Reminder that many autistic people worry that they are only valued to the extent that they are useful to society and are not told often enough that they have an intrinsic right to exist.

Happy Birthday @saralilplants.bsky.social hope your day is filled with beautiful blooms and all the celebratory spoons!

@joeharkness.bsky.social it was my birthday last week and look at this perfect present I recieved! I already have the kindle version but really wanted a hard copy too! #NeurodivergentByNature

Can't wait to dive in @niamhgarvey.bsky.social so proud of you for writing this! I am 100% confident it will be as awesome as you are 🫶

Today I made friends with this adorable toadlet ❤️ so smol and so cute 🫶

a short story:

@joeharkness.bsky.social happy publication day! I can't wait to dive in! Celebratory spoons coming your way 🥳🥄🥄🥄

I do love hugging #TreeFriends this magnificent, ancient #oak is no exception! So much #autiejoy 🌳

It's definitely beginning to look a lot like blackberry season! 😋

@actuallyowltistic.com thought you might appreciate some glimmers from my garden seeing as you share so many with us all 🫶

Sunday book review - Neurodivergent, by Nature by @joeharkness.bsky.social Review: markavery.info/2025/07/20/s... Publisher: @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social This is an excellent book about neurodivergence & neurodivergence in the conservation sector. #neurodivergent #conservation #naturewriting

Freshwater mussel (shell) in a very shallow River and a lovely Swan family I enjoyed watching #nature #glimmers

Harvest season is upon us! Wheat fields in the next farm over are already stacking their hay bales! For now though #FieldsOfGold are a wonderful sight to behold 🌾🌾🌾 #glimmers

These fields of sunflowers are bringing me so much joy at the moment! And clearly they are a huge hit for all the pollinators too! Bees galore feasting on their polleny goodness 🌻🐝🌻

MEET MY NEW WORDS: (Some People Cry Easily. Don't Consider Them Weak or Judge Them at All) gurdeeppandher.substack.com/p/tears-and-...

BBC News - Sir Mo Farah collects honorary Oxford degree - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... was utterly wonderful to be there to see him recieve his honorary degree today ❤️

I am sure this will be another exceptional and important book! I can't wait to read it 😊

@laurhod.bsky.social happy birthday lovely you! 🥳 xx

Autistic masking. It's like when you're eating something you absolutely hate, but have to pretend you like it to spare the feelings of the cook. Only this time you have to do it all day every day

Today we had our annual Pride Lecture in Oxford Physics (@oxfordphysics.bsky.social). The lecture was given by Prof Jan Eldridge (@astro-jje.bsky.social) and it was phenomenal! It was wonderful to learn how she has exploded binaries in both astrophysics and gender 🔭 🏳️‍⚧️

Two days. Two different groups of fabulous folks from @oxprimarycare.bsky.social attended workshops on neuro-inclusion. Such wonderful engagement. It's so great to see another department looking to do even more to support their neurodivergent staff and students. #LoveMyJob days x2 for sure! 😊

I am really enjoying seeing Bee Orchids on my local patch 💚 loved showing it to a friend today! #glimmers #wildflowers

I adore ferns! 🌿🌿🌿 top notch #glimmers

Was so lovely to be back in @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social today and to contribute a short session on less visible disabilities at an all staff mtg 😊

My first ever Bee Orchid seen today! What a wonderful thing it is too! Nature never ceases to amaze me ❤️ #WildFlowers #glimmers #vitaminN

I wish more people understood that sensory sensitivities aren’t just dislikes - they can cause huge distress and even physical pain. Autistic brains process things differently. Sounds, lights, textures… They can all overwhelm our nervous system and leave us unable to function. #AutismAwareness

Beetles are brilliant! Common Ground Beetle and a Cardinal Beetle!

A beautiful Green-veined White butterfly at rest 🦋

Time in woodland is time never wasted! So much #vitaminN to be had #SolaceInNature 💚 #TreeFriends

My favourite magical portal into another world ❤️

Simple things bring me joy! This Cabbage White butterfly slowly waking up yesterday ticked the box perfectly #glimmers #butterflies #pollinators #insects

Poppy blooms in the garden are bringing me so much joy ❤️ this poppy is nearly 40 years old and has moved several times. Such joyful #glimmers

When we look at plants (like the ones in my photo) for a few seconds (though I recommend 10 or 15 s), we recover from stress we experience afterwards around 60% more quickly than if we had not looked at plants (ref in next post). May garden posy, to help with any stress that may be about to happen:

Regular glitter is terrible for the environment (and everything in life; it's like the devil's dandruff), but... @inccymru.bsky.social have fed water voles biodegradable glitter to mark their poops and track their territories and movement. Nice conservation hack. 🧪🌏💩✨ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The swifts are back! Every spring the swifts return to the Museum tower after their long migration from Africa. These swifts have been the subject of a research study since May 1947 when the nest boxes were installed. Watch the swifts live on our swiftcam! oumnh.ox.ac.uk/learn-swifts...

Poppy bloom in the garden over the last couple of days! So pleased to see it open ❤️

First Dragonfly of the year! And it was a magnificent male broad-bellied chaser! Loved that it came to visit the garden today 🥳 #insects #dragonfly #wildlife #entomology

One of my favourite trees! #TreeFriends #SpringGreen #glimmers 🌳

I do love Forget-me-nots 💙

Loved the lab chilling out in the duck pond! Chats with ducks were had. 10/10 recommend. Rainbow Bridge admired as always too.

University Parks providing some utterly gorgeous leaf action today! Look at those colours 🫶

Seeing and hearing my favourite Swift friends back at the @morethanadodo.bsky.social tower this morning brought me so much joy! Swift only in the 2nd pic.

Mākereti Papakura, the first indigenous woman to study at Oxford, will receive a posthumous degree more than 100 years later. Born in Aotearoa NZ in 1873, she enrolled in 1922 to read Anthropology at Pitt Rivers but died in 1930 just weeks before she was due to present her thesis. bit.ly/4jssajG

When I realised I’m autistic, suddenly my past wasn’t a series of failures. It was evidence that I’d been fighting to get by in a world that didn’t make sense. I wasn’t broken. I was autistic all along.

Amongst the reeds in the pond we watched and heard approx 16 teeny floofy ducklings and their Mum in the pond! 🥹 Utterly ridiculous levels of cute ❤️ (they are in these pics, but only phone pics so a zoom in is required) 🐣🐣🐣

A lovely carpet of Bluebells is appearing #wildflowers #glimmers

More beautiful wild bluebells appearing! #glimmers #wildflowers

Very Hungry Lackey Moth Caterpillars are getting bigger! #TeamMoth

#EarthDay2025 🌏wild Bluebells are so beautiful 🫶 #wildflowers

#TreeHugging ftw! #TreeFriends #TimeWithTrees #SoothesTheSoul 🌳