HeyJaredAsk an Autist by Mette Marie Ivie
Sometimes I love being autistic. Sometimes I hate it--because the world hates autists.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 7
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- Sep 28, 2026
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- Jul 10, 2026
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Fake Free Will (opens the original)
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You’ve seen the happy parents on Facebook declaring that their eight-year-old has made the “choice” to be baptized. Or their eighteen-year-old has made the “choice” to go on a mission, or to BYU. Or that a child has “chosen” to be married in the temple. Or chosen to serve in this calling or that one. So what is wrong with saying that these are “choices”?They may feel free. I felt that I was “choosing” many of these things. But what I see now is that they are “engineered choices,” engineered by a
Neurodivergence and Uneven Maturity (opens the original)
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When I was a young teen, some of the adults in our church gave me the moniker “Mature Mette” because I was the girl who didn’t do normal teenage stuff like talking back, disobeying rules on purpose, doing dangerous things, laughing at adults, or generally being like my age peers. They meant to compliment me (I think), but looking back, it’s a telling description of my teen years. I was mature in certain ways and in others, I was way behind my age mates. I followed rules and tended to enjoy hangi
What Is Boredom for an Autist? (opens the original)
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As a child, being bored was what I hated most. Or at least, I thought I hated it most. I spent most of my childhood reading books. Mom would take us to the library once a week but I had a ten book limit (it turns out my older siblings had no limit at all—how totally unfair!). I often read through all of my books in one day. Then I had to cannibalize the books my siblings had checked out and also finished reading. I once calculated I had read over ten thousand romance novels before I was twenty.
Social Speech (opens the original)
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When I was in elementary school, I read a lot. I especially read old books and “classics” that tended toward archaic and formal language. I loved the old stuff, like Greek Myths and Robin Hood stories, Little Women (I read every book in the series), plus books that were intended for older audiences like histories and biographies. This resulted in what you might think of as an odd set of linguistic tics and weird vocabulary.It was weird enough that teachers remarked on it. Other students told me
Step by Step Autism Diagnosis (opens the original)
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1. Someone you know comes out as having an autism diagnosis.2. You ask them about it because you think of them as very normal, and you discover that you share a lot of similarities.3. You do a few online searches about autism. Interesting, you think.4. Later, you get a book or do a deeper dive or talk to your friend again.5. Hmm, you think. This sounds a lot like me.6. You go in for a diagnostic test with a specialist who tells you about how many highly functioning autistic people are only getti
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