Neurodivergent Friendship 💞
Existing Outside of Time and Space
Neurodivergent Friendship
Remember earlier this year when I decided to try and submit my work for 100 opportunities? Well, I’m still catching up telling you about it all.
Today I am sharing a piece that was published in Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture.
Because it is a creative work written for an academic journal the tone is different than what you might be used to from me. There was actually some debate over whether what I submitted was an academic article or a creative piece. In the end we decided to lean more into my personal experience and I ended up removing the academic articles I originally referenced.
I’ll chat more about the writing and editing process with paid subs next week.1
My article is about neurodivergent friendship from the perspective of an autistic adult. I wrote about how “asynchronous friendships” and how online spaces are ideal for neurodivergent friendships.
If you’re not familiar with the term, asynchronous means “not happening at the same time.”
Most of our online interaction is asynchronous (with the exception of Zoom) so we can come to it when we have capacity and access it from the comfort of our own home where our sensory needs are met.
Online connection benefits all kinds of neurodivergent people (autistic, ADHD, OCD, etc.) and I explore that in piece whilst reflecting on the photography project that I co-created with
.Pour yourself a cuppa and read the full article here.
I can’t wait to hear what you think.
Serendipity
While I was working on my piece for Ought I was chatting with
about our podcast chat and told her about the open call.Two of her works were published in the issue as well.
Breaking Me Down and Lifting Me Up: An Autoethnography of Being a Black Autistic Woman Online
and
Behind The Scenes of Telling Your Story Online
You can also click here to browse all of the articles in this issue. There are a combination of creative works and academic articles.
If you missed our chat here is a handy link:
Morgan Harper Nichols on Creativity as Communication 🎨 Ep. 003
Listen now (73 mins) | I’m back from my podcasting hiatus and so excited to share this episode with autistic artist & poet Morgan Harper Nichols. We talk about creativity and its intersection with neurodivergence. It was such a great chat I completely forgot we were podcasting because Morgan was such a joy to talk to. Join us as we geek out about the things we love and our shared experiences.
I’d love to hear from you.
Do you find the internet to be a place for connection with “your people”?
What are your favorite ways to connect online?
Cheers,
Yes, after a brief panic of not having a sitter I have decided to continue making bonus content for the paid tier. We are finding a groove or a rhythm or something being at home together. And I rather like having somewhere to share more personal / intimate parts of the creative process with people who “get it.” If you’d like access to those pieces, but can’t afford it please let me know and I’ll gift a 6 month subscription.
Yeah I had no idea this was a thing and it makes so much sense. Ty for sharing this love the insight and reckoning
My online friendships are extremely precious to me and I've never been able to grasp why they work so well compared to other connections. Thank you for putting this into words!