Recently, I published an article called Understanding High-Functioning Autism: Beyond Stereotypes and Labels. Suppose you are a reader searching for an explanation of high-functioning autism or interested in exploring the difference between stereotypes and facts. In that case, I suggest you read this earlier publication first. 

The representation of autistic individuals in film and media tends to centre its narrative on a child or an adult possessing an acute intellect, which incongruously contrasts with their ability to function independently. Often, these people are nonverbal and display their daily discomfort with intense public outbursts. See Rain Man (1988) and Mercury Rising (1998). I in no way wish to discredit the validity of such powerful stories, but I want people to know that this is not the only ...

Allow me to set the scene for you: it’s a Friday afternoon in October, and I’ve just finished working a typically busy pre-weekend shift at the cafe. My social skills are somewhat rusty due to having spent much of the summer in my own company since finishing university in June. As a result, the bustle of this new hospitality job can prove challenging to navigate, especially amidst the current ADHD medication shortage, causing a slight energy crash at the end ...

Netflix is known for its wide range of thought-provoking shows, and “Wednesday” is no exception. This critically acclaimed series explores the complexities of emotional responsibility and the challenges of coping with others. In today’s world, we face many situations where we are not only responsible for our own emotions but also for the emotions of those around us. 

Hollywood has a long history of misrepresenting those with mental health conditions. These representations are usually portrayals of people with mental illness as violent and dangerous, which contribute to harmful stereotypes about mental illness. However, some recent attempts at showing the reality of mental illness have been successful despite the varied experience person-to-person.

Attempting this article took far more energy and patience than I expected. When I set aside time to write, I would manically clean, cook, nap, spend time with my girlfriend, and so on. Everything in me wanted to get this article done, yet procrastination almost always won. As I sit here editing, I thought to include this first paragraph to put into perspective just how frustrating it can be to live with ADHD. I love to write, I am extremely ...

It is no secret that mental health has been thrust into the spotlight in the twenty-first century. As the generations have passed, more types of human experience have been normalised. The narrative that we tell ourselves in the UK is that, ever since the cultural revolution of the 1960s, we have become steadily more liberal, and steadily more conscious of the rights of those that don’t necessarily belong to the white cisgender community.

As a creative, the world can sometimes feel like a blank canvas. You can do anything, make anything, be anything. And this is incredibly exciting, until it isn’t anymore. This is when creativity stops being fun. When the motivation leaves. But why? Why does something so many people love to do become so detrimental?

Today I asked ten people ‘do you like you?’ The saddest thing one could only freely admit that they were happy with who they were and what they looked like. The first told me she hated her nose, hoping one day she could have enough money to get a nose job. The second told me he hated his teeth. The third wanted to lose weight. All but one could pick out a physical thing that created a foundation for not ...

You can be this wild independent child. You can be someone with a shadow lurking behind preventing you from asking for help, to get lost, to be a vagabond, anything but joining a community with so many individuals that may have the same intentions as yours. You can make your own cult that exist only for you, and yet with all these curses and blessings of tragic independency and lonesome and still feel like you are on the edge of ...