Category: Updates

10 Reasons Emotional Abuse is Traumatizing

Posted on by Gregory Wood

By Darlene Lancer, JD, LMFT

I share this article because I experienced verbal abuse throughout my life; from several bosses and in my marriage. I found it caused me a great deal of anxiety in relating to people.  In recent years when I mention asbergers some people say I use it as a crutch or they do not believe me.   I find dealing with people stressful and at times just want to be alone. – Greg

The Repercussions of Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse has become more common and accepted in politics and the media. It’s widespread and under-reported, but should not be ignored. It can be more harmful than physical abuse, which is always preceded by emotional abuse. Emotional abuse includes mental, psychological, verbal, and financial abuse. Sometimes it’s overt and easily spotted, such as verbal attacks and threats, but other times it’s covert, subtle, or passive-aggressive.

read more

Neurodiverse In The Open: To Self-Identify Or Not?

Posted on by Gregory Wood

by Cris Brady

Socially, in the dating world, I have disclosed my challenge.  My ex wife took advantage of my condition and some people really just do not know how to or do not want to learn about it. It is kind of a confusing issue for me. At times I just have to see how a person may be interested in accepting  me and take it from there.  – Greg

Neurodiversity and Self-Identification

We’ve all seen the failures of the one-size fits all approach to policy, education and workplace design. As we learn more about neuroscience, and best practices for learning and producing, it’s become increasingly obvious that our systems are too large, awkward, and set in their ways to effect substantive change in a reasonable amount of time. As a result, we often rely on reactionary solutions, but with every solution comes a new problem. One of the biggest has been our reliance on forcing people to self-identify in order to receive accommodations.

The Cons of Self-Identification

Why would anyone choose to NOT self-identify and get the accommodations they need?

Although self-identifying provides access to much needed services, there are several reasons people choose to go without:

  • They may want to shed a label they’ve been forced to carry their whole lives;
  • They’re looking prove to themselves that they can accomplish something (e.g. college) without help;
  • They’re tired of inaccurate stigmas and/or misinformation, that masks their abilities;
  • They don’t have any actual proof (e.g. an official assessment) required to get accommodations;
  • They’re afraid they might lose their job;
  • They simply don’t want to be treated differently, and/or;
  • They aren’t even aware they even have a learning disability.
    Read More