Hi everyone,
I don’t normally write speaking directly to my followers, but I’m doing that now. Thank you for supporting my writing, it really means a lot to me. Truly.
The reasons I have been posting a bit less are twofold. The first is a bit of a self-indulgent whine, but the second is good news I want to share.
1) I’m mad at Medium.
My primary platform used to be Medium up until about August of this year. They changed their algorithm and many writers like me saw their already small earnings decline significantly.
Medium’s editors and spokespeople kept telling us to hang in there; there are always growing pains with big changes, and things would even out. Seven months later and I can tell you that sure as hell has not happened for me (nor for others in similar circumstances).
It’s deflating. I spent three years building up a significant (almost 28 thousand) readership, only to have a helpful adjunct to my income be slashed by about 80%. I used to write around three times per week, then it fell to once per week, and so far this month I’ve only published two articles.
Having my earnings cut like that hurt my motivation, but I promise to get back on track with posting regularly. I appreciate all of you who support my writing and want to continue sharing articles that resonate and provide important information about neurodiversity and advocacy.
Okay, onto the good news.
2) I’m upgrading my degree(s)
If you’ve looked into my “about me”, you’ll see that I have two undergraduate degrees. One is in Child & Youth Work (social services) and a B.A. in psychology. I graduated with my CYW in 2006 and my (3-year) BA Psych. in 2009.
In 2010 I became very ill and couldn’t continue University, so I didn’t earn my Honours degree, and thus could not apply to any graduate programs before completing the necessary 4000-level courses.
Well, 15 years later, I’m back. Better late than never. This Fall I was granted a continuance, which means I can retain my previous credits and resume my degree program, almost as though I never left.
The requirements have changed, of course, so I need to upgrade some courses and add on some new ones, and I’m more than okay with that. So far I’ve taken a Counselling course, a Linguistics Policies course, and a Rhetoric course. I am finishing up the latter two right now, and I am loving every minute of it.
My favourite should perhaps be unsurprising given my love of writing and argumentation, is the rhetoric and communications class.
While taking additional studies I am still working part-time to meet with and support clients and to advocate for children and families. That takes up most of my working hours, and the rest is dedicated to spending quality time with my own family, especially my amazing son who is growing up way too fast for my liking.
The good news is, though, once I have completed the necessary course upgrades, I can apply to grad school. When I’ve completed a Masters Degree (MA), I will then be able to register with the relevant professional association (i.e. the psychological association, social workers association, etc.).
This is significant because it will allow my clients to claim any fees paid for my services if they have healthcare benefits which cover psychological services. I already have a sliding scale for low-income families, but want to make my supports as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.
Coming up…
I have written some papers for my classes which are highly relevant to the work I share here. Once they have been returned by my professors and I can edit them to make them more accessible, I will share them here.
A few months ago, someone asked me to write about why Autistic people are sometimes more vulnerable to falling for scams. Pyramid schemes, phishing scams, conspiracy theories, even high-control religions and cults. Some say we are “gullible”, innocent, or naïve.
The more I learn about myself and other Autistic adults, the more I see this is an incomplete answer. Yes, some Autistic people have a harder time determining when someone is being dishonest. Some Autistic people have more trouble identifying those warning signs that someone is trying to manipulate them.
I believe there is a lot more complexity to it, however, as I will show in my future articles.
I will also share writing about the “divide” in the Autistic community. You know the one. “Autism parents” versus Autistic self-advocates; the pathology perspective versus the neurodiversity paradigm. In the coming weeks, I will share more about what I have learned and how I believe these insights could help bridge that gap.
Thank you for your patience and for indulging me while I share a bit about my own life and recent experiences. Thank you all once again for supporting my writing, I truly appreciate it.
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
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