Today’s episode presents a critical comparison between two distinct approaches to autism research, symbolised by two institutions located near Cambridge, England. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, contrasts the GRRAND study, which is highlighted for its collaborative methodology, prioritising the voices of neurodivergent adolescents to understand emotional life and regulation within the context of their environment and relationships. This is set against the legacy of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) and its associated theories—such as Theory of Mind and Extreme Male Brain—which Dr. Hoerricks argues historically framed autistic people as deficits to be measured, categorised, and corrected from an external perspective. The core argument is that the future of autism research must pivot away from models focused on “decoding” or “normalising” autistic behaviour and toward partnership models that treat autistic individuals as “epistemic agents”—knowers whose lived experience is central to defining what autism is and what support truly entails. She emphasises that research findings are consequential, shaping everything from educational plans to therapeutic practices, and that a focus on dignity, autonomy, and context is necessary to replace outdated, behaviourist-aligned frameworks.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/two-roads-through-the-same-countryside

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Today’s episode traces a journey of self-discovery at the intersection of gender identity (transfemme), neurodivergence (AuDHD), and language processing (GLP). The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, details her struggle with academic language and traditional therapy, which demanded linear thought, arguing that her natural poetic and metaphorical language was initially pathologised as deficient but was actually her authentic “first language.” Dr. Hoerricks contrasts the “dead language” of analytic tradition, which she asserts was born from Freud’s betrayal of trauma survivors, with the “embodied tongue” of poetic language, citing Hans Jörg Stahlschmidt’s 2024 work on its relevance to psychotherapy. Ultimately, she concludes that embracing her authentic, nonlinear syntax allowed her to become whole, finding healing not through correction or analysis, but through the aliveness and coherence of her own poetic expression.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/i-didnt-hate-being-himbut-im-loving

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Today’s episode reflects on the politics of recognition within academic research, particularly concerning practitioner-led work on gestalt language processing. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, details an email from Marge Blanc, originator of the Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) framework, who clarified that the longitudinal research Dr. Hoerricks presented as hypothetical in a previous article had already been completed and published. The core argument centres on the idea that this robust evidence, though meticulously documented through the observation of eighty-five children, remains invisible to the academic “empire” because it was published in accessible formats like parent magazines, rather than exclusive peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Hoerricks asserts that the legitimacy of evidence should be based on its reliability, reproducibility, and demonstrable practice, as is the standard in fields like forensic science, rather than being determined solely by the prestige or venue of publication. Ultimately, she argues that “Published is published,” emphasising that Blanc’s work has achieved validity through its widespread, consistent application in clinical practice, even without formal institutional indexing.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/published-is-published-on-the-visibility

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Today’s episode offers a critical examination of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Autism Data Science Initiative (ADSI). The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that the search for the “cause” of autism, particularly through large-scale data science and genetic research, is not a benign quest for understanding but a continuation of historical practices aimed at erasing difference by making autism “optional.” Dr. Hoerricks draws parallels between the language of modern scientific pursuit—such as “burden reduction” and “prevention”—and the terminology used in historical eugenics movements like Aktion T4, asserting that the goal remains one of “perfection” through the elimination of variance. Ultimately, she portrays the ADSI as a system that prioritises quantification and control over the inherent value and “resistance of being” of autistic people.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/autism-to-know-the-cause-is-to-make

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Today’s episode serves as a deep meditation on autistic temporality and its implications for connection, safety, and community. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, explores how autistic time is non-linear and “recursive,” where memory functions as “presence distributed through time” rather than a sequential past. Dr. Hoerricks contrasts this durational literacy with the demands of capitalism and societal quickness, arguing that genuine safety and comprehension require slowness and co-regulation, or “shared rhythm.” Ultimately, she proposes that joy is a “radical methodology” and a “counter-science,” representing the internal coherence felt when the nervous system confirms belonging, with every act of tenderness contributing light to a collective “tender archive.”

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-archive-of-joy-on-autistic-time

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Today’s episode presents an autistic and queer reading of Karen Barad’s agential realism and quantum physics. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, explores how gestalt language processing (GLP) and autistic ways of knowing align with Barad’s concepts of intra-action and entanglement, arguing that perception is not passive reception but active participation in the world. Key themes include the body’s “pre-reflective world-making,” the concept of “Gestalt Intra-action” where meaning coheres from relation rather than sequence, and the ethics of entanglement which posits that responsibility arises from relationship, contrasting this relational approach with the behaviorist methods the author experienced as harmful. She uses personal sensory experiences, particularly memories of the San Francisco Tenderloin, to illustrate how meaning and safety are felt physically as “shimmer” or resonance before they are articulated intellectually.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/quantum-language-barad-gestalts-and

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Today’s episode explores themes of autistic adulthood, sensory experience, and intimacy. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, uses personal recollections, particularly of early experiences in San Francisco, to describe developing a “language for embodiment” and understanding consent as an “atmosphere” rather than a set of rules. Dr. Hoerricks contrasts the “narrow” view of autistic adulthood found in educational transition plans, which focuses only on basic survival skills, with the vitality of lived sensory experience. She asserts that autistic sensory literacy—or being intensely sensitive—is not a disorder but a “form of knowing” and an “archive” where memory is stored as “sensory residue”. Ultimately, she argues for a reclamation of autistic sensuality and intelligence, which is measured by “resonance” rather than conventional metrics.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/learning-touch-late-sensory-residue

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Today’s episode argues that Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs) and other neurodivergent students require a different temporal framework for learning, referred to as “gestalt time” or “temporal justice.” The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, contrasts the “colonial meter” of institutional education, which prioritises speed and efficiency, with the holistic, elastic rhythm by which GLPs truly process information. According to Dr. Hoerricks, the “extra time” accommodation is not a privilege but an act of equity that allows for the necessary silence, recursion, and depth of comprehension, a notion supported by a 1991 study by Runyan. Ultimately, she advocates for shifting pedagogical practices away from productivity-based pacing toward a matristic ethic of care that honors the learner’s internal rhythm.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/extra-time-as-equity-teaching-at

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Today’s episode argues for a radical re-evaluation of sounds and behaviours often dismissed as “noise” or symptoms of pathology, particularly within the context of autistic and gestalt ways of knowing. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, contends that the “hum,” repetition, and scripting frequently labelled as nonfunctional or disruptive are actually forms of coherence, communication, and self-regulation that precede conventional language. Dr. Hoerricks advocates for refusal as an ethical method—resisting the pressure to translate these intrinsic communication forms into the linear, quantifiable language preferred by “colonial” research and institutional systems, which seek to capture and control meaning. Instead, she urges practitioners and researchers to practice attunement and relational listening to these “signals,” emphasising that meaning lives in pattern and atmosphere, not just in parsed words, and that sovereignty requires protecting one’s cognitive ecology from external enclosure.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-noise-we-keep-on-refusal-as-method

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Today’s episode advocates for speech therapists to redefine research as an ethical and relational act of knowledge-making centered on lived experience rather than quantitative control. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that traditional research models prioritise procedural ethics and measurement over the messy, human reality of practice, urging therapists to instead embrace methods like action research that are Situated, Authentic, Co-constructed, Relational, Ethical, and Dialogic (SACRED). Ultimately, she calls for a refusal of the “gold standard” hierarchy in evidence-based practice to allow for the collective generation and sharing of knowledge that honors the voice and agency of neurodivergent participants as co-interpreters of meaning.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/ethics-before-evidence-conducting

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