Blogs by Charlie

  • My lived experience as a late-diagnosed autistic

    Here is another extract from my talk for #NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek 2023, this one about my lived experience as a late-diagnosed #autistic woman. I was a loner and tomboy at school. Oh, I doodled a lot in lessons, and daydreamed, and often gazed out of the window. I had very intense interests, so there were some things Read more

  • My autism diagnosis story

    My autism diagnosis – how and why, and where did this lead me? I am often asked how and why I was diagnosed autistic, what is even the point later in life. Well, I was diagnosed aged 42 after struggling for decades, and not knowing why. In 2018, I took my eldest child Iggy, who Read more

  • Weird Pride Day 2023

    Have you ever been told you’re weird? Do you identify as weird? You are invited to the third annual Weird Pride Day! Date: 4 March 2023Venue: International social media This is a day for people to embrace their weirdness, and reject the stigma associated with being weird, to publicly express pride in the things that Read more

  • Background on me

    Having made it into Theo Smith’s list of Top 80 UK Neurodiversity Evangelists to follow, here is some background for my new followers. In 2018, I took my eldest child, who was 14 at the time, to see a psychiatrist about his extreme anxiety attacks. She listened and observed, then concluded that what he was Read more

  • Leaders who dominate conversations

    When a diverse group of individuals have a meeting, and a senior person (not openly autistic) dominates the conversation, clueless about how and why to be inclusive to introverts, who may have their own interesting backgrounds, ideas, stories to tell, but can only react politely. Don’t preach diversity and inclusion if that’s the best you Read more

  • Neurodiversity and mental health conditions

    An interesting debate from a LinkedIn group I’m in. Apparently there’s a TikTok trend from people with Cluster B personality disorders to identify as neurodivergent. Some people in the recognised neurodivergent community, with lifelong neurodevelopmental conditions such as Autism, ADHD, dyslexia, are not sure how to feel about it. Here’s my personal view. Caveat – Read more