Empathy is the ability to understand and share another person’s feelings. It has two main parts: Cognitive empathy: recognising what someone else might be feeling. Affective empathy: actually feeling that emotion with them. The term comes from the German Einfühlung, meaning “feeling into.” It was introduced to psychology by Edward Titchener in 1909, and since then empathy has become a cornerstone of how we define human connection. Do autistic people have empathy? Yes. Absolutely, yes. The...

Motherhood is a journey filled with love and joy, but for some women it also brings unseen challenges. For many, the path to understanding themselves as autistic begins only after becoming mothers. Sometimes this recognition emerges when observing a child’s neurodivergent behaviours. For others, the overwhelming demands of new parenthood, without appropriate support, may lead to autistic burnout. A late diagnosis or self-realisation can be a pivotal moment, shedding light on lifelong feelings...

When we mask, we are overlooked. Then when we unmask, we are often too much, too sensitive, too emotional, too direct, not autistic enough, or too autistic to be believed. We move between erasure and rejection. Always trying. Never quite fitting.