My favourite Autistic Spectrum articles

When I looked at my 'Neurodiversity' folder in my RSS reader yesterday I was greeted with two articles. The first seemed incredibly apt and well-timed because it perfectly summed up a lot of my recent thoughts and feelings:

catastraspie: My own neurodiversity fills me with wonder and excitement – does yours?

The second talked about being queer in both senses of the word and touched on the intersection and correlation of LGBT people on the spectrum:

Wrong Planet: A Rather Queer Year

This got me thinking about which are my favourite articles about the Autistic Spectrum and Asperger's Syndrome that best explain my experiences.

First of all Tony Attwood's Complete Guide To Asperger's Syndrome book was extremely helpful to me in brushing aside the stereotypes and talking about the wide diversity of ways that the traits can manifest depending on someone's personality, life experiences and coping strategies. However that's a bit long, so here's Tony talking about a number of different subjects from the book in a radio interview:

ABC Conversations: Tony Attwood February 2012

Next I remembered an article on the BBC News website I read a few years ago that helped me to see the difference between being on the Autistic Spectrum and having dyspraxia or NVLD. It essentially says that people on the spectrum use the same part of the brain to explain their own feelings as neurotypical people use only for others:

People with autism 'have problem with self-awareness'

I understand myself through intense observation rather than inherently knowing things so this rang very true to me. I also realised through reading other people's experiences that I couldn't explain how many emotions felt without explaining how they affect my body. Here's a personal experience post about that:

Post Cards From the Edge of the Spectrum: Asperger's and Emotions

In fact thinking of myself in terms of being on the spectrum immediately gave me access to things that explained some of the more chaotic aspects of my daily life and what I have to do to compensate for that. For example here's catastaspie again explaining the concept of prospective memory:

catastraspie: Context and the Non-transference of Behavioural Routines

As well as catastraspie's brilliant blog (all the articles are good!) my other favourite is The Third Glance which is written by a PhD student and talks a lot about the sensory aspects of being on the spectrum. This article was useful in helping me to realise how my reaction to senses is often quite mixed up, like I'll want to wrap myself in a duvet and block my eyes when I'm too hot:

The Third Glance: Processing a Sensory Overload

There are lots of other brilliant blogs and lots of other things I'd like to explain that I can't find the perfect article for (maybe I'll have to write my own!) but I think I'll finish with a good overview article intended to be a primer to people asking the obvious question:

Aspienaut: What is Asperger's? A Long Answer To A Short Question

Update: Oh and as someone who was obsessed with Doctor Who as a kid (although mainly the books), I found this article particularly awesome:

Pea Pilly Bean: The Lessons Doctor Who Is Teaching My ASD Kid