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The Cost of Disclosure
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Back when work was human, I didn’t need “accommodations.” My early roles weren’t “corporate.” They were smaller teams, closer dynamics, fewer layers of bureaucracy, and most importantly, people who watched what helped me succeed and adjusted in real time. I didn’t have to use the phrase “reasonable accommodation.” I didn’t…
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Part 2: The Autopsy Report (With Footnotes)
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Part 1 was the scene. Part 2 is the pathology. Because when a neurodivergent person gets fired right after disclosure, accommodation requests, or medical leave, it often gets framed as “just business.” Clinically speaking, that’s adorable. What it can also be is an adverse employment action that follows protected activity,…
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The Day I Came Back, They Fired Me: Autism, Work, and the “Convenient” Endings
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Yesterday was my first day back from an approved medical leave (FMLA). I walked in braced for awkwardness, the usual underhanded comments, maybe some catch-up meetings, maybe the slow, cautious re-entry that every HR policy pretends it supports. Instead, I was immediately terminated. No explanation. No conversation. Just a handoff…
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A Beginner’s Guide to Masking (And How It Quietly Wrecked My Life)
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If you’re autistic and you’ve ever been told “you don’t seem autistic,” you’re likely familiar with masking. Masking is a set of strategies that autistic persons use to hide autistic traits and appear more “acceptable,” more “normal,” more socially fluent, easier to handle. Sometimes it’s conscious, and sometimes it’s automatic.…
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Woman on the Spectrum: What This Space Is (and Isn’t)
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Welcome! I’m Emily, and this is Woman on the Spectrum. This blog exists for a very specific reason: I got tired of feeling like I was constantly translating myself – my needs, my reactions, my brain – into a language other people could tolerate. I’ve also grown tired of the…
