Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 4d

Looks great Pooky! We’ll add the link to this to the While You Wait section of our website so parents can work with their children’s teachers to start thinking about the sensory environment. I love the idea of your Quick Wins!

Reposted by Pebble Autism

Special Needs Jungle @spcialndsjungle.bsky.social · 5d

Today is PANS/PANDAS Awareness Day — here are 10 things you probably don’t know about the emerging neuropsychiatric conditions of PANS and PANDAS www.specialneedsjungle.com/1... #PANSPANDAS

1

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 5d

So sorry to have missed it and yes, huge thanks to Anne

2

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 5d

This is an excellent website! We love the Toolkit for autistic adults including sections on managing rejection sensitivity, sensory needs, communication and kink. It also includes positive stories of fulfilling intimate lives. And the photo choices are 👌

SAAIL: Supporting Autistic Adults' Intimate Lives @autlives.bsky.social · Feb 10

Supporting Autistic Adults' Intimate Lives (SAAIL) have a range of outputs from videos, to toolkits, to podcasts. You can find them all there www.autlives.com/outputs

Outputs | SAAIL: Supporting Autistic Adults' Intimate Lives

Supporting Autistic Adults' Intimate Lives outputs

www.autlives.com

Reposted by Pebble Autism

Autistic Realms (Helen Edgar) @autisticrealms.bsky.social · 6d

I know there are lots of neurodivergent creative people here... this may interest some of you if you're in UK...

ndconnection.co.uk/blog/call-fo...

@ndconnection.bsky.social :)

Call for participants: Join the Neurodivergent Creative Research Community — Neurodiverse Connection

In this blog, Kay Louise Aldred , is calling for Neurodivergent adults to take part in a unique, paid research opportunity that values your lived experience and creative passions. 

ndconnection.co.uk

12 12

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 6d

This thread is well worth a read. In it are some really good examples of why we need to be looking at the autistic experience from the inside-out and not just looking at observable behaviours.

Nicole Filippone, Autistic Advocate & Author @sensorystories.bsky.social · 7d

Rigid thinking is not a universal autistic trait. In fact, some autistic people are more cognitively flexible than most nonautistic people.

So why is cognitive rigidity mentioned in the autism section of the DSM?

Here's my take...

2

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 7d

Tree hugging AND Chris Packham klaxon 📣

Chris Packham @chrisgpackham.bsky.social · 7d

Tomorrow night at 9pm on #Channel4 I join Xander Armstrong for #PerfectPubWalks , tune in for a bit of ancient history and a spot of tree-hugging . . .

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 7d

It’s exhausting

2

Reposted by Pebble Autism

Semi-Verbal Autistic 🌈 @autisticventing.bsky.social · 24d

It's not difficult to recognise autism in girls. You just need to pay attention!

Decades of suffering could be prevented if allistics stopped ignoring female autism.

11 signs of autism in girls.

Relies heavily on other children to guide and speak for her. Passionate restricted and specific interests. Unusual sensitivity to sensory challenges. Conversation is restricted to limited topics of interest. Difficulty moderating feelings when frustrated. Unusual depression, anxiety and moodiness. Difficulty making and keeping friends. Often described as quiet or shy. Unusual passivity. Difficulty with social communication increases with age. Epileptic seizures.

6 22

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 7d

You know that feeling when you read an interview and think, ‘I’d love to sit and talk and listen with that person for hours’? Well, when can we buy you a coffee AJ Link?!

Fascinating stuff here about tensions and racism in the neurodiversity community and space law 🚀 🪐 👩‍⚖️ 🤯

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · 8d

“As a neurodiversity advocate and as an autistic person, I’m really grateful for so much of the work that’s been done that allows me to be myself and to be successful being myself.” Link, who has been *banned*!?!? from this platform?

thinkingautismguide.com/2025/06/spac... #AutisticWhileBlack

Space Law, Race, and Neurodiversity: Autistic Advocate AJ Link

We live in a country & society that is built on racism. The neurodivergent community isn't free of that racism—per Autistic advocate AJ Link.

thinkingautismguide.com

4

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 7d

Be kind, always

SEDSConnective @sedsconnective.org · 8d

“Why did that hurt so much?”
Others might say you’re overreacting.
But they don’t see the storm inside.

www.sedsconnective.org/post/rejecti...

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 7d

Being autistic doesn’t have a ‘look’. Because of a lifetime of masking (an unconscious survival strategy), some people may not ‘appear autistic’ whatever that means! It’s impossible to understand the autistic experience from the outside, in fact, many people even miss it in themselves.

Louise Ting @neuro-observant.bsky.social · 8d

I wish I didn’t have to say this but…

If someone tells you they’re autistic and you find that hard to believe, it might be because:

- They don’t feel safe enough to unmask around you
- Your knowledge of autism is limited

Arguing won’t help. Kindness, curiosity, and listening to understand, will ❤️

1

Reposted by Pebble Autism

Autistic Realms (Helen Edgar) @autisticrealms.bsky.social · 8d

Created by Laura Hellfeld to support PANS/PANDAS Conference 2025 our new templates help families, schools & clinicians understand the overlap between neurodivergence & PANS/PANDAS.

https://autisticrealms.com/navigating-pans-pandas-neurodivergence/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social

1 2 5

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 10d

A great set of suggestions

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · 18d

I feel so awful for parents of newly diagnosed autistic kids right now, being drowned in such hateful nonsense. You deserve better. Your autistic kid deserves better.

My kid was diagnosed 20 yrs ago; please let me give you hopeful advice:

thinkingautismguide.com/2025/09/afte... #autism #parenting

After an Autism Diagnosis: 13 Necessary Next Steps For Parents — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

If your child has recently been given an autism diagnosis, as my son was in 2003, here's what I want you to know: Learn from me, don't be me.

thinkingautismguide.com

2

Reposted by Pebble Autism

Louise Ting @neuro-observant.bsky.social · 10d

Autistic inertia = difficulty with starting, stopping and switching tasks

It can happen even when:

- you want to do the task
- the task is important or urgent
- you have a clear understanding of what needs to be done
- it’s something as “simple” as getting out of bed or the shower

10 36 170

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 10d

No rush!

1

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 10d

“True neuro-affirmative practice and care is not a technique or a trend; it is a relational ethic. It begins in the quiet shift that happens when we stop trying to make people fit systems and instead reshape systems to fit people.”

@autisticrealms.bsky.social

Autistic Realms (Helen Edgar) @autisticrealms.bsky.social · 10d

Explore what neuro-affirming practice REALLY means. Beyond behaviourism & neurodiversity-lite.

https://autisticrealms.com/protecting-the-meaning-of-neuro-affirming-practice/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social

1 6 10

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 10d

It’s causing someone here at Pebble Towers to wonder why, as an A level English student they ‘failed’ the college’s basic literacy test. It’s likely they were using language in a neuroqueer way that wasn’t appreciated by the ‘desk-Johnny’ tasked with marking it 🤔

1 2

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 10d

This is gorgeous and fascinating writing

Julia Lee Barclay-Morton @julialeebarclay.bsky.social · Sep 14

About my Autistic thought ancestors most of whom are younger than me...

open.substack.com/pub/julialee...

"...these thousands of little witnesses..."

...and the mycilian network of my thought ancestors...

open.substack.com

1 1 2

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 10d

We consider ourselves neuro-affirming practitioners but we recognise that this requires constant work to unlearn the medical-model conditioning from our training and past employers & a high level of reflection to stay aware of our biases & internalised ableism. Thank you @kieranrose.bsky.social

Stimpunks Foundation @stimpunks.org · 10d

“It is precisely because of this richness that the Neurodiversity Paradigm has become such a vital framework: it refuses reductionism in any direction, whether biological or environmental.”

We refuse reductionism in any direction.

We like the sound of that.

theautisticadvocate.com/the-danger-o...

The Danger of Misunderstanding Neuro-Affirming Practice - The Autistic Advocate

In this balanced and reflective article Kieran Rose discusses the dangers of misunderstanding neuro-affirming practice.

theautisticadvocate.com

1

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 15d

Highly, highly recommended

autisticgirlsnet.bsky.social @autisticgirlsnet.bsky.social · 15d

Join us to discover practical ways to co-regulate with your young person in those tricky moments, helping them feel safe, supported, and understood. Together, we’ll explore how small shifts can bring more calm, connection, and confidence to your whole family. Book - https://bit.ly/AGNFWCE

Autistic Girls Network Family Workshops - Co-regulating Emotions. 30th September | Online | 7pm-8pm.

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 15d

(Not only saying this because I sleep with a hare soft toy!)

1

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 15d

Diving into it this evening

1

Reposted by Pebble Autism

Centre for Research in Autism and Education @craeioe.bsky.social · 15d

Coming very soon.
2nd Oct 4 pm BST

Demystifying Emotion-Processing: Autism & Alexithymia with @connortkeating.bsky.social

Demystifying Emotion-Processing: Autism & Alexithymia

Connor Keating considers whether emotion-processing differs between autistic and non-autistic adults after controlling for alexithymia.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

2 8

Pebble Autism @pebbleautism.bsky.social · 15d

It is also often the more emotionally ‘grown’ and self-aware who recognise they need these things, so in some ways this kind of regulation is more adult that a lot of the crutches that many people use, unconsciously, to regulate

1 1