Let’s begin the adventure!