The Assistees Blog

Meltdowns are very much common ordeals with those on the spectrum. It’s an intense response to an overwhelming situation, like an environment of loud sounds and bright lights. After being overstimulated, a person may temporarily lose control of their behavior, and may express their discomfort verbally and physically. Meltdowns may worry onlookers, but it’s an especially uncomfortable experience for the person enduring it. There are several things to realize about meltdowns. First - they are all not the same. Meltdowns could stem from several different reasons. Some could last for minutes; others could go on for hours. Expressions could consist of cursing, yelling,...

One day, I was walking through a hallway while wearing a mask. I smiled at a person who I was passing - only to realize he couldn’t see my smile. So, in his view, I looked like I was blindly staring at him. The pandemic has brought a slew of inconveniences, but nothing can compare to the difficulties that the deaf community has to face every day in today’s mask-wearing world. As they lipread to understand what someone is saying, how are they supposed to participate in conversations when everyone’s wearing masks? People are striving to fix this problem. Some...

I started Assistees after hearing stories, like Freddie Gray. He was a 19-year-old Baltimorean teenager who was stopped by police officers for questioning. Unaware that he was on the spectrum, the officers began beating the young man for not following orders. It wasn’t until after his death that they realized he was autistic. I started designing t-shirts and pins to prevent situations like Freddie’s from reoccurring. Simple indicators that helped foster an environment of awareness and acceptance. Although, I started hearing other terrible stories, like Robert Kim. Kim was a young man who pulled his car over to fix a...

Imagine this: A neck brace of pins poking your skin every time you move your head. Uncomfortable, right? This is the experience of wearing a crew collar t-shirt for an individual with SPD. Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) disrupts how the brain assesses, organizes, and uses the messages from the body’s receptors. We process sensory information through our skin for everyday functioning, but those with SPD suffer from hypersensitivity, which means their senses are more intense. This makes common sensations - that may or may not be a big deal to others - painful to some.One sensation that often goes overlooked...

1. Michaelangelo - Dr. Muhammad Arshad, staff psychiatrist at Whiston Hospital in Prescot, Merseyside, and Professor Michael Fitzgerald, from Trinity College Dublin, have concluded that the Italian artist may have suffered from Asperger's syndrome. 2. Isaac Newton - Thanks to researchers at Cambridge University, we have a pretty good idea that Isaac Newton had Asperger’s Syndrome or something else on the spectrum. The researchers, who also argue that Albert Einstein was autistic, mention in their article evidence that Newton isolated himself as much as possible and was notoriously awkward when it came to typical daily conversation. He was not good at...

“We will rise from the golden hills of the west. We will rise from the windswept north, east where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states. We will rise from the sun-baked south. We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover. And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.”- Amanda Gorman This is late, but I wanted to draw something to convey my respect for Amanda....