Autistic Menopause: A Guide to the Menopausal Transition for Autistic People and those Supporting Them is a book by Julie Gamble-Turner and Rachel Moseley.
The book is a fantastic resource. It predominantly draws on the experience of autistic participants through qualitative interviews and is heavily grounded in direct quotations. The book provides a comprehensive understanding of what menopause is, what it is like to experience, why it might be more difficult for autistic people, and what both individuals and societies can do to improve things.
Visitors is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. It is the third and final novel in the Pathfinder series and picks up where Ruins left off. There are quite a few spoilers below.
I’m glad it read it. The book has been criticised for its convoluted plot, and while it is complicated and hard to follow at times, much of it was still very engaging. And the twist at the end was good.
Where I did struggle was in seeing the importance of some of the storylines. The series starts out as a fantasy and then suddenly turns into science fiction. In this book, it was half science fiction across multiple worlds, and yet they were still fighting a war in Ramfold, which seemed fairly irrelevant given the wider picture. As a result, I’ve had it on the backburner while I read other stuff at the same time.
Overall, if you have read the first two and enjoyed them, this is worth reading, too. Although it might not be as good as the first two in the series it is still a great novel.
Goole parkrun takes place at West Park and is totally flat. It is two and a half laps that partially follows a horseshoe shape. Some of it is tarmac with the rest of the course being on gravel trail, mud or grass. Plenty of friendly volunteers to cheer us on: thank you to everyone who was there yesterday.
Goole was the last one I needed for the Staying Alive challenge: Burnley, Bramley, Bushy, Griffen, Gorey, Goole.
Death doesn’t come for Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris tells the Grim Reaper when it’s time.
Leeds Autism Practice is now officially offering AuDHD assessments. It is something we have been working with for a while so it made sense to publicly shout about it a bit more. Currently, our AuDHD assessment service is limited to adults which is ironic given the photo above. But Venla and I also look these lovely photos recently, so I’m sharing that, too.
We’ve added some mint and Venla potted her first plant.
Punk Panther is a Yorkshire-based race organiser, predominantly doing ultras. I first signed up for one of their events in 2021 but never made the start line. Luckily, I finally did make it to one of their events, and their 10th birthday and 100th event no less. It starts in Otley, loops over hills and fields to Ilkley and then back along the other side of the Wharfedale Valley.
It was certainly outside of my comfort zone with the trails, running past livestock and navigation. But the trails weren’t too technical and after the first half I got into my stride and was able to focus on the physical discomfort, as well as the beautiful scenery. They had a lovely race HQ at Otley Common, including post-race refreshments. I had a cheese toastie and it was good.
One of the reasons I’ve been so busy, and yet somehow not feeling like I’m doing anything, is we’ve been dealing with a lot of domestic issues recently. A leaking roof, broken washing machine, and blocked drains. But most worryingly, our kitchen floor dropped 20mm and we are still waiting in the investigation to find out what has happened. It only happened on one side of the kitchen, so all of the tiles have now splintered down the middle.
We recently attended by Dr. Tom Nicholson on The Science of AuDHD. It was organised by Seed Talks and took place at The Wardrobe. It was a fun evening. Nicholson is a engaging and lively speaker with lived experience of AuDHD and be brought a lot of passion and energy to his presentation. It looked at the diagnostic criteria for autism and ADHD, woven with with personal stories and the implications of us missing neurodivergence in children. There was a little bit on AuDHD, but no discussion of the science, which would have been a nice addition. But well worth attending.
Check out these snazzy photos we’ve had taken for the updated clinic website. Thanks to Heather Butterworth for the photography.
