Today’s episode is a guide for the Class of 2026, originally written by Dr. Jaime Hoerricks. It offers autistic students a “narrative survival kit” for navigating an increasingly challenging world. It highlights how “gaslighting at scale” pervades various systems, from “ghost jobs” in the modern labor market, where job postings often don’t lead to hires, to the predatory nature of student loans that now require payments whilst students are still in school. The text also critiques the “disappearing state,” where AI and mass layoffs replace human workers, and how public health often becomes a “spectacle” prioritising eugenics-like narratives over informed care for autistic individuals. Ultimately, Dr. Hoerricks empowers students to trust their intuition and recognise that the system, not their perception, is often flawed, encouraging them to find alternative paths and prioritise their “narrative sovereignty” amidst a confusing landscape.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-year-before-the-world-changes

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Today’s episode explores the journey of self-discovery and gender identity, particularly the experience as a transfemme individual. It differentiates between identifying as a “trans woman” and “transfemme,” with the latter described as a return to an inherent, ancient feminine force rather than a linear transition into a societal role. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, reflects on a past life where their strength and intellect were recognised in traditionally masculine spaces, contrasted with the invisibility experienced after embracing softness and authenticity. This personal narrative is intertwined with a broader critique of patriarchy’s historical suppression of the Divine Feminine and an affirmation of femmeness as a persistent, foundational presence akin to the enduring memory of stone. Dr. Hoerricks ultimately advocates for liberation and a recalibration of understanding gender as an essential, non-performative orientation.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-long-return-on-femmeness-stone

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Today’s episode explores the lived experience of autistic intimacy and co-regulation, contrasting it with the often clinical and deficit-focused lens of academic autism research. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, describes the profound comfort and connection she shares with her partner, highlighting how their mutual co-regulation is a foundational aspect of their daily life, akin to a prayer. She then critiques the scientific literature, finding it lacks language and understanding for such joyful, reciprocal autistic relationships, instead framing co-regulation as a “deficit management strategy” or “intervention.” Ultimately, she advocates for a shift in perspective, emphasising that autistic joy and love exist independently of therapeutic frameworks, and thus, if research fails to capture this truth, autistic individuals must create their own narratives.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/where-is-the-joy-co-regulation-connection

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Today’s episode discusses the increasing inaccessibility of higher education and essential care professions for autistic individuals, especially those with higher support needs. It argues that a quiet policy shift regarding student loan deferment and the rise of technology-based “solutions” are dismantling the very infrastructure that supports autistic people, effectively pricing out human care in favour of less nuanced, often exclusionary, automated alternatives. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, highlights how these changes not only prevent autistic individuals from accessing necessary services but also bar them from entering these professions themselves, leading to a recursive collapse of support. Ultimately, Dr. Hoerricks advocates for community-led, mutual aid initiatives as a crucial form of resistance and survival against a system designed to erase them.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-future-theyre-building-has-no

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Today’s episode argues that public education in the United States is being systematically dismantled, akin to clearing land for development, not due to accidental policy shifts but as a deliberate ideological enclosure. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, highlights the elimination of in-school deferment for federal student loans as a key example, which will now accrue interest from disbursement, trapping students, particularly those from marginalised groups, in significant debt. This strategic move is presented as a collaboration between Christian dominionists and tech oligarchs, who seek to control populations by transforming education from a public good into a private, profit-driven system. She contends that this shift uses debt as a tool for governance, limiting individual and collective agency, and warns that silence surrounding these changes is a deliberate strategy to prevent widespread resistance, ultimately aiming to exclude many from a pathway to upward mobility. Dr. Hoerricks urges readers to understand this pattern as a design, not a failure, and advocates for collective action and resistance to reclaim education as a right rather than a commodity.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-clearing-why-theyre-dismantling

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Today’s episode exposes a significant, underreported change to federal student loan policies in the United States, specifically the elimination of in-school loan deferment for loans disbursed after July 1, 2026. This means students will no longer have an automatic pause on payments or interest accrual while enrolled, even for subsidised loans. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, emphasises that this quiet legislative shift removes crucial protections for borrowers, particularly impacting working-class families and potentially paving the way for private lenders to profit. She urges readers to understand these implications and advocate against what it describes as a fundamental break in the social contract regarding higher education.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-pause-is-over-what-us-students

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Today’s episode explores the dynamics of autistic social communication, drawing from a review of a 2025 study by Sutherland and colleagues. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, highlights that autistic individuals communicate effectively with each other, a fact long understood within the autistic community but only recently documented academically. Dr. Hoerricks examines five key themes: autistic attention and self, which differs from neurotypical norms; expectations about social norms, emphasising that current communication standards often exclude autistic styles; conflict arising from neurotypical expectations that disrupt autistic interactions; the personal cost of masking and compensation for perceived social deficits; and finally, the creation of shared understandings and effortless connection within autistic-to-autistic interactions. Ultimately, she argues that communication issues stem from a mismatch in recognition, not a deficit in autistic individuals, advocating for the validation of diverse communication styles.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/what-happens-when-no-ones-watching

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Today’s episode offers a direct challenge to Allie Beth Stuckey’s views on empathy, sin, and fear, presenting a trans, autistic, Marxist perspective. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that Stuckey’s framing of empathy as dangerous is a tactic to protect established hierarchies and a “gospel of cruelty.” Dr. Hoerricks contends that the “left” Stuckey critiques is a false binary, masking the true socialist, abolitionist, and anti-colonial left that seeks to dismantle systems of domination. She further asserts that Stuckey’s promotion of “traditional values” is a marketed product rather than genuine theology, and her praise for “strong hand” authority, exemplified by figures like John MacArthur, actually perpetuates harm and abuse. Ultimately, Dr. Hoerricks reclaims empathy as a revolutionary force for justice and liberation, directly contrasting it with what is presented as Stuckey’s fear of truth and a market-driven faith.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/not-empathy-but-power-a-leftist-rebuttal

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Today’s episode challenges long-held misconceptions about autistic individuals’ emotional intelligence and empathy. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, highlights how recent research, particularly studies by Brewer et al. (2022, 2023), demonstrates that autistic people are capable of accurately recognising emotions and understanding appropriate empathic responses, often with greater self-awareness regarding their accuracy than non-autistic individuals. Dr. Hoerricks emphasises that perceived differences in emotional processing are often due to caution or distinct internal representations, rather than a deficit. Furthermore, she critiques the slow acceptance of these findings within the research community, suggesting a bias towards deficit-based models despite accumulating evidence of autistic competence. Ultimately, Dr. Hoerricks advocates for a shift in perspective, moving away from “what’s wrong with autistic people” to understanding how societal systems misinterpret their signals, underscoring the importance of listening to autistic voices.

Here’s the link to the source article:

https://autside.substack.com/p/new-research-confirms-what-autistic

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Today’s episode argues that public education in the United States is under a coordinated attack from the far-right. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, asserts that this dismantling is achieved through legal maneuvers and legislative actions, specifically citing the Mahmoud v. Taylor court ruling and the federal tax credit system embedded in H.R. 1. Dr. Hoerricks claims that these efforts aim to privatise education, reduce public accountability, and allow for the exclusion of certain students, particularly those with disabilities or diverse identities. Ultimately, she suggests this trend will create a two-tiered educational system, leaving underserved populations in underfunded public schools whilst the privileged benefit from tax-subsidised private alternatives.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/were-all-amish-now-how-the-far-right

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The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.