Tag: Autism
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Spoon Theory and Autism: Energy, Burnout and Monotropism
What spoon theory means for Autistic people: how everyday tasks use up limited energy, why spoons run out faster, and how monotropism and burnout fit in.
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Autistic Burnout vs Depression: How to Tell the Difference
Autistic burnout and depression can look the same from the outside but need different support. The differences, where they overlap, and what helps each.
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What Does Neurodivergent Mean? A Plain-Language Guide
Neurodivergent means thinking, processing, learning and responding in ways that differ from the majority. A plain-language guide to what the word means, who it includes and what it is not.
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Awe, Wonder and Monotropic Attention in Neuroqueer Learning Spaces
If Helen De Cruz designed a learning space, what would it look like? Helen Edgar follows wonder and awe through monotropism, glimmers, flow and Cavendish Space.
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Masking, Internalised Ableism and Imposter Syndrome: What We Do to Survive, and What We Are Taught to Believe
Masking is what we do to survive. Internalised ableism is what we are taught to believe. Imposter syndrome asks whether we belong. Helen Edgar gently untangles all three.
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Free Resources for Autistic Adults: The Thriving Autistic Discovery Programme
Free, self-paced videos, guides and tools for recently identified Autistic adults, from the Thriving Autistic Discovery Programme. What it is, who it is for, what it covers, and how to explore it.
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The Neurodivergent Community Standing in Solidarity Against Racism and Ableism
Solidarity Against Racism & Ableism in the Autistic & Neurodivergent Community
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Autistic Mental Health Conference 2026: Ecosystemic Causes of Mental Health Issues
Autistic Mental Health Conference 2026: Ecosystemic Causes of Mental Health Issues
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Plain Language:
A plain-language guide to monotropism, wonder and awe — what happens when Autistic and ADHD attention is given space to notice, and stay
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The Constellation of Intensities: Neuroqueering the Spiky Profile
Why even the “spiky profile” still measures us against a grid — and what a constellation of intensities offers instead.
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Neurodiversity Infinity Symbol: History, Time, and Collective Becoming
The neurodiversity infinity symbol has a story worth knowing. Rotate it and it becomes an hourglass holding time, community, and collective becoming.
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Stimming, Glimmers & Solidarity: Celebrating Autistic Pride Together
What is Autistic Pride Day? Explore its history, stimming, and glimmers with NeuroHub Community, Stimpunks & Autistic Realms.
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Penguin Pebbling: Theory, Practice and the Five Neurodivergent Love Locutions — A Guide for Practitioners
Penguin Pebbling is a low-demand, neurodiversity-affirming card game built around the Five Neurodivergent Love Locutions — five relational modes natural to many Autistic and neurodivergent people: infodumping, parallel play, support swapping, penguin pebbling, and deep pressure
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Five Autistic Love Locutions: Showing Care And Love In Different Ways
Autistic people have always had our own ways of showing love. Discover the five Autistic love locutions — infodumping, parallel play, support swapping, penguin pebbling and deep pressure.
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Penguin Pebbling: A Game of Creating Belonging, Building Connection and Understanding Autistic Identity
Penguin Pebbling: A Game of Creating Belonging, Building Connection and Understanding Autistic Identity
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Why Attachment Theory Fails Autistic People, and What Might Work Instead
If you have spent any time navigating schools, social care, or therapy as an Autistic person or supporting a loved one, you have likely encountered attachment theory. You may have been blamed for your children’s difficulties and said they were due to attachment disorders and perhaps your parenting issues, or you may have been told…
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Building Neurodivergent-Affirming Cultures of Regulation: Reflections from a Cavendish Space Workshop
What does regulation really mean for neurodivergent people? Helen Edgar reflects on Cavendish Space, co-regulation, and building cultures where our nervous systems can thrive.
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No Space Is Neutral: Safe Spaces, Imagined Neutrality, and the Work of Belonging
: No space is neutral. Exploring minority stress, the Double Empathy Problem, and what it really takes to build safer, neuroqueer spaces together.
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Being With People & The Value of Intensive Interaction
Helen Edgar draws on twenty years of practice alongside people with PMLD to explore why Intensive Interaction — when practised with genuine neuro-affirming care — is not just a communication approach. It is a way of being human together.
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Neuro-Affirming Practice Is Not a Framework. It’s a Way of Being.
Neuro-affirming practice isn’t a framework or a checklist. It’s about being human — kind, compassionate, and truly present with people, just as they are.
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What Would A Neuroqueer Pedagogy Be?
“What would a neuroqueer pedagogy be?” By Ombre Tarragnat (English translation with permission from Genre en Cours article Feb 2026)
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Intensive Interaction as Neuro-Affirming Relational Practice
Intensive Interaction isn’t about “fixing” or prompting communication. It’s about meeting someone where they are—through connection, attunement, and shared flow. A neuro-affirming, relational framing to support those with profound and multiple learning disabilities.
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Weird Pride in a Hostile World
Weird Pride is a practice of becoming. A refusal to shrink. A quiet, feral devotion to staying alive as ourselves in a world that keeps trying to make us something else.
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The Autistic Rhizome: Community, Liminal Spaces & Belonging
Autistic belonging grows through community, from liminal spaces, not conformity.
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Re-Storying Autism
Re-Storying Autism A Framework For Families, Parents, And Carers: Reimagining Support For Autistic People. #1 Amazon Bestseller
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Re-Storying Autism: A New Course & Workbook Now Available!
Re-Storying Autism: A Framework for Families, Parents and Carers Reimagining Support For Autistic People Neurodiversity Affirming Neurodivergent Competent
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Monotropism, Limerence And Autistic ADHD Experiences
Limerence in Autistic and ADHD people may be shaped by monotropism, a natural tendency toward deep focus and emotional intensity. Rather than being unhealthy or excessive, this pattern reflects how monotropic people engage deeply with relationships, meaning, and how they form connections.
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Beyond “Complex Needs”: Neuro-Affirming, Relational Practice with Children with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities
A neuro-affirming, relational approach to supporting children with profound and multiple learning disabilities, centred on safety, communication, and being-with.
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Stimming as Embodied Sensory Language
Reframing stimming beyond “behaviour” as embodied sensory language, monotropic flow, and neuroqueer, interdependent connection with the world.
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Free 2025 Advent Calendar & Neuro-Affirming Autism Resources
Free 2025 Advent Calendar & Neuro-Affirming Autism Resources
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What schools and parents need to understand about supporting Autistic and neurodivergent children
What schools and parents need to understand about supporting Autistic and neurodivergent children
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Join NeuroHub Community Space
Join me & David Gray-Hammond in our new community NeuroHub. Access to exclusive webinars, resources and space to connect with others! Hope to see some of you there!
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The Neuronormative Paradigm: Naming The Systems That Harm
The Neuronormative Paradigm, conceptualised by Nick Walker, names the systems that define and enforce what society considers normal. This exploration piece contrasts the neuronormative paradigm with the neurodiversity paradigm, which recognises all ways of being as vital to human diversity.
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Monotropism: A Poem
A poem about monotropism for children, young people, families and educators to open conversations about Autistic & ADHD experiences.
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Understanding the Double Empathy Problem: A Guide For Autistic People & Families
FREE Neuro-Affirming Communication & Sensory Passport + Training Support Autistic people through better understanding of communication, sensory needs & double empathy.
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Presuming Competence: A Neuro-Affirming Reframe To Support Autistic People
When “presume competence” is applied without a neuro-affirming lens, it can become a harmful, ableist expectation
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Ethics & Values of Autistic Realms
Autistic Realms is grounded in values of authenticity, autonomy, and relational care for the human rights of Autistic or otherwise neurodivergent and disabled people. These guiding principles align closely with the ethics and principles of both the Therapist Neurodiversity Collective (TNDC) and the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (which I am a member of – ASAN),…
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Inclusion Needs Recognition, Not Erasure: A Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach
When headlines claim that autism and ADHD are “invented labels,” it’s more than rhetoric, it’s erasure. A explores why removing neurodiversity from education would harm the very children inclusion is meant to protect.
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Why “Interest-Led” Isn’t Enough: Embracing Monotropism & Neuro-Affirming Practice
Many approaches claim to be “interest-led,” but true neuroaffirming practice goes deeper. Being monotropism-informed means honouring Autistic attention, autonomy, and sensory safety; not using children’s passions to shape compliance. Real inclusion celebrates authentic joy, not conformity.
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Shared Flow: Turning Attention To Support Children Together
Discover Dinah Murray’s concept of co-tropicality—turning our attention together. Explore how joining Autistic children in their flow builds trust, co-regulation, and deep relational connection through shared focus and joy.
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Protecting the Meaning of Neuro-Affirming Practice
Discover what genuine neuro-affirming practice looks like — beyond tokenism and “neurodiversity-lite.” Explore how to protect the heart of the neurodiversity movement and uphold its community-led roots.
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Discovering Belonging: Creating Neuro-Affirming Animations with Thriving Autistic
Discovering Belonging: Neuro-Affirming Animations with Thriving Autistic. Celebrate Autistic identity through the Discovery Programme and new animations that explore belonging, strengths, and community.
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Being Autistic shapes grief: Explore unique paths through loss and affirming support
Explore how Autistic people experience grief differently and discover affirming resources, support, and strategies for navigating loss with compassion.
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Reflections on the Autistic Mental Health Conference 2025
Reflections On The Autistic Mental Health Conference. An Interview between David Gray-Hammond & Helen Edgar
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Monotropism vs Polytropism: ADHD, AuDHD & Autistic Attention
Explore how monotropism shapes Autistic, ADHD, and AuDHD attention. Dispelling myths, uncovering research and exploring why neuroaffirming support matters for our wellbeing.
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SPACE-TIME: A Monotropism Informed Framework for Autistic People
SPACE-TIME: A Monotropism-Informed Neuroaffirming Framework for Autistic People
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Creating Autistic Safety and Belonging: 10 Ideas for Neurodivergent Competency
10 Principles of Neuro-Affirming Practice: Building Neurodivergent Competency Together
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Beyond “Neurodiversity Lite”: Why Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice Matters
Explore the difference between true neurodiversity-affirming practice and “neurodiversity-lite,” and why justice, and lived experience matter.
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Autistic Mental Health: Beyond the Pathology Paradigm
Autistic mental health is often framed through a narrow, deficit-based lens — one that focuses on pathology, risk, and what’s “wrong.” But this view leaves out the richness of autistic lives, the diversity of our needs, and the resilience in our communities. Moving beyond the pathology paradigm means centring lived experience, recognising the systemic barriers…
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Monotropism and Polytropism Explained
Learn how monotropism differs from polytropism, plus research showing ADHDers and AuDHDers score higher on the Monotropism Questionnaire.
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Why PBS is Harmful for Autistic and Neurodivergent Young People
Exploring why and how Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) can harm Autistic people. #Neurodiversity #AutismAcceptance #PBS #DisabilityJustice
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From Autistic Realms to More Realms: Exploring Other Ways of Being
Journey from Autistic Realms into More Realms—where neuro-affirming support meets creative, sensory, and neuroqueer explorations of other ways of being.
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Neuroqueer Learning Spaces: Free Training for Reimagining Education
Neuroqueer Learning Spaces: Free Training for Reimagining Education By Autistic Realms & Stimpunks Foundation
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Neuro-Affirming Neurodivergent & Disabled Wheel of Life: Reclaiming Flow on Our Own Terms
Neuro-Affirming Neurodivergent & Disabled Wheel of Life: Reclaiming Flow on Our Own Terms Workbook available for instant download.
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Glimmers: Autistic Joy and Monotropism
Glimmers are small, powerful moments of Autistic joy that emerge when we’re deeply immersed in what matters to us. Learn how monotropism & flow create space for joy in an overwhelming world. #AutisticJoy #Glimmers #monotropism
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Summer Rhythms for Autistic Parents & Carers: Low‑Demand Parenting, Managing Energy & Sensory Needs
A practical guide for Autistic parents and carers to support energy flow, sensory regulation, and family balance through the summer holidays
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Going Deeper: Rest, Burnout, and Monotropic Flow
Autistic burnout recovery often means going deeper into flow, not switching off. Find out about reclaiming rest through monotropic focus, spiral time, and meaningful immersion.
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Awe, Wonder and Different Ways of Knowing: Cavendish Space and Helen De Cruz
Honouring the brilliant philosopher Helen De Cruz, whose work on wonder, thinking, and inclusion helped shape and inspire our Neuroqueer Learning Spaces and Cavendish Space. Her ideas continue to guide how we create space for divergent minds to thrive.
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Autistic Pride: Rest, Resistance & Monotropism
Written for Autistic Pride Day 2025: what Autistic Pride means to me, from monotropism and the cost of masking to reclaiming rest and finding belonging in community.
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Mingling with the universe: Autistic Perception
Mingling with the Universe” exploring Autistic meaning-making as sensory, felt, and more-than-human, where solitude becomes connection, and the world speaks in textures, rhythms, and resonance. It’s not about escaping, it’s about finding belonging otherwise.
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Unmasking: Reclaiming Our Monotropic Attentional Resources?
Exploring masking and unmasking: reclaiming our monotropic attentional resources, reconnecting with ourselves and community
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Mossy Minds & Monotropism
An exploration of moss and monotropic ways of being. An invitation to slow down, sink in, and reconnect through sensory depth and shared presence in liminal spaces.
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Autistic Pride: Restorying & Unknowing Autism
Restorying is how we reclaim our Autistic voices, honour our ways of knowing, and build futures rooted in connection, not correction.
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The Power of Monotropic Flow: Reclaiming Ourselves Through Creative Practice
“Art opens up space for healing and a way of reclaiming your own narrative”. Letting go of how we should rest or should work opens up a pathway towards restorative flow.
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Empowering Advocacy: Neuro-Affirming Support for Your Autistic Young Person at School
By Helen Edgar (Autistic Realms), with David Gray-Hammond & Tanya Adkin Navigating the education system as the parent or carer of an Autistic child can often feel like steering a tiny boat through stormy seas, it can feel impossibly hard and be exhausting. For many families, the challenge isn’t just the school system; it’s the…
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Toileting: A Neuroaffirming Approach to Support your Autistic Child
Toileting is not a race. For many Autistic children, the journey may look different. Respecting a child’s pace, sensory needs, and body signals can make all the difference.
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Neurodiversity Affirming Reading Recommendations
Looking for neurodiversity-affirming reads? I’ve have a growing collection of books listed by autistic authors, advocates, and researchers. Perfect for parents, professionals, and curious minds alike. Explore stories that affirm, not fix. Neurodivergent voices centred. From education to identity, burnout to belonging.
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Monotropism, Spiral Time, and the Rhizome of Memories
Memory may not be linear for neurodivergent people. It may feel like a spiral of felt sensations. Being monotropic shapes how I re-sense moments, navigating echoes and threads of sensory experiences rather than always recalling events.
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Sintering: Neurodivergent Community Building
When snow first falls, its flakes are delicate and vulnerable, but over time, a quiet transformation begins. Sintering is the process through which individual snow grains gradually begin to bond. Tiny necks form between them, bridging the gaps, making the snowpack stronger, more resilient, and more resistant to collapse. Sintering In Theory of Water: Nishnaabe…
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Reclaiming Rest: Autistic Burnout, Monotropism, and Resistance
Rest can become a radical act in a world that often equates our worth with productivity, especially for Autistic or otherwise neurodivergent people navigating the tides of burnout, where even our ways of resting may look different.
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Neuroqueering Monotropic Time: A short summary
Autistic/ADHD people are more likely to be monotropic and resonate with the theory of monotropism. Dinah Murray, Wenn Lawson, and Mike Lesser developed the theory of monotropism in the late 1990s. It is typically described as a neuro-affirming theory of Autism, but I think it is also a temporal mode. I am considering whether being…
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Neuroqueering Time: Bergson, Deleuze, and Monotropism (an exploration)
Time as a double temporality problem, exploring interest gravity for monotropic people and flow as a temporal home…..
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Monotropic Time – A Short Blog
Monotropic Time: A Different Rhythm If you are Autistic, ADHD, or AuDHD, time may not feel like a straight line, and you may feel you are constantly battling against the time on the clock. Your internal perception of time may feel more like a spiral, looping, stretching, expanding and contracting, sometimes speeding up and other…
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Autistic Young People: Skills Regression, Burnout or a shift in Monotropic Attentional Resources?
Autistic individuals may not lose skills but instead redirect their monotropic attention toward new interests or areas of development.
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Monotropic Time & Neuroqueering Temporalities
Monotropic Time & Neuroqueering Temporalities Dwelling in Resonance: Monotropism, Monotropic Time, Spirals & Neuroqueer Temporalities
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Monotropic Time
Each person’s experience of time is likely to be influenced by culture, age, disability and neurodivergence. For Autistic/ADHD/AuDHD people, time is anything but linear or neutral and is not a universally accepted given.
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Testimonials for Autistic Realms
Testimonials gathered from National Diversity Awards nomination feedback 2024 and 2025. Feel free to vote for me and others here: Helen is breaking new ground in the dismantling of neuronormativity while working tirelessly to grow and deliver her practice as an Autistic Advocate. I have known of Helen’s work for over 20 years and she…
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Neuro-Affirming Research in Practice: Supporting Autistic Students, Embracing Monotropism In The Classroom And Beyond
Written by Tanya Adkin and Helen Edgar, based on the presentation we delivered to the National Autistic Society Professionals’ Conference in March, 2025. Shared with permission from NAS. We will explore the importance of the theory of monotropism and the significance of flow states and suggest some practical strategies educators can implement to create more…
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Monotropism and Autistic Play
All play is ok! There is no right way to play! All play is ok! There is no right way to play! To embrace Autistic play is to embrace the theory of monotropism. We need to enable the right environments and foster meaningful relationships so people can engage in flow and have cognitive, sensory and…
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Challenges for Autistic & Neurodivergent Families Navigating the SEND System: We Need to Understand the Double Empathy Problem & Embrace Monotropism
(Blog based on a presentation I delivered to London Met University 14th March 2025, updated April 24th 2025 following the research published by…. Introduction The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system is designed to support children with additional needs, yet for many neurodivergent families, it presents more barriers than solutions. Families navigating this system…
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Weird Pride and Being Weird
Weird Pride Day: Why Be Normal When You Can Be You? Every day can be a Weird Pride day if you are weird, but we also hold an annual event on 4th March. Weird Pride Day is a day for “people to embrace their weirdness, and reject the stigma associated with being weird. To publicly…
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What does ‘neuro-affirming’ mean for Autistic young people?
This blog was written by myself, Helen Edgar of @autisticrealms for GROVE. I am delighted to work with Grove Neurodivergent Mentoring and Education as their Training, Education & Resource Specialist. This blog was edited by Jess Garner, GROVE’sFounder/Director. The blog, ‘What does ‘neuro-affirming’ mean for Autistic young people?’ is available to read on GROVE’s website, along with many other resources and information…
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Autistic Young People & Friendships
Discover how Autistic young people experience and build friendships in a way that honors their unique communication styles and interests.
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Tides of burnout and being monotropic
“Once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.” [And that may even be a good thing]. (Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami, 2002) Haruki Murakami is one of my…
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Call for Submissions: Share your experiences of being monotropic.
Open Invite: Share your experiences of being monotropic. Share poems, art, blogs, essays, videos, podcasts, music, etc., that reflect your experience of being monotropic. We will publish across Stimpunks & Autistic Realms as part of our community project. Some stories may be chosen for a community ebook that will be openly licensed; if you would…
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Obstacles in the way of Neuro-Affirming Practice in Educational Settings & Ways Forward
Implementing neurodiversity-affirming practices in education, healthcare, and other systems is often hindered by pervasive narratives and biases. Recognizing and addressing these obstacles is crucial for fostering inclusive and supportive environments for neurodivergent and disabled individuals. Here are some common barriers that I have been working on with Stimpunks, who have a more in-depth page with…
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Autism & The Map of Neuronormative Domination: Stuck States vs Flow States
The Map of Monotropic Experiences now has a home of its own. Read more about neuronormative domination, the water the whole map sits in, at monotropicmap.org, and explore each of the twenty areas of the map there too. In collaboration with Ryan Boren, Chelsea Adams and Norah Hobbs from Stimpunks I have created: Autism &…
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The Map of Monotropic Experiences: A Summary
The Map of Monotropic Experiences now has a home of its own. You can explore each of the twenty areas in more depth at monotropicmap.org. The free training and downloads are on the main Map of Monotropic Experiences page. The Map of Monotropic Experiences, created by Helen Edgar of Autistic Realms in collaboration with the…
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Words: Inspired By The Experience Of Being Monotropic
Monotropism is a neurodiversity-affirming theory of autism (Murray et al., 2005). Autistic /ADHD/ AuDHD people are more likely to be monotropic(Garau et al., 2023). Monotropic people have an interest-based nervous system. This means they focus more of their attention resources on fewer things at any one time compared to other people who may be polytropic.…
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Neuronormative Domination, Monotropism & The Map of Monotropic Experiences
The Map of Monotropic Experiences now has a home of its own. Read more about neuronormative domination, the water the whole map sits in, at monotropicmap.org, and explore each of the twenty areas of the map there too. In collaboration with Stimpunks, I created a Map of Monotropic Experiences. This is a revised edition of…
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Radical Resilience
Image of pink flower growing between gaps in pavement. Text:Wild flowers offer hope. Be radically resilient. Find possibilities in-between hard spaces. Be authentic and flourish in adversity. Transform the landscape. Be a wild flower.
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Gestalt Language Processing, Monotropism & Young People
Monotropic (Autistic/ ADHD) people have fewer tunnels of interest to process and use their energy than polytropic people (non-Autistic/ADHD). Polytropic people can more easily split their processing and energy resources across multiple channels than monotropic people, this may explain some key differences in communication people experience. It may initially sound a bit conflicting to discuss…
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Autistic Burnout – Supporting Young People At Home & School
Autistic burnout in young people is real—and recovery starts with understanding. This post offers neuroaffirming ways to spot the signs, reduce demands, and truly support. 💛 #AutisticBurnout #Neuroaffirming #Monotropism #AutisticSupport
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Monotropic Interests and Looping Thoughts
The theory of monotropism was developed by Murray, Lawson and Lesser in their article, Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria for autism (2005). Monotropism is increasingly considered to be the underlying principle behind autism and is becoming more widely recognised, especially within autistic and neurodivergent communities. Fergus Murray, in their article Me and Monotropism:…
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Map of Monotropic Experiences
The Map of Monotropic Experiences now has a home of its own. Visit monotropicmap.org to explore each of the twenty areas, mark your own map and find the free training. You can also find the free training and downloads further down this page. Monotropism seeks to explain Autism in terms of attention distribution and interests. …
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Caverns, Pleats and Folds
Cartographers are people who create maps, and they transform physical geography into an accessible format so people can navigate in and through the spaces of the world. I recently watched a National Geographic documentary about caving ‘ Explorer: The Deepest Cave | Disney+ (disneyplus.com’). It led me to consider the underground maps inside the earth, the…
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Monotropism and Collective Flow
In Milan Kundera’s novel, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ (1981), he described the heaviness of life, the restrictive oppression and boundaries that can tie us all down, yet there is freedom in the possibilities the mind can bring and in the choices we can make. We can subvert the restrictions of neuronormative society; we can,…
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The Autistic Dream Realms Project
Autistic Dream Realms The Autistic Dream Realms Project, created with Katie from Autistic and Living the Dream is a project in which we share information about being Autistic and OCD, as people with lived experience of both, as an individual (Katie) and a parent (Helen) to help demystify Autism and OCD. General content warnings: mental health,…
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An Autistic Experience of Social Media
I am writing this one month into my journey of setting up Autistic Realms; I aim to support and develop understanding and awareness about neurodivergence, education and mental health. As a late-identified autistic person and also a parent and teacher, I have always found real-life communication and interaction quite ‘difficult’ and complex to navigate. I…
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Neurodivergent Base-Camp
Explaining what it is like to be autistic to non-autistic people can be difficult. To quote Dawn Prince-Hughes (Cultural Autism Studies at Yale), being autistic is like “being human without the skin”. This can be difficult for non-autistic people to understand. Seeing and feeling the blank looks and Double Empathy Problem (Milton, 2012) at a…
