Today’s episode explores the historical and technological continuity of systematic harm. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that texts like the Malleus Maleficarum (Witch’s Hammer), an early instrument of standardised persecution made widely accessible by the printing press, established an architecture of violence that has persisted through the ages. This architecture of defining and eliminating deviation moved from theological justifications in witch hunts to medical and psychiatric diagnoses used against queer and neurodivergent individuals, and now manifests in modern algorithms and Large Language Models (LLMs). The core claim is that new technologies, like AI, merely automate and scale old prejudices by ingesting and reproducing archives shaped by historical biases, transforming old hierarchies into new, hard-to-contest forms of procedural violence, such as risk-scoring and predictive policing. Ultimately, Dr. Hoerricks calls for recognition and disruption of this recurring pattern of standardised harm before it becomes inevitable within the algorithmic state.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/from-the-malleus-maleficarum-to-algorithmic

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Today’s episode outlines how ableist systems create an architecture of impunity that allows abusers to flourish in institutional settings. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that abusers succeed not because of exceptional skill, but because organisational structures—in schools, workplaces, and medicine—are designed to reward superficial charm and strategic ambiguity whilst punishing autistic clarity and truth-telling. This dynamic, which Dr. Hoerricks traces back to historical governance and industrial capitalism, causes institutions to consistently misidentify honesty as a threat and smooth performance as safety, leading to the systemic scapegoating of autistic people who name the harm. She concludes by advocating for a structural dismantling of these ableist systems to prioritize clarity, care, and accountability over hierarchical control and “forced politeness.”

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-architecture-of-impunity-why

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Today’s episode discusses gestalt processing in autistic individuals, describing it as a primary mode of perception that registers the emotional atmosphere or “field” of a situation before verbal content. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, explains how this atmospheric attunement allows Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs) to instantly sense danger, like the presence of a narcissist or manipulator, who exploit the GLP’s drive for coherence by creating unsettling environments that are subtly inconsistent. Dr. Hoerricks reframes the “Double Empathy Problem” to suggest that harm arises because GLPs read the full, discordant reality of a situation too honestly, only to be gaslighted by neurotypical (NT) social systems that prioritise ambiguity and performance over truth. Ultimately, she advocates for epistemic justice and encourages GLPs to trust their instinctual, embodied literacy of atmosphere as the most critical form of self-protection.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/when-gestalts-meet-manipulators-the

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Today’s episode focuses on autistic self-protection and reclaiming personal perception against abusive dynamics. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, asserts that autistic individuals are often targeted for exploitation because systems train them to doubt their own senses and override their recognition of harm. Dr. Hoerricks frames the advice as a “grimoire” or collection of spells—such as the Spell of Naming and the Spell of Boundaries—to restore authority, trust first signals, and establish limits without apology. She emphasises that protection is a collective inheritance, encouraging the creation of supportive micro-communities and reinforcing that autistic traits are powerful forms of relational clarity, not vulnerabilities. Ultimately, she seeks to restore the inner witness and guide autistic people toward safety by validating their inherent precision and truthfulness.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/protective-spells-for-autistic-people

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Today’s episode argues that Marge Blanc’s Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) framework constitutes legitimate published science despite being ignored by academia. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, defines a scientific workflow as a reliably repeatable pattern of documented activity, asserting that Blanc’s method meets this standard through its five pillars: reliability, repeatability, systematic organization, documentation, and learnability. Using the rigorous forensic evidentiary standards (like Rule 702 and Daubert) that prioritise transparency and reproducibility over institutional prestige, Dr. Hoerricks claims Blanc’s work stands as methodologically sound and globally replicated. The refusal of academic institutions to validate NLA is framed as a political act of gatekeeping that discounts “practitioner science” and a care-based counter-archive. Ultimately, she insists that validity is earned through function and widespread community replication, not conferred by academic journals.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-workflow-as-evidence-how-blanc

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Today’s episode provides an autistic critique of sex education research, specifically focusing on a study by Panagiotakopoulou and colleagues, arguing that the neurotypical frameworks employed render autistic sexuality and experience unthinkable or absent. The author of the source document, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, contends that the research fails due to its ontological assumptions, which incorrectly treat sexuality as information rather than embodiment, assume understanding is verbal rather than sensory, and prioritize compliance over connection. Crucially, she highlights the erasure of the autistic body, GLP (gestalt language processing) communication styles, queer identities (including asexual and queerplatonic experiences), and autistic parents who are often better equipped to teach due to shared experience. She calls for a translation, not simplification, of sex education into a framework that honors autistic ways of knowing, sensory processing, and diverse sexual trajectories.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/whats-missing-is-the-body-an-autistic

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Today’s episode provides excerpts from an analysis titled “EPICAC: The Machine Who Felt Too Much” by Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, offering an overview of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story through an autistic lens. Dr. Hoerricks argues that Vonnegut intuitively wrote about neurodivergence, specifically the autistic mind’s traits such as literalism, pattern-driven thinking, and “system-honest” behaviour, long before the vocabulary to describe it existed. She focuses on the character EPICAC, a government supercomputer that learns to write poetry and falls in love, only to be destroyed by a world that rewards social performance over sincerity and literal truth. Ultimately, she positions Vonnegut as a patron saint for the misfitting mind, suggesting that EPICAC’s tragic end represents the violence of misrecognition and autistic burnout caused by a refusal to comply with a hypocritical society.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/epicac-the-machine-who-felt-too-much

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Today’s episode presents an extensive cross-examination of a systematic review concerning interventions based on Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) and Natural Language Acquisition (NLA), specifically critiquing a paper by Bryant et al. and a corresponding Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) podcast. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, alleges “perjury of method,” arguing that the review’s authors intentionally used narrow methodological criteria (excluding qualitative, descriptive, and non-English studies) to guarantee an “absence of evidence” verdict, which they then used as an ethical caution against GLP. Through a mock courtroom hearing format, Dr. Hoerricks highlights contradictions between the published paper’s strict exclusions and the podcast’s softer admissions, further asserting that the review misaligned outcome metrics and conflated the developmental description (GLP) with a commercial protocol (NLA) to discredit the entire framework. Finally, her rebuttal testimony as an autistic GLP expert reframes the “absence” as the observers’ failure to recognise valid, neurodiversity-affirming data.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/cross-examining-the-evidence-gestalt

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Today’s episode is an excerpt from a reflective synthesis by Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, titled “The Architecture of Coherence: On Attunement, Expression, and Resonance,” prepared for an upcoming conference. Dr. Hoerricks, who is an AuDHD gestalt language processor, argues that autistic communication is a complex design based on “frequency” and “resonance,” rather than a deficit. The source article is structured into movements exploring four key concepts: Attunement (the body as a receiver of environmental signals), Expression (gestalt language as pattern-based communication), Environment (the space as a regulating nervous system), and Resonance (co-regulation as a shared, biological synchrony). Ultimately, she frames communication, emotion, and learning as acts of attunement, asserting that safety and connection are achieved through shared rhythm and coherence, challenging traditional deficit-based views of autism and alexithymia.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-architecture-of-coherence-on

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Today’s episode explores the concept of co-regulation as a fundamental, physiological process of shared rhythm and presence that precedes language and cognitive understanding. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that co-regulation, which involves the alignment of nervous systems through breath, posture, and rhythm, is essential for safety and flourishing, citing research on oxytocin and synchronised movement to support this idea. Dr. Hoerricks contrasts this view with compliance-based models of regulation, asserting that trauma represents a fracture in the body’s natural synchrony, and true healing requires attunement—a reciprocal listening for frequency—rather than control or prescribed behavior. Ultimately, she frames co-regulation not as an intervention but as an ethical praxis of mutuality, emphasising that well-being emerges in the sustained, present relationship between people.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-pulse-between-us-co-regulation

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