J.R. Reed is a late diagnosed adult who was diagnosed with Asperger’s nine years ago. Since then he has taken a twenty + year freelance writing career and changed focus to developmental disabilities and mental health. In 2012 he created the website/blog Not Weird Just Autistic, as he spent the first 45 years of his life thinking he was weird, but now knows he’s just autistic, with still a smidge of weird in there. He currently writes for The Mighty, Different Brains, and Not Weird Just Autistic. J.R. also teaches online classes, speaks to groups as small as 15-20 or as large as 1,500 in the Missouri State Capitol. J.R. sits on the board of three autism charities and in the next couple of months will begin advising on developmental disability policy on the state and national levels. The author of An Asperger’s Guide To Dating Neurotypicals, J.R. works with those high school age through adult to help them live better lives as well as educates NT’s on who we really are. He’s currently working on the books, Autism Isn’t Contagious, and Asperger’s is My Superpower.
J.R Reed discusses how he embraced his autism diagnosis, and why self-advocacy is so important.
Writer and self-advocate J.R. Reed discusses why both awareness and acceptance of autism is crucial.
J.R. Reed discusses the concept of neurodiversity, and his own diagnosis as being on the spectrum.
