Autistic Civil Servant

18/08/2025

If you think autistic people can't be leaders, maybe you're just buying into the stereotype. Look again?

If about 1 in 100 people is autistic, and if the UK civil service reflects the population it serves, then there may be enough autistic civil servants to make up a medium-sized department. But what …

11/08/2025

Who wants to hire an autistic leader? We're inflexible, poor with people and unable to communicate, right? Well actually no - we can make great leaders.

I got my autism diagnosis when I was half way to my goal and working as a middle manager, and already things were a struggle. So while the diagnosis was brilliant in explaining a lot of things abou…

04/08/2025

Neurotypical people just can't get out of their own heads can they? They're sure they know what a particular behaviour "means" so they enforce it on we autistics, not knowing what harm it may do.

I’ve been doing an occasional series of observations about how neurotypical attempts to support autistic people can fail because of lack of understanding about how are brains are different. H…

28/07/2025

Autism's in the public eye more now than when I first wrote this blog three years ago. But that doesn't mean acceptance has been achieved - it's baby steps towards progress.

I’ve been writing this blog for a while now and some days it really feels like things are changing for the better. There are more openly autistic people in the public eye, more TV documentari…

21/07/2025

Bright light usually symbolises good, but for autistics it can be an absolute sensory nightmare.

Proms season has just begun so heat, light and cameras are very much in my mind (I sing in the BBC Symphony Chorus). But more generally in our culture light is generally better than dark – da…

14/07/2025

Some people just HAVE to get an emotional response. They repeat what they said until you give them the smile/laugh/groan whatever they're looking for. And that drives me nuts.

People putting emotional demands on me on purpose is something I struggle with. I think that’s why the colleague who sits opposite me and simpers all day in order to make other people respond…

07/07/2025

Twenty years ago today London came to a stand still following terrorist attacks on public transport. Today seems a good day to take a bit of time to reflect.

Twenty years ago today London came to a stand still following terrorist attacks on public transport. Fifty-two people died and hundreds more were injured, some with life-changing injuries. That day…

30/06/2025

"I'm sure s/he didn't mean any harm!" Maybe not - but are you saying so to clarify, or to invalidate my emotions? Management language can be a real struggle for we autistics.

I’ve started collecting an occasional series of observations about how neurotypical people can attempt to support autistic people can fail because of lack of understanding about how are brain…

23/06/2025

There's a tendency to infantilise disabled people - to assume we're stupid or can't make our own judgements or choices, or work things out for ourselves. I'm autistic - I'm not a toddler. "Too simple" can be really bad for me.

I’ve written about how attempts by neurotypical people to support autistic people can fail because of lack of understanding about how are brains are different. There are some specific ways th…

19/06/2025

I gave a sermon for Pentecost on Taste and Neurodiversity at Jesus College Oxford on 8 June - I've only just worked out where the video of the live stream is - if you'd like to hear my bit, it starts at 50:52 here:

16/06/2025

Do you fail to notice your emotions until they overwhelm you, or have no idea why you're crying? That happens to me and it's the emotional dysregulation of .

For an autistic person meltdown happens when the sensory overload because too great and we’re unable to function. That inability to function might mean withdrawing from all communication, sta…

09/06/2025

The autistic need to communicate can be strong - leading us to "info-dump" huge quantities of unwanted facts on our hearers. But if we're to change hearts and minds, we may need to be more sophisticated. Sadly.

If you have something people desperately need to know about, you probably tell them, don’t you? It’s a natural human instinct to want to share news, good or bad, as well as gossip and i…