Moving from a Deficit Medical Model to a Social Model for Humans on the Autism Spectrum

Image of black bird perched atop an empty closed cage with words below reading: Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness. In all capitals. Quote by Alejandro Jodorowsky. The spectrum of autism, including the variable attributes of nationality, age, gender identity, ability, intersectionality, and coexisting conditions, greatly determines one’s understanding of the…

The Blue World of LinkedIn: A Neurodivergent Individual’s View

(Please note, I cannot get to comments on this blog, at this time.) * The Blue World of LinkedIn A jumbly prose by Samantha Craft, 9.2020 * It’s all jumbly when I jump online and go to the blue place.*** I think about ‘my autism’—I mean being autistic.* And how there are days LinkedIn seems…

Growing Pains. (Boring Health Stuff that Might Help Someone)

    This is from a Facebook Post a couple weeks ago. It helped some people. So I am posting it here: I am autistic. I also have an autonomic nervous system condition. I didn’t know these two facts until I was over the age of 40. I spent decades in search of answers. For…

The Brain! The Brain!

  I have been housebound since March 9th, midday. The year is 2020. And there is a pandemic. I have had fear of a coming pandemic since I was four years of age; it was then that I realized what rabies was and what it did. Poor doggies. Since then, several decades have past, and…

Take a Look Inside E.A. by Samantha Craft

I invite you to take a look inside of my book Everyday Aspergers. Take a look here. (I just deleted an entire paragraph explaining why I am uncomfortable with self-promotion. I’ll spare you the details!) My publisher, Your Stories Matter, took great care to provide this ‘book-to-look’ version of the second edition of Everyday Aspergers.…

The Dark Side of Autism in the Workplace

Please see this powerful post on LinkedIn — the more autistic voices, and autistic supporters on LinkedIn, the better. Change needs to be made in the mainstream. The article is by me, my legal name: Marcelle Ciampi.  It wasn’t an easy one to write, and I greatly appreciate community support and your voices/input. Best to…

It’s Not Enough To Invite Everyone to the Dance, When You Forget the Music

  “Many organizations worldwide are grappling with the opportunities and challenges of working with diversity. Diversity is a complex concept. ” ~ Working with Diversity: A Framework for Action Inclusion in the workplace looks very different than diversity initiatives. A trap organizations fall into is in thinking they are one in the same. This has…

Ask an Autistic: 10 Considerations You Should Know Now (Not Tomorrow)

“We are loyal to those who support and nurture us . . . It frustrates me that I am expected to follow the same trajectory as all the others, while my positive traits are down played. If my employer could only help me to be my best, they’d get the best employee ever.” Apprentice Truck…

Fake It: How We are Failing Autistic Job Seekers and What You Can Do About It

  If you are familiar with the topic of autism and the workplace, you’ve likely noted that extensive time and energy is dedicated to the way in which an autistic job seeker can change their presentation style in effort to get hired. I was recently contacted by a job candidate on the autism spectrum who wrote: ‘As…

Celebrating Becoming ‘Normal’

I posted a, what-turned-out-to-be, thought provoking statement on social media yesterday (on my Facebook author’s page and Everyday Aspergers page). Thank you for all who partook in the discussion. I had angst after I made my post, and started to stim and move into OCD behaviors. I had to modify one part of my posted…