Blogging about autistic experiences- do you have any experience or suggestions?

We've spoken about this very briefly but I did make a go of this earlier in the year. It came to an end because it had to, but while I didn't mind it at the time, in hindsight I don't think I was ever really prepared for it.

When you put yourself out there in the public eye (so to speak) and you're being very vulnerable about your personal life, inevitably people will turn to you for help and support. That's not a bad thing by any means, but you just need to be prepared for it.

I also did make my own website, but I guess the whole thing felt like too much of a lottery. I'd have to pitch ideas to websites, I'd have to get myself noticed somehow, and it got to the point where it wasn't really fun for me anymore. 

There's another organisation called 'The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism' if you want to try them.

Hi HMO

Thanks for the recommendation, I will research!

 I do remember discussing this with you before.

HMO said:

When you put yourself out there in the public eye (so to speak) and you're being very vulnerable about your personal life, inevitably people will turn to you for help and support. That's not a bad thing by any means, but you just need to be prepared for it.

Thanks for reminding me about this, I want to write blogs that I am really passionate about and as part of that I think it will have to include some information about me personally in order for anyone to relate to it.

However, I think one way I can avoid people asking for support is by not allowing comments if I were to have my own website. In the future, I do want to be able to offer support to other autistic people including with self advocacy and understanding their own autistic identity.

HMO said:

I also did make my own website, but I guess the whole thing felt like too much of a lottery. I'd have to pitch ideas to websites, I'd have to get myself noticed somehow, and it got to the point where it wasn't really fun for me anymore. 

If you don’t enjoy something anymore, that’s a definite sign that you need to stop. I completely understand what you mean by blogging being a lottery after all you can never be sure that someone will like your idea and agree to commission a blog.

Thanks again for this very informative reply!

Hi HMO

Thanks for the recommendation, I will research!

 I do remember discussing this with you before.

HMO said:

When you put yourself out there in the public eye (so to speak) and you're being very vulnerable about your personal life, inevitably people will turn to you for help and support. That's not a bad thing by any means, but you just need to be prepared for it.

Thanks for reminding me about this, I want to write blogs that I am really passionate about and as part of that I think it will have to include some information about me personally in order for anyone to relate to it.

However, I think one way I can avoid people asking for support is by not allowing comments if I were to have my own website. In the future, I do want to be able to offer support to other autistic people including with self advocacy and understanding their own autistic identity.

HMO said:

I also did make my own website, but I guess the whole thing felt like too much of a lottery. I'd have to pitch ideas to websites, I'd have to get myself noticed somehow, and it got to the point where it wasn't really fun for me anymore. 

If you don’t enjoy something anymore, that’s a definite sign that you need to stop. I completely understand what you mean by blogging being a lottery after all you can never be sure that someone will like your idea and agree to commission a blog.

Thanks again for this very informative reply!

I just hope you're able to stand your ground and don't let any negativity get to you. There may well be valid feedback etc but you'd want to hear that from friends/family, not an angry stranger on the internet. 

HMO said:

I wouldn't want you to get into a position where people on social media begin to attack you for/accuse you of speaking for the entire autistic community.

Of course not, thanks for being so considerate. I can only speak or write based on my own autistic experience, however the majority of the autistic community may relate as there are some common experiences.

We are a very beautifully diverse community.

It's good that you have it worked out and a much clearer idea than I did. For me it was something I fell into and was just trying to make a go of but I didn't really consider the negative aspects.

I wouldn't want you to get into a position where people on social media begin to attack you for/accuse you of speaking for the entire autistic community.

I would occasionally tweet a random thought (e.g. "the autistic experience of never feeling welcome anywhere") and it would get 15,000 likes or something. I'd struggle with that because I'd put pressure on myself to read every response. That's on me for not using social media healthily though.

HMO said:

I think that's important. Remember to set your own boundaries and put yourself first. I know of people in this realm who find people can latch onto them and rely on them a lot, and that is likely to get very overwhelming.

Absolutely! Setting your own boundaries is so important. But I think at the same time, sharing lived experiences is what leads others to discover and reflect on their own neurodivergent identities, if I can help someone understand who they are, that is huge. I would love to play a small part in someone’s autistic or otherwise neurodivergent discovery!

If we didn’t share our lived experiences there would be no progress in terms of understanding autistic experiences and other neurotypes.

I understand what you mean about people relying on you but if I were to consider blogging about autistic experiences full time, I would try to treat like a job as it is a job. However, autistic experience is also my dedicated interest and what I spend most of my time and thought processes on so there is obviously a lot of overlap. Because of this I think I could easily and enjoyably spend all my time on this.

Ausomely Autistic said:

Thanks for reminding me about this, I want to write blogs that I am really passionate about and as part of that I think it will have to include some information about me personally in order for anyone to relate to it.

However, I think one way I can avoid people asking for support is by not allowing comments if I were to have my own website. In the future, I do want to be able to offer support to other autistic people including with self advocacy and understanding their own autistic identity.

I think that's important. Remember to set your own boundaries and put yourself first. I know of people in this realm who find people can latch onto them and rely on them a lot, and that is likely to get very overwhelming.

Opening yourself up to others in and of itself is not a bad thing but if people want to reach out to you, maybe there's a way that's possible where it doesn't impact you negatively. It could get overwhelming having to deal with a potentially high number of messages/DMs.

Ausomely Autistic said:

If you don’t enjoy something anymore, that’s a definite sign that you need to stop. I completely understand what you mean by blogging being a lottery after all you can never be sure that someone will like your idea and agree to commission a blog.

I definitely would not do what I did and rely on it as a 'job'. There was good that came out of it for me (a piece in the Metro and the BBC News website), at the time anyway, but it all quickly went south.

I think trying to get my website seen by others got to a stage where that wasn't enjoyable either, and the thing which stopped it all, I'm almost grateful for (even though my personal life has suffered massively).