Happy New Year y’all! I hope the New Year is feeling good so far <3
I’m still getting used to the idea that I have autism. I’m still piecing my life together with this new framing. The more I reflect on it, the more questions I have.
One thing seems clear though. There are tens of thousands of families on Facebook groups alone who are struggling to co-regulate with their autistic and PDA kids. During the last PDA North America webinar, I spoke directly with a few of them. I think every single person at that webinar emailed me afterward, thanking me for voicing my feelings as a PDA adult. Some expressed it gave them hope to see that I was at least a functional human!
My interaction with the PDA community has put a lot into focus for me. I realized that I’ve put 43 years of sweat equity into a venture — a venture of one person — against some difficult odds. And even though I’ve just started this newsletter a couple months ago, I’m discussing experiences and realizations that were decades in the making.
I’ve had a number of families reach out to me, asking me to talk to them about their PDA kids. And I want to talk with them too! It’s hard to explain how it feels to talk to families who are dealing with many of the exact same things my mom and I went through as I was growing up. It feels healing for me to be of some service to them, to be the person for them that my family needed when I was growing up.
So I’m considering adding a paid subscription option to In the Same Breath, where I share some of the 1:1 sessions I do with families on the spectrum. Each video would be carefully reviewed with the family, and if any of it was shareable, I would send it out behind the paywall. The paywall would provide the privacy we would need to work with real experiences, while sharing the insights gained with the greater autism community.
Here’s a quick anonymous poll …..
Would you upgrade your subscription to see some of my 1:1 sessions with families on the spectrum?
1. No thanks! https://handypolls.com/o/eGoQEV
2. Yes please! https://handypolls.com/o/erowOY @ $4.99/month for monthly updates
3. Yes please! https://handypolls.com/o/Dk7wJr @ $9.99/month for weekly updates
Not only is this kind of content potentially helpful for families on the spectrum, but I feel the insights are relevant to anyone who struggles to stay regulated in their environment. Families on the spectrum are teaching their communities how to build vital support systems for the humans who need it. Period.
But you don’t need to be on the spectrum to benefit from that. Everyone needs their community to have their back. It’s what tells us we’re loved.
So for me, autism shows us what it means to be human in a challenging world … and literally the whole world needs help with that right now.
The autism rabbit hole goes so much deeper though, right to the foundations of consciousness itself. I believe we’ll gain a lot of insights about perception, self-regulation and co-regulation, by listening to the felt experience of people on the spectrum. It’s deep stuff!
I’m excited to explore it all with you :) Here’s to an amazing 2022!
Look forward to hearing more!
Curious....what does PDA stand for?