Recommendation: Hamilton FeminAuts’ Resources

So, I’ve been poking around the Autism Canada forums, and one of the members there has a link to a group called Hamilton feminauts. To quote from the About Us portion of their website:

FeminAuts was founded as a safe, inclusive, and accessible meeting space for women and female identified individuals on the Autism spectrum to meet likeminded individuals and learn valuable skills such as self esteem building, sensory self regulation, and adaptive and social skills.

http://hamiltonfeminauts.weebly.com/about-us.html

I went there to poke around as well, and I would say that their resource page definitely warrants a recommendation! So: Resources – Hamilton feminauts. They’ve got a bunch of useful free phone apps, for both executive dysfunction and communication; links to various resource sites (including the ASAN welcome packet and the Geneva Centre); online diagnostics and test resources; inventories and social stories (including ones related to sexuality); and usual open source therapies and courses links.

Yep, high on the recommended resources list!

Note that I’ve also included a link in my links page.

🙂 tagÂûght

Thank You Reader!

I would just like to thank whomever it was who posted a link to my post on Autism, Depression, and the Difference to Facebook. Over the last two days (so far), that post has received a whopping 605 views, most of which were referred from Facebook.

So. Thank you so much for that. The more we get these things out there, the better it is for everyone. You definitely have my appreciation.

Thank you again

🙂 tagÂûght

Autism Canada

So, the website for Autism Canada has just gone live: autismcanada.org. I’ve been poking around, and so far it looks fairly good. I have, however, felt the need to send them a copy of my letter about Light It Up Blue, since that’s one of the National Awareness campaigns they have listed. I have also joined their forum under the username tagÂûght (just waiting for official approval), so anyone else who wants to join is welcome to discuss this blog with me. 🙂

Still poking around, but note that they do have the DSM-5 criteria listed, including the severity criteria (3 levels – I’d say I’m either level 1 or 2 in communication, and level 1 in “restricted” interests, although my sensory issues might push me up to level 2 in that as well).

They also have a directory, called Autism Junction, at autismjunction.ca, which has a wide variety of service providers for autistics, both child and adult. It’s not complete, but is still under construction; there’s a form to fill out for any service providers who aren’t listed already. (I’ve sent an email to two that I know of, advising them of this.)

Going to be seeing if there’s any way that I can include blogs in the list of resources, and let them know about my blog. 🙂

[Edit] Under “About Autism”, they have a good listing of co-morbid diagnoses, and what may indicate one (I’m going to check out the PDF they include for further details). However, the “Evolution of Autism” page is not about how autism can evolve throughout a person’s life, it’s about the recognition of autism since Leo Kanner first identified it. Honestly? I think details about how it can change throughout a person’s life would be more useful. [/end edit]

‘Later, all!

🙂 tagÂûght

Autism, Depression, and the Difference

I was just (less than an hour ago, as I write this) reading the most recent post Unstrange Mind put up on her blog, entitled I have a depressing, socially-isolating disease. In it she explains about how celiac and Non-24 (see her post for details) affect her in ways that are depressing, socially isolating, and very much not good for her overall health; in contrast to autism, which is not something isolated from her “self” and has a number of things about it which make her happy.

That post got me thinking, and it reminded me of a question that I think I remember my father asking me at one point, about the effects of autism vs. the effects of depression, and why I considered them to be different (the context being about how “curing” autism would make me a completely different person). I think I now have an answer.

To read my thoughts, go on.

Update on tag’s Haven

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, and as a result, I just published a huge post giving a general update on life, the universe, and everything (or at least my life over the last month and a bit!) on tag’s Haven.

The post is titled Update: Apt, Exercise, Camp NaNo July 2015, and also has stuff about my puddy tat there as well. Feel free to wander over if you want to know what I’ve been up to lately! (Though please note that there are a lot of photos, and it’s – as I mentioned above – a fairly long post. The photos are just thumbnails in the post itself, however, so that shouldn’t be a problem.)

‘Later!

🙂 tagÂûght

[tagÂûght] Acceptance, Love, and Self-care: #AutismPositivity2015

It’s early morning April 30th as I’m starting to write this post, which is highly ironic, as I should be sleeping right now. Unfortunately, houses in St. John’s don’t seem to have soundproofing, and the housemate whose bedroom is next to mine is talking on the phone.

But aside from that, this topic is more than just a positive one, it’s a pertinent one for me this year. (And likely to be a long post, with many examples.)

Read on for the actual positivity!

#NepalEarthquake Donations – Canadians

Not something I would normally post on my blog, but it’s a relevant topic at the moment, and I just found out something that can make it a bit easier for us Canadians who can’t afford to donate cash but may have an Airmiles card to help.

For those of you in Canada who have Airmiles, you can chose as a Dream Reward for 190 airmiles to donate $20 to the Canadian Red Cross Relief Fund for the Nepal Earthquake.

There are also four other charities you can donate to (with links) – WWF Canada, Kids Help Phone (this is 175 airmiles), Trees Ontario, and Motionball in support of the Special Olympics Canada Foundation, but given that the Nepal Earthquake is a sudden, recent event, I thought I should probably advertise this. It means that even if we can’t donate money or food, we can still help.

A copy of this post is going up on tag’s Haven.

*hopefully yours* tagÂûght

#SensoryIssues: Be Still, My Beating Heart

Or at least, either calm down or render it so I can’t feel you again….

Gah. For the last several days (almost a week) I’ve been able to feel my heart beating pretty much anytime I’m not focused on something specific/concentrating. Especially when I’m trying to get to sleep at night.

It’s not that (as far as I know) my heartbeat is currently abnormal. I think it’s a sensory issue having to do with interoception. (Check out Musings of an Aspie’s post defining interoception and detailing some of the things it involves.) But the basic definition is that interoception is the perception of things that are internal to your body – temperature, organ and muscle feelings, hunger, thirst, need to use the toilet, etc.

Read on for details

ASNL Chapters Fundraiser Update

So, I finally have (and am putting up) the results of the ASNL fundraising promotion at Chapters on April 1st.

Together, Chapters and the Autism Society of Newfoundland and Labrador managed to raise $206.19 (Cdn) for the ASNL Library fund. Yay! And Chapters is also interested in doing more with the ASNL – Double Yay!

So, thanks to everyone who came out and contributed by buying books during that period; it helps a lot.

🙂 tagÂûght