Category: a11y

Published 2025/09/09

Inaugural AuDHD Day, September 9th

What is AuDHD?

AuDHD is a term used by people who are both autistic and have ADHD.
It’s not yet a formal diagnosis in medical systems, but many people recognise the crossover in their lived experience. They might be diagnosed separately with autism and ADHD, or just feel that both neurotypes describe their reality. The term gives language to something that otherwise gets missed, mislabelled, or misunderstood. Because being both autistic and ADHD often means living with a complex, beautiful mix of traits that don’t always fit existing boxes.

While ADHD and autism are distinct conditions, they commonly co-occur. It’s believed that 50-70% of autistic people also have ADHD.

It was only in 2019 that the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) recognised that a person could have both ADHD and autism.

— From AuDHD.com

My personal path

I have a formal diagnosis of Autism Level 1 with Severe ADHD. I received my diagnosis at the age of 50. That makes me one of the many folks now identifying with AuDHD, thanks to increased awareness, improved diagnostic methods, and broadened definition of the conditions.

Twice exceptional (exceptional ability + disability)

Early on, I was identified as having unique needs. But I was identified as a gifted child rather than an autistic one, or one with ADHD. I received no supports — other than being taken on cool field trips once in a while. Some classmates, almost always boys, were frequently reprimanded for their short attention spans and frequent outbursts. In grade school, one kid flipped over his desk over more than once. That behavior alarmed me and I associated it with my limited understanding of ADHD at the time.

I internalized my emotions and neurodivergent traits and became highly anxious. Teachers scolded me for daydreaming, but I usually had the correct response when called upon. I could come up with answers intuitively, without showing my work. And would have to reverse engineer to illustrate how one would reach a certain solution, even when the solutions themselves came to me effortlessly. Later the dreaded phrase “high potential, underachiever” would appear on my report cards. Without taking into account any other support needs I might have, or what was going on at home.

Why has there been an increase in diagnosis of adults?

People go undiagnosed for all manner of reasons. The stereotype of autism as a male condition (the diagnosis was 4x more common in males than females) is one factor. Teachers might notice the boy who constantly walks the playground perimeter while the rest play football, but overlook the girl who copies everything about a school friend in an effort to fit in. Such masking occurs in all genders and is damaging in itself.

—The Guardian

Before 2013, when the DSM-5 was released, ADHD and autism were officially mutually exclusive. If you had one, you could not be diagnosed with the other. Since then there have been:

Changes in diagnostic criteria
A closer look at symptom overlap and misdiagnosis
Studies showing genetic and neurobiological factors

The Zebra Analogy

I’ve had people question my decision to pursue a diagnosis. Asking “why bother? You’ve made it this far in life.”

“Why do you need a label?” Because there is comfort in knowing that you are a normal zebra, not a strange horse. Because you can’t find a community of other zebras, can’t learn what makes a zebra thrive, what brings [you] a zebra joy, if you don’t know you are a zebra and you are learning solely from horses. It is near impossible to be happy and mentally healthy if you’re spending all your life thinking you’re a failed horse, having others tell you you are a failed horse, when all along you could be thriving and understood if everyone, including you, just knew you were a zebra.

— ADHD UK’s Zebra Analogy

Diagnosis (formal or self-diagnosis) is a framework for self-compassion, advocacy, and empowerment. Don’t let others delegitimize your concerns.

Life with AuDHD

I lived too much of my life without understanding what made me different. Raising my now-adult son, who is autistic, helped me find my way. But it’s only been the last 10+ years that I really started getting to the bottom of it. Before that, I was a solo parent with three jobs and very little bandwidth for much else. I was frequently overwhelmed and exhausted. Pursuing a formal diagnosis is a privilege I do not take lightly. But there are so many resources available now; self-diagnosis is valid. If you’re spending a lot of time reading about autism or ADHD, or joining us over at Neurodivergent TikTok or instagram, etc. wondering if you are one of us, you most likely are. I doubt neurotypical people spend much time wondering if they are neurodivergent or not. But what do I know, I am neurodivergent!

I appreciate the studiesshowthings instagram account. It’s a married couple with one neurotypical partner and one AuDHD partner. Their reel today was particularly relevant to me:

People who are autistic and ADHD (50% of people with ADHD are also autistic) – the AuDHD brain wakes up in a fist fight every day because the ADHD brain craves novelty. And the autistic brain craves consistency. The autistic neurotype wants things to be predictable and certain. The ADHD neurotype wants things to be novel and interesting at all times. You can see how this can create a problem. A thousand things a day trigger the fight or flight response. It’s easy for the AuDHD neurotype to feel overwhelmed.

— studiesshowthings

Avoiding Overhwelm

The beginning of the pandemic was life-changing for me. I mourned those whose lives were lost or negatively impacted, but I found lockdown to be a reprieve. I have been a full-time tech worker since I was 18 years old and didn’t realize how burned out I was. And everything changed. Working from home full-time has been miraculous for my neurotype. I learned three critical things:

Understanding my neurotype / self-knowledge
- Identifying needs and triggers
- Knowing my strengths and challenges
Clear communication
- Using direct, clear language
- Preparing for important conversations in advance
- Saying no
Energy management
- Take breaks
- Have self-compassion
- Foster a support network
  - A trusted therapist
  - Friends and family who are also neurodivergent
  - Neurodivergent slack and social media communities

These things have helped me advocate for myself and set healthy boundaries to prevent overwhelm.

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Published 2025/07/23

Disability Pride Month 2025

Despite the grim state of things in the US, it is still Disability Pride Month. And I have multiple non-apparent disabilities: Endometriosis, migraines, occipital neuralgia, misophonia, autism + ADHD (sometimes shortened to AuDHD). One aspect that is less commonly discussed is proprioception.

Proprioception

My understanding of proprioception began when my son was diagnosed with autism. It is one of many factors that motivated me to pursue an autism assessment for myself. Proprioception, often referred to as the body’s “sixth sense,” is awareness of one’s body position and movement in space. It encompasses sensations such as muscle contraction and stretching, as well as deep pressure or squeezing.

My son tends to be under-responsive to proprioceptive stimuli, while I experience hypersensitivity:
“Individuals who are oversensitive to proprioception may have difficulty comprehending where their body is relative to other objects.”

After I went to the gym last night, I fumbled my giant container of protein shake powder and spilled it all over the floor. This morning I knocked my coffee mug over. I often find my phone and other objects slipping from my hands. This clumsiness can be a nuisance. But I’ve also dropped vital prescription medication while trying to take it and even fumbled entire bottles of prescription meds.

Other aspects of hypersensitivity can be more difficult

Increased pain perception. While some autistic people may exhibit a higher tolerance for certain types of pain, many experience heightened pain sensitivity and may feel pain more intensely than others. This can manifest as a lower pain threshold or a prolonged experience of pain, even from stimuli that might others might find tolerable.
Heightened tactile sensitivity. Autistic people may experience heightened sensitivity to touch, pressure, and movement. This can lead to increased awareness of physical contact and, in some cases, discomfort or pain from specific textures of clothing or being jostled in crowds. Crowds are particularly tough for me due to my height (barely five feet tall).
Increased sensitivity to certain sounds. Sounds might seem louder to an autistic person, which might make them react to sounds more strongly. This is where my misophonia comes into play, personally.

Working with my neurologist, a physical therapist, and a personal trainer have helped manage these sensitivities to some extent but not everyone has access to these resources. Family members, friends, coworkers, and classmates have teased me about my clumsiness. I encourage others to consider the impact before commenting on someone else’s clumsiness or sensitivities.

A black and white mug sitting on a table with a black and white fabric tablecloth. A large amount of the coffee in the mug has been spilled onto the tablecloth.

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Published 2025/05/11

Choose Your Own Adventure

In the Twin Cities, we are fortunate to have a wonderful organization called Minnestar:

Minnestar exists to build, nurture and engage those interested in technology through meaningful connection. Our goal is to promote connections that help our community learn from each other, build their businesses, and start new entrepreneurial ventures. We aim to foster a thriving and connected tech community for all in Minnesota.

— Minnestar’s About Us page

They put on the annual Minnebar unconference. I have been attending since the early days. Earlier in my career, I had issues with self-confidence and imposter syndrome. I never imagined I could be a presenter at Minnebar. It took decades of working in tech with years of running training sessions, teaching web development at the college level, and years of therapy. Then I realized I could, in fact, successfully present a session at Minnebar. I actually submitted my presentation idea while I was attending another event, the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference. The full title of my talk is a mouthful. Choose Your Own Adventure: Pros and Cons of a Formal Autism / ADHD Diagnosis vs Self-Diagnosis. Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Choose Your Own Adventure books.

The stories are formatted so that, after a few pages of reading, the protagonist faces two or three options, each of which leads to further pages and further options, and so on until they arrive at one of the many story endings.

Wikipedia

I submitted my talk idea before the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr., ramped up his misinformation campaign about autism and suggested creating a national registry to track those of us with ASD. What he and the Trump administration are doing is dangerous and wrong. I modified my talk somewhat in light of these developments. I delivered this talk in person on May 3rd, 2025 and went over these very real choose your own adventure options, walking through the Pros and Cons of:

A formal diagnosis through health insurance
A formal diagnosis through private insurance
Self-diagnosis via vetted, trustworthy resources

While balancing the privacy implications of each with their potential benefits. I didn’t record my talk but I am sharing the slides. Last year I was invited to deliver a variation of this talk to another company’s Neurodivergent Employee Resource Group. I would be happy to speak to this or related topics at other organizations. Feel free to reach out to me at info@sharynmorrow.com.

Speaker Sharyn Morrow standing behind a tall podium while presenting to a full room of attendees.

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Published 2025/02/27

Accessible Places

Broken Lifts

International Wheelchair Day is observed every March 1st. I am interested in physical accessibility as much as digital accessibility, but especially the point where the two meet. Where technology can improve physical accessibility by removing barriers or at least warn folks about them. Recently, I came across an older project that came out of “Random Hacks of Kindness” in Berlin called Broken Lifts.

Broken elevators at train stations are a big problem for people who rely on wheelchairs and walking aids, but also for families with strollers. That’s why it’s important to find out about breakdowns in good time. Of course, complex machines like elevators can occasionally break down. Vandalism does the rest. For this reason, BrokenLifts was created – a project by the SOZIALHELDEN association and the Berlin-Brandenburg transport association in collaboration with the HENKELHIEDL project office for the automated visualization of elevator breakdowns in local public transport in Berlin. The elevator malfunction information from the Berlin S-Bahn and the BVG is retrieved, analyzed and bundled every 15 minutes as a database.

Random Hacks of Kindness

Wheelmap.org

The same folks who came up with Broken Lifts are behind wheelmap.org, a map for finding wheelchair accessible places. Anyone can contribute and mark public places around the world according to their wheelchair accessibility.

Google

Of course, there’s a bigger player on the scene. In 2020, Google Maps launched a mode called Accessible Places. When toggled on, it more prominently shows wheelchair accessibility info.

“When Accessible Places is switched on, a wheelchair icon will indicate an accessible entrance and you’ll be able to see if a place has accessible seating, restrooms or parking,” Google explains in a blog post. “If it’s confirmed that a place does not have an accessible entrance, we’ll show that information on Maps as well.”

Find wheelchair-accessible places

In October 2023, Google announced another expansion of its accessible navigation features. It included:

Stair-free wheelchair-accessible routes
Updated Live View experiences for users who are blind
A new identity attribute label for disabled-owned businesses

Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, the wheelchair user making Google Maps more accessible, positioned near a NYC subway elevator with a sign indicating it is out of service

“It’s a basic human right to enter a place like anybody else,” says Sasha Blair-Goldensohn. This simple ideal can seem maddeningly out of reach for wheelchair users in America’s largest and most expensive metropolis. But for Blair-Goldensohn, a 48-year-old software engineer and United Spinal member from New York City, it’s the driving force of his life.

Meet the Wheelchair User Making Google Maps More Accessible

Though his work at Google touched on its Maps technology, Sasha Blair-Goldensohn wasn’t thinking much about the actual route-finding features — how people get from A to B. That changed one morning while he was walking through Central Park to catch the subway and a 100-pound tree limb fell on him. The limb fractured his skull and he sustained a T5 spinal cord injury.

New York City has one of the best subway systems in the U.S., but only if you can navigate stairs. Blair-Goldensohn’s Manhattan commute was hampered by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority system. More than 30 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, it still lacked wheelchair access in nearly 75% of commuter train stations.

Advocacy

Sasha Blair-Goldensohn stepped up his advocacy by working with legal nonprofit Disability Rights Advocates to bring a class action lawsuit. Blair-Goldensohn served as one of the plaintiffs alleging violations of the New York City Human Rights Law due to the subway system’s inaccessibility. It took six years, but in April 2023, a judge approved a final settlement compelling the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to budget for and “add elevators or ramps to create a stair-free path of travel [in] at least 95% of the system’s currently inaccessible subway stations by 2055.”

A group of wheelchair users and allies holding protest signs in NYC that say Stranded by Cuomo and Elevators are for Everyone

Subway elevators were frequently broken down, further limiting mobility and inclusion. “You are either stuck on the inside or the outside,” he says. “In one situation, at least you are on the surface, but you realize there’s no way home because the elevator is shut down for who knows how long. In the other situation, you are several flights of stairs down and you have to rely on strangers to carry you out.”

Sasha Blair-Goldensohn

Accessibility + Technology

For accessibility information to be helpful, it needs to be comprehensive and widely available. Collecting all the information needed to create a useful accessibility map is a big task. Fortunately, a software engineer at Google, which has the most popular free mapping app in the world with over a billion users each month, has become a strong advocate for accessibility. When Blair-Goldensohn returned to his job after his injury, it quickly became clear that his skills and understanding of what people with disabilities need made him a perfect fit for this work.

Since then, he has been working to improve the accessibility information available on Google Maps. In 2017, Google introduced a feature that lets users add details about the accessibility of places they visit. Now, Maps can show if a location has a wheelchair-accessible entrance, marked by the ♿ icon, as well as accessible seating, restrooms, and parking. In 2018, Blair-Goldensohn led a project to display wheelchair-accessible routes for public transportation.

Google Maps depends on its users to share information about various features, from what businesses offer to travel times and directions. Before last summer’s Paralympics, Blair-Goldensohn’s team met with Paralympic athletes to inform them about the accessibility features on Google Maps and to gather their experiences using the service while traveling abroad.

For Blair-Goldensohn, whose work revolves around universal design, it’s hard to understand why you would do things any other way. To him, working toward a world that can be accessed by everyone, benefits everyone. “Solidarity is powerful,” he says. Agreed!

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Published 2025/01/31

Talk Description to Me and more

One of the best parts of my job is curating our monthly Accessibility Community of Practice meetings. I like to tie into monthly awareness campaigns. For January, I highlighted World Braille Day and Braille Literacy Month. But then jumped into some particulars. Like sharing a video from one of my favorite folks, Anthony Ferraro, a blind athlete, musician, motivational speaker, and podcaster. His catchphrases are “the only disability is a bad attitude” and “one love.”

Some fun podcasts

Talk Description to Me podcast

Where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed out in description-rich conversations. J.J. Hunt is an innovative Audio Describer and a natural-born storyteller. Christine Malec is a perpetually inquisitive member of the blind and partially sighted community who’s always wondering about something.

In Talk Description to Me, their discussions plunge into current events and topical issues to explore the content of important images and help place vivid descriptions in their cultural context. Lively, hard-hitting, witty, vibrant, and fun, this is conversation with a view!

Talk Description to Me

Say My Meme podcast

Say My Meme is exactly what it sounds like: A podcast that literally describes the world’s most relevant memes, bringing the blind and sighted people together through laughter and the power of visual description. Brought to you by Will from Be My Eyes and Caroline from Scribely.

Say My Meme

Blind beauty expert and journalist Lucy Edwards recently sent in a request to Say My Meme, for beauty and makeup memes. Lucy joined as their first guest host to talk all memes skincare, makeup and more.

Meme with the question "Why don't
you just let your hair dry naturally?" with Danny DeVito wearing a frizzy wig

Say My Meme sub-categories include:

Weird memes
The Album Cover
Disneyland
The Olympics
Online Dating Memes
Star Wars

Darth Vader strangling a rebel troop, with the caption "Strong people don't put others down. They lift them up." accredited to Darth Vader, Philanthropist.

Accessible Social

In our monthly meetings, I also have Accessibility Hall of Shame and Hall of Fame sections. The Hall of Shame section often features accessibility overlays and why they are terrible. For our January Hall of Fame, I highlighted a resource I came across called Accessible Social. This is a free resource and education hub that shares best practices for creating accessible and inclusive social media content. Guides include best practices for sharing:

With additional learning and resources:

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Published 2024/12/16

At the End of Sight

We meet Andrew Leland as he’s suspended in the liminal state of the soon-to-be blind: he’s midway through his life with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that ushers those who live with it from sightedness to blindness over years, even decades. He grew up with full vision, but starting in his teenage years, his sight began to degrade from the outside in. Soon— but without knowing exactly when—he will likely have no vision left.

This is Love podcast

Andrew Leland talks with Phoebe Judge about slowly losing his eyesight. He was in high school when he received his diagnosis of the degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa, also known as RP. “It was like, ‘I’m going out in the woods with my friends at night. And oddly enough, I’m bad at it.’” Full transcript of the podcast.

Andrew Leland’s memoir, The Country of the Blind, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. I chose to listen to the audiobook version, narrated by the author himself, and found him to be incredibly charismatic and engaging.

Yellow book cover for Pulitzer Prine Finalist The Country of the Blind, a Memoir at the End of Sight by Andrew Leland

In The Country of the Blind, Andrew Leland tells the story of his gradual transition into the blindness community with sensitivity and insight. He vividly describes his new sensory perceptions and emotions and outlines controversies about the training of the blind. His experiences will resonate powerfully with those in the autism community and beyond. A valuable book.

Temple Grandin

Not long after I found Andrew’s book, I encountered a non-fiction film about the same topic. I missed its brief release in theaters but the film will be streaming December 17th, 2024.

When three of their four children are diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare and incurable disease that leads to severe visual impairment, the Pelletier family’s world changes forever. In the face of this life-altering news, Edith Lemay, Sébastien Pelletier and their children set out on a trip around the world to experience all its beauty while they still can. As they fill their memories with breathtaking destinations and once-in-a-lifetime encounters, the family’s love, resilience and unshakeable sense of wonder ensure that their uncertain future does not define their present.

National Geographic: Blink

From the Academy Award-Winning Team behind 'Navalny.' National Geographic Documentary Films Blink. Don't lose sight of what matters.

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Published 2024/04/02

Autism Awareness Month

This is my first April celebrating Autism Awareness / Acceptance month since I was formally diagnosed with autism myself. I believe self-diagnosis is perfectly valid, but I wanted to learn more. Not just for myself, but for my community. Last year I worked with an incredible neurodiversity affirming clinician. She was excited to dive in and learn about my wiring. She helped me understand more about how my neurocomplexity impacts my personal and professional life. In my professional life, in the accessibility space, I continue to encourage others to learn more about neurodivergence. And provide guidance about how to support neurodiversity in the workplace.

Two main tips:

Communicate as clearly as possible. Ellie Middleton posted a wonderful video on how to give neurodivergent friendly instructions. It’s short and simple! Please watch it.
Be accepting of autistic (or other) behaviors that might deviate from the norm. Personally, I used to expend SO much energy attempting to mask to fit in while in shared office spaces. Working remotely has allowed me to channel that energy to focus on the work itself. But not everyone is so lucky. To learn more about masking, check out autistic reporter Eric Garcia’s great interview with autistic social psychologist Devon Price, PhD. The timing worked out perfectly. I ordered a copy of Devon’s book, Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity, and it arrived just now, on World Autism Day.

I’ve been working in tech for 30+ years at this point. But many autistic people experience high rates of unemployment and underemployment compared to adults with other disabilities and adults in the general population. This needs to change. Sustainable progress will require a real, measurable commitment to neuroinclusion. Which includes working with autistic and other neurodivergent people to foster lasting change.

A book resting on a yellow chair. The cover reads Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity, Unmasking Autism by Devon Price, PhD, author of Laziness Does Not Exist

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Published 2024/03/01

Celebrating Mobility and Inclusion

International Wheelchair Day was first launched in 2008 and is observed every March 1st. Wheelchair user Nabila Laskar says the day’s goals are:

To enable wheelchair users to celebrate the positive impact a wheelchair has in their lives so that they can access employment, participate in the community, get involved in social activities and more.
To celebrate the great work of millions of people who provide wheelchairs, who provide support and care for wheelchair users and who make the world a better and more accessible place for people with mobility issues.
To acknowledge and react constructively to the fact there are many tens of millions of people in the world who need a wheelchair, but are unable to acquire one.

Colorful illustration of a person in a wheelchair with word bubbles exclaiming March 1st International Wheelchair Day

Progress

In 2023, many wheelchair users took to social media. They expressed the impact their mobility devices have on their freedom and quality of life. Here are 10 of their reflections. Last year I was also introduced to a cool company called Izzy Wheels. Founded by two sisters who creates cool wheelchair covers so that wheelchair users can customize their look.

In the past, I’ve also posted about off-road wheelchairs being made available in public parks. From those in my own state of Minnesota, to the beaches of Oregon and beyond. Unfortunately wheelchair users still face many frustrations. Especially when traveling by air.

Problems

Last Fall, a video went viral of an American Airlines baggage handler. Showing a passenger’s wheelchair sliding down a jet bridge chute. It crashed into a metal barrier, flipped over and tumbled onto an airport tarmac.” Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence.

In 2022, the 10 largest U.S. airlines lost, damaged or destroyed more than 11,000 wheelchairs and scooters, according to the Department of Transportation. That represents 1.5% of all wheelchairs and scooters boarded onto planes.
CBS News

When an airline damages, loses, or delays a passenger’s wheelchair, it is a significant problem. It endangers that person’s health and can seriously limit their mobility and independence. Just last month, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a new proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that would ensure airline passengers who use wheelchairs can travel safely and with dignity. This proposed rule would be the biggest expansion of rights for passengers who use wheelchairs in the United States since 2008.

Potential Solutions

The proposed rule would take major actions in three key areas:

Penalties and remedies for wheelchair mishandling
Safe, dignified, and prompt assistance
Improved standards on planes

It’s unclear if this was prompted by Senator Duckworth’s MOBILE Act from 2023. Whatever the case may be, I hope for an outcome that will lead to more accountability and accessibility for travelers with disabilities.

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