Neha Banerji,
Project HEAL (Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law) Trainee
Penn State Dickinson School of Law
Category: Blogs on Community Living
Navigating a Double Layer of Assumptions
by Kristine Nellenbach, MS
When people imagine what it means to be autistic or what it means to be Asian American, their ideas can too often be shaped by limited media portrayals or surface-level exposure to those communities. Those portrayals tend to emphasize stereotypes and generalizations, leaving little room for the full range of real, lived experiences, especially for those who hold both identities.
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From Surviving to Thriving
By Darian Senn-Carter, Ed.D.
Centering Well-Being in Disability Justice
For much of my life, I believed survival was the goal. I thought if I could just push through the discomfort, meet expectations, perform at a high level, and stay ahead of the demands, I’d be okay. I saw exhaustion as normal. Overextension as necessary. Burnout, well, that was just the cost of excellence. As a Black, member of the LGBTQIA+ community, late-diagnosed Autistic, man, I didn’t always have the language to explain what I was carrying. However, I carried it well, until I couldn’t anymore. I had been surviving in silence, until the diagnosis that changed everything. My autism diagnosis didn’t shock me. It felt like remembering, removing a veil or filter, stepping fully into my truth, and honestly, a bit like arriving home. A long-overdue recognition of truths I had always known. In that moment after intense processing including grief, I stopped wondering what was wrong with me or what I could improve, and started reclaiming what had always been right.
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