Open Society

Peter Lammer is a chef in a restaurant in Germany. 🇩🇪 👀.

Robert Chapman on pushing past biological understandings of autism, ADHD, and neurodiversity.

Helen Edgar (Autistic Realms) examines how the theory of Monotropism provides a lens for understanding the challenges Autistic, ADHD and AuDHD young people face in the education system and at home, and how their needs can be better supported to avoid burnout.

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, and business professionals.

New York Comic Con attracts vendors of all backgrounds and abilities, but one young boy has a story as impressive as his art. ABC's Jay O'Brien has the detai...

Assessing Autism Through a Monotropism Lens

What is MCAD- an umbrella term for the collection of mast cell diseases that range from MC Leukemia to Mastocytosis in the middle, to the much more common MCAS or Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, who test negative for Mastocytosis.

Neurodivergence has been established as associated with a significant number of co-occurring physical conditions, particularly for autistic individuals who are at risk for increased pain, hypermobi...

People keep asking me how the Autistic community views polyvagal theory. Right now, I can’t speak for the community’s perspective. People are just now learning about the theory, so we don’t have any consensus data from the Autistic community about agreement or disagreement. I can, however, speak for

With anxiety, depression and stress on the climb, have you ever wondered how you can understand your reactions to life’s challenges and stressors? Or maybe you wondered how you can become more resilient? Did you know that you can map your own nervous system? This is such a powerful tool that can help you shift the state of your nervous system to help you feel more mindful, grounded, and joyful during the day, and more importantly during your life. Before we discuss how to map your nervous system, let's break down the autonomic nervous system a bit more.

Autistic parent & teacher advocating for a better understanding of neurodivergence in education & mental health

Autistic young people often struggle to cope with the daily demands of school and are likelier to experience poorer well-being and educational outcomes than their non-autistic peers. Among other difficulties, this may be because mainstream settings are unsuitable for individuals’ sensory needs. Evidence suggests the unpredictable multi-sensory nature of school can elicit sensory distress, adversely affecting behaviour and learning. However, existing literature has primarily taken a top-down deductive approach and largely neglected autistic voices. The present study, therefore, employed a participatory approach and photo-elicitation semi-structured interview method to explore autistic students’ sensory experiences in a mainstream secondary school in the U.K. The sample consisted of seven students aged 12-16 with a clinical diagnosis of autism attending a state comprehensive school in Suffolk, U.K. One participant was lost through attrition. Through reflexive thematic analysis, three main themes were identified: 1) Impact of the school environment; 2) Levels of support and understanding; and 3) Fear of stigma/negative responses. This study’s findings suggest autistic students are routinely overstimulated, overwhelmed, and lack adequate support to overcome sensory barriers in mainstream settings. This study has implications for further participatory research and inclusive practice to ensure better educational experiences and outcomes for autistic young people.

Exclusive: OECD data on students’ motivation and sense of belonging at school calls into question validity of national rankings, experts say

People who say of Nazis “deal with bad ideas is by defeating them in the marketplace of ideas” are smuggling in the notion that Nazi ideas have not already been defeated on the merits, and are still valid and worthy to consider, or that Nazi "ideas" involve bloodless debate.

Over the weekend, a game developer in Boston named Brianna Wu fled her home after an online stalker vowed to rape and kill her. She isn't the first woman who's been forced into hiding by aggrieved video game fans associated with Gamergate, the self-styled reform movement that's become difficult to ignore over the…

“It means unapologetically loving and fighting for all parts of me.”

The strangest things happen to other people’s bodies. Then they began happening to my own.

Unions play a crucial role in determining wages and employment outcomes. However, union bargaining power may also have important effects on non-pecuniary working conditions. We study the effects of r...

These recordings of our Trans Facts document, written anonymously for RTiE, are read by E. They are also on SoundCloud. Further recordings will follow. 1. Preamble. 2. Sex is not binary. 3. Gender …

Children with neurodevelopmental diagnoses often experience discrimination from their peers at school. This may result from a lack of understanding, and intoler...

Peer support in mainstream high schools may help neurodivergent young people to thrive and navigate challenging experiences. Previous research with diagnosis-sp...

A large sample of autistic and non-autistic adults was recruited to investigate whether self-reported beliefs about their own and other people’s mindreading abi...

One of the most important things autistic people can offer to parents is interpretation skills, like autistic languages of love and caring.

If education systems were designed from the ground up to develop self-awareness and reflection; wisdom and discernment; kindness, empathy and compassion; ecological and ecosystems awareness, mastery and responsibility; gratitude, social integration and harmony; co-creative agency, joyful participation and commitment; and our very best selves, what might those systems look like? Published by Human Restoration Project, a 501(c)3 organization restoring humanity to education.

The stress of living with autism is exhausting.