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Prosper Health's Autism Resource Center
Featured Article
Masking: What is it, and what does it mean for autistic people?
Masking is the practice of concealing autistic traits and performing neurotypical behaviors. Autistic people mask for many reasons, often to avoid mistreatment and potentially traumatic experiences. Autistic individuals mask to different extents, and though masking is common among autistic people, not all of us mask. Masking can be intentional or done unconsciously. Many autistic individuals experience a mixture of both. Masking is a complex, highly variable behavior that looks and feels different across individuals.
Masking, for many autistic people, is a necessary mechanism used to survive and seek advancement in a world built around neurotypical expectations. However, it can also have severe impacts on our wellbeing. Tightly managing our behaviors to cater to other people’s comfort can wear on our mental health.
Masking is a multifaceted part of many autistic individuals’ lives, and each autistic person may feel differently about masking’s role and meaning in their life. Understanding the reasons we mask and the impact of masking can allow us to connect more deeply with ourselves and better identify our needs. Gaining this understanding can also empower neurotypical individuals to better support autistic people in their lives.
Understanding Neurodiversity Affirming Therapy: A Guide
Neurodiversity is a growing movement that celebrates neurodivergent perspectives and the many different ways people think and engage with the world. As the cultural conversation around neurodiversity has expanded, some institutions have begun evaluating ways to better include and uplift neurodivergent people. These changes are desperately needed, especially in mental health services. Neurodiversity-affirming therapy offers neurodivergent people mental health support that recognizes our value and embraces our inherent strengths.
Autism and Co-Occurring Conditions: A Guide
Autism is known to co-occur with several health conditions—but what does this mean? What other diagnoses are most prevalent among autistic individuals, and does an autism diagnosis inform treatment of co-occurring conditions?
Is Prosper Health Legit?
“Is Prosper Health legit?” The short answer: yes, Prosper Health is a legitimate company dedicated to filling the gap in autism-affirming mental health care for adults. I spent a great deal of time researching this question myself last year, and I hope my experience can help you make your own conclusion and connect to the resources you are looking for.
When I first found Prosper Health, I was 27 and hadn’t yet been diagnosed with autism. I had looked for mental health resources for autistic adults before, but always came up with little to show for it. With limited reviews and testimonials from other sources about Prosper Health, at the time in only its first year of operation, I was hesitant.
Trustworthiness is a critical part of healthcare, especially for medically disenfranchised communities. Seeking care myself, I was worried about wasting time with poor quality, ill-informed care, and even worse, of being scammed.
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Alexithymia and Autism
Everyone will, at some point in their lives, find themselves at a loss for words when describing how they’re feeling. When it occurs on occasion, it’s human nature. However, if the challenge to name or express emotions is a prevailing theme in someone’s life, it may be a sign of alexithymia. While primary alexithymia is relatively uncommon, the odds of having alexithymia traits are much higher in autistic people.
OCD and Autism: Understanding the Difference
On the surface, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can look similar. While both diagnoses commonly co-occur, they are distinct diagnoses that come with unique experiences. Many people find it difficult to distinguish between OCD and autism because of their shared traits, as well as widespread misinformation about both diagnoses.
Understanding where ASD and OCD overlap and diverge is invaluable. This knowledge allows individuals to seek relevant, tailored support and clinical providers to make appropriate diagnoses.
Read on to learn more about autism, OCD, and their similarities and differences.
Advocating for Inclusion: The Role of the Social Model in Disability Empowerment
Most people know someone who has a disability––or they have a disability themselves. According to the census, 13.4% of the total population in the U.S. is disabled. This means 44.1 million people live with various challenges, from ambulatory to cognitive to visual.
Disabilities can be visible or invisible, such as autism or mental health conditions. In addition to the great variations in disability, there’s also more than one way to view the concept of being disabled.
Many autistic folks have engaged in discussion at one point or another about whether being autistic is a difference or a disability. This answer can change depending on which model through which we see autism. In the medical model, autism itself is the cause of a disability, but in the social model, autism is a difference, and it is the environment that disables us.
Read on to explore the differences between the medical and social models of disability.
Special Interests and Autism
Most autistic individuals have one or more special interests. A special interest is an intense fixation that far exceeds a typical hobby or passion. An autistic person will typically have the desire to devote large portions of their time, and sometimes large portions of their money, to their special interests. Neurotypical people can and do experience fixations or passions, but having a special interest is a trait strongly associated with autism.
Here’s what you need to know about special interests, how they manifest, the benefits of encouraging them, and more.
Understanding Autism and Relationships: Navigating Love, Family and Friendship
Autism can shape how individuals experience relationships, bringing unique strengths like honesty, loyalty, and focus. However, autism also creates challenges related to interpreting social cues or expressing emotions. These differences can easily lead to misunderstandings.
Autistic people thrive in relationships with clear communication and mutual understanding. For instance, they may prefer direct communication or need time to recharge after sensory overload. When these needs are respected, it fosters trust and support.
What Are The Levels of Autism Support
Autism is a condition that can be characterized by social and communication differences and a preference for sameness and repetition. There’s a common saying that “if you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person” because there is tremendous variability in how autistic traits present. The level of support each autistic person needs can also vary greatly. Each person diagnosed with autism will also be assigned a ‘level’ meant to reflect their support needs, but what exactly does this mean?
These support levels are outlined by the DSM, or The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This is the U.S. handbook for mental health diagnoses. The DSM is updated every few decades, and the DSM-5, released in 2013, marked a big shift in the classification and description of autism.
The DSM-5 combined the older diagnoses of Asperger’s syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and autistic disorder into one: autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
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