I believe that like most autistic people, I have a lot of emotional healing I need to do. I need to be more accepting of others. To do that, I need to first heal from others not accepting me. I don’t think professionals see the impact of not believing in their autistic students. I also need to have less fear of new staff. I’ve had many wonderful staff leave and many bad staff stay too long. Getting past this will help me pursue new experiences and people.

I try to remain positive but it can be difficult when you have unhealed scars. Trauma is something that needs to be talked about in the autism community. It is a fact of life for us. While we can’t always avoid trauma, we need to heal from it.

For me, there are several things I do to heal that may be helpful to others. My main way of processing is to write. My blog is as much for me as it is for others. I also continue pursuing conversations about topics on my mind with people who are solution oriented. This helps me get a fresh perspective. When something is fresh and I am not ready to discuss it yet, I take hot showers to think. Having strong sensory immersion helps me focus on my mind.

I also generally prefer to keep my circle small. I have people I love and trust, who help me in all areas, and quantity is not a priority of mine. I am always trying to keep an open mind to new strategies, which is also a big part of my emotional healing. Autistic people have a unique set of challenges, and versatile ways to heal are necessary for both growth and survival.