My work focuses on the power of focused interests for autistic female well-being. This is partially rooted in my own monotropism centered on books and the joy and peace I get from reading. Here is what that looked like for me in January. ❤️📖 #ActualAutistic #Monotropism #BookSky

I love so much in this article: the summary of the importance phenomenological autism research, its gender inclusivity, & the findings that flow state is essential for autistic well being & that environments have the ability to enable these states. #AutRes onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Why does the fan-created Autistic Barbie feel more authentic? I couldn't help myself. I had to do an infodump on the research on autistic female "enthusiasms," sensory needs, and disconnection from traditional womanhood to explain why this version hits home. bit.ly/3YC0mkj #ActuallyAutistic #AutRes

Really appreciate Mattel & ASAN for pushing past the "little boy who loves trains" trope with the new Autistic Barbie. The awareness it’s bringing to autistic women is vital. But, the doll itself didn't quite land for me. This fan version feels way more authentic: www.facebook.com/share/p/1DgT...

The decision to disclose to my students that I am multiply neurodivergent with invisible disabilities was one I struggled with all semester. Ultimately, I did decide to share with them. This new research from Curnow et al. (2025) captures the dilemma perfectly. www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10....

Zooeyia: the positive benefits to human health from interacting with companion animals (Hodgson & Darling, 2011). Also known as the perfect spoon-building self-care option after a week long conference with a lot of peopling. #caturday

Thank you Alice for your wisdom & guidance in how to live in & leave this world. Your joy was contagious—even in the littlest things like your delightful alt text descriptions of your smile and lipstick colors. www.instagram.com/p/C5B3bmkPxO5

My favorite find at the @ted-cec.bsky.social conference was this feminist disabilities studies coloring book created by Miso Kwak and Emily Nott. I am enamored with FDS theory & its principles but don’t often see it used in educational spaces so this made my heart very happy!

Attending my first @ted-cec.bsky.social conference. While I usually find conference networking difficult, connecting with the Neurodivergent Educators and Researchers w/Disabilities SIG made it much easier to chat authentically & share my work. Yay for neurodiversity-affirming spaces & colleagues!

I'm getting ready for the new semester and trying time blocking to manage teaching two courses, a research assistantship, a project coordinator role, and my dissertation. For those who've done it, how many hours a week did you typically spend writing your dissertation? #phdlife #AcademicSky

It's been a day. I finished my written PhD comprehensive exams this morning. They were planned for next semester, but my advisor & I decided that given the uncertain times, I should just get it done. Then this evening I submitted my final assignment for my last required course. Exhale.😮‍💨 #academicsky

Been a bit quiet, navigating program uncertainty to ensure I can keep doing the work I'm passionate about. Taking those steps feels important (more on this later.) Now I’m at #AERA2025 —a space where folks are deeply engaged in the work. It’s a welcome contrast to recent distractions. My ❤️ is happy.

I’ve seen the posts hypothesizing that the special education transition program funding was accidentally cut due to a control F search for the word transition. However, this press release makes clear that disability justice in education efforts to reduce ableism are intentionally being targeted.

This a beautiful first person narrative of coming to self acceptance after learning about Indigenous views of autism. The author is Cree and she explains that her “people have long had a word for people like me: pîtoteyihtam, which means ‘he/she thinks differently.’”

New #AutRes demonstrating the need for future research to address the well-being of transgender/gender diverse autistic folks…The authors found TGD adults were 10.9 times more likely to report a mental health condition & 5.8 times more likely to report self-harm than cisgender non-autistic adults.

The FACES program is recruiting caregivers of Black autistic students to participate in our free upcoming advocacy trainings offered across NC & in Atlanta, Baltimore, & Washington DC. Families will be compensated for their time & snacks will be provided. Learn more at go.ncsu.edu/joinfaces #AutRes

Spoon/capacity planning is the way I've made it through grad school. Today I'm planning my spring semester. In addition to classes & assistantships, I'll be traveling to Jamaica for an internship, Baltimore for CEC, Virginia Beach for ACRES, & Denver for AERA. The plan: hoard my spoons. #academicsky

This past semester seemed to linger. Each time I thought everything had been crossed off my to-dos something else popped up. Now that the holidays are over, I’m finally on break! My favorite reregulation activity is list making. Today I’m working on my list for 2025’s 52 week book challenge.

Academic Christmas

"This offers further evidence that parasocial contact w/non-neurotypical individuals via the popular fiction we consume can generate positive attitude change." And since attitude impacts self-efficacy for inclusive teaching, I'm wondering if I should add a book club to the PD I'm developing. #AutRes

Shout out to @kaylamalone.bsky.social who introduced me to GoblinTools, a set of AI tools to help neurodivergent folks with overwhelming and difficult tasks. I particularly appreciate the Magic ToDo, which task analyzes your to-dos & presents them back as manageable steps. goblin.tools

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge Day 11

The autistic dream is to be a professional infodumper and this includes everything from being a teacher to writing instruction manuals

Writing goals for the holiday weekend: Paper 1 1. Finish one section per day Wednesday-Friday (implications, limitations, and conclusion). 2. Edit the draft & submit. (Saturday) Paper 2 1. Edit the draft & submit. (Sunday) Paper 3 1. Write and edit commentary for a peer. (Sunday) #AcademicSky

I love this work! This is exactly why I love being in academia. Being able to do deep dives into my enthusiasms and hitting that flow state makes me happy. 😊 #AutRes #AcademicSky

Clues autism researchers may secretly be Autistic researchers: Identity first language Subjective research based on quality of life Research that suggests ABA is harmful Focus on adult quality of life Retreating to hotel room following presentations The number of figurines in their offices Swagger

I'm delving into Wizner’s work on the history of special education & enthusiastically tracing how ideologies & historical events have shaped belongingness for students w/disabilities. Some might call it a focused interest. I prefer Clara Claiborne Park's view-it’s an enthusiasm. #AcademicSky #AutRes

👇This one and the follow up quote: “I wish more people realized that even though autistic people can sometimes present as neurotypical for periods of time, it's exhausting to do so.”

I heard a special education teacher use the phrase "administering an intervention" today. It glaringly highlighted the presence of the medical model of disability in education & felt like nails on a chalkboard. I'm thinking about how we can foster change by making language shifts TPP programs. 1/2

I’m Read a Book. (During which I’ll probably fall asleep and end up being Take a Nap.)

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge Day 10

Join us for a chat on creating sustainable lives for neurodivergent folks in academia! We'll discuss the benefits of working in disability scholarship & autism research, disability justice, self-care, & pacing. Dec 4th, 4pm ET. Register: shorturl.at/NYQNy #AcademicSky #DisabilityStudies #Disability

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge Day 9

Diving deep into qualitative data analysis, I'm rediscovering the value of my undergrad English Lit degree. My long-lost skills in thematic analysis & finding quotes to support those themes are turning out to be incredibly useful. Plus my #ActuallyAutistic self loves these deep dives. 😊 #AcademicSky

#AcademicSky, let's get to know each other! Quote this & tell me: 1) a project you are working on & 2) an odd idea/theory you aren't working on but keep thinking about. 1)school support for gender-diverse assigned female at birth autistic folks 2)disability justice pedagogy as a teaching philosophy

I wanted to share this new to me resource from the University of Kentucky HDI. It's a library of stock photos highlighting disability representation that are perfect for classroom & conference use. My favorite images are the ones from shoots 2-4. #Disability #AcademicSky hdi.uky.edu/hdi-photo-li...

I'm excited to share my 1st publication with the FACES lab! My contribution centered on the sex-based discussion as understanding how sex influences autism presentation is crucial for addressing the support needs of Black families. link.springer.com/article/10.1... #AutRes #AcademicSky

Anna’s article on fluctuating capacity due to chronic illness versus societal expectations for production is so well-written. Aligning with disability justice principles of anti-capitalist politic & sustainability, it poignantly captures how we don’t all have the same 24 hours in a day. #Disability

Love the recommendation for “continuity from initial recruitment to…immersion into an appropriately flexible & neuro-affirming workplace culture that understands need for clarity, transparency & patience, as well as the depth of potential that autistic staff can contribute when well-supported.”

And I think this is a good book for today. Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge Day 8

When I’m stressed, I sometimes forget which strategies help me to feel calm and regulated. I thought I’d share the list I have on my To-Do app. I use it as a choice board of activities to help build spoons. #disability #mentalhealth

I appreciate the posts encouraging folks to organize and fight. Thank you for activism and efforts! However, right now I don’t have the spoons for that. This is a lot. So first, self-care because building up the capacity to do the work is the first step of the work. #Disability #MentalHealth

Today’s election day. It seems like the right day to post this. Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge Day 7

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge Day 6

I hope you all had a good Halloween. Here’s what I was able to manage with today’s spoons as I had a 14 hour migraine attack that started last night and lasted into most of this morning. 👻🎃🐈‍⬛ #invisibledisabilities #disability

Autistic folks identify mental health interventions & quality of life outcome as top research priorities. Yet this review found only 5 studies examining mental health inventions that used quality of life measures. Community involvement in research is key to better alignment here. #Disability #autism

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky 💙📚 #BookChallenge Day 5

“Autistic participants and specifically autistic females displayed increased camouflaging behaviors compared to non-autistic participants. Across the sample, higher levels of camouflaging were associated with reduced quality of life”. #Disability #Autism link.springer.com/article/10.1...

“This piece advocates for a reorientation of research objectives in autism, proposing a shift from modifying core autistic behaviors towards enhancing quality of life through participatory research” with gender-diverse & other historically marginalized autistic folx. #Disability

The study “revealed that a mismatch of self and environment can be surmounted in schools by a sense of belonging and position of agency. The environment around the autistic student can be adapted to be more enabling, thereby improving the person–environment fit for the young person.” #Disability