The Autistic Mile

Welcome back to The Ideal-ist , the YouTube Shorts companion series to The Autistic Mile . In this series, Shane Gaffney explores the characters, games, shows, and stories that resonate with him on a personal level—not simply because they’re entertaining, but because they can reflect difficult emotional struggles, social realities, and ways of navigating the world that may feel especially familiar...

Denied By Design? Inside the Fight for ABA Coverage What happens when a child is receiving ABA therapy—and an insurance decision suddenly puts that care at risk? In this episode of The Autistic Mile Podcast , we take a closer look at the increasingly difficult fight some families face when seeking continued insurance coverage for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services. We hear directly from pare...

Honesty can be a virtue—but sometimes the truth still needs tact. Some autistic individuals can struggle with being honest to a fault. A person may say something they believe is objectively true without realizing that, even if the statement itself is accurate, the way it is expressed can still come across as insensitive or hurtful. The issue is often not cruelty or a desire to offend. It can simpl...

Not everything in life can be predicted, prevented, or controlled—and for many autistic individuals, that uncertainty can be especially difficult to live with. Outcomes can sometimes be shaped by other people, random chance, or details that simply weren’t visible until it was too late to do anything about them. For someone who relies heavily on predictability and careful planning, that lack of con...

Welcome back to The Ideal-ist , the YouTube Shorts companion series to The Autistic Mile . For the first time, Shane Gaffney steps away from focusing on a single character and instead examines an entire series: The Backwards House , the oddly wholesome psychological horror comic and YouTube series. Beneath its disarmingly cutesy imagery and psychologically ominous premise, The Backwards House expl...

Sometimes, an unfinished task can feel much bigger than the task itself. Some autistic individuals can experience significant discomfort when work is left incomplete. An unfinished project, unresolved obligation, or lingering responsibility can introduce a sense of uncertainty that makes it difficult to fully relax or focus on anything else. For someone who relies heavily on predictability and cle...

One small problem may be easy to handle. Ten in a row can feel completely different. Minor stressors can become much harder to manage when they arrive back-to-back with little time to recover. For many autistic individuals, each unexpected disruption, frustrating interaction, sensory irritation, or change in plans can chip away at the mental energy being used to stay calm and regulated. The diffic...

Sometimes, even with experience and self-awareness, emotions can still spill over. Occasional outbursts, shutdowns, or moments of emotional overload can be part of life for some autistic individuals. With time, maturity, and better coping strategies, these moments can often become easier to recognize and manage—but that doesn’t always mean they disappear entirely. It’s important not to treat an ac...

Autism can seem like a distant subject when it doesn’t directly affect your own life—but chances are, it already touches more people around you than you realize. Learning about autism matters even for people who don’t consider themselves personally connected to the subject. As autism has become more widely recognized and diagnosed, more families, workplaces, schools, and communities are interactin...

For many autistic individuals, consistency is more than a preference—it can be a source of emotional stability. It can be difficult sometimes for people on the spectrum to let go of strong emotions, especially when something important to their sense of routine or predictability gets disrupted. That sense of stability can come from many places: a familiar object, a favorite activity, a repeated dai...

Sometimes the hardest part of self-control isn’t knowing what you should do—it’s having enough mental energy left to stop yourself in the moment. Autism can sometimes affect impulsivity, emotional regulation, and inhibition. For some autistic individuals, intense emotions can arrive quickly and powerfully, creating a strong urge to say or do something before there has been enough time to fully pro...

Understanding what another person is thinking can be difficult enough on its own—especially when the social world already feels confusing. Here, Jim and Shane explore what’s called “ theory of mind”,  and how some autistic individuals may struggle to intuitively recognize that other people can have thoughts, feelings, assumptions, and expectations that differ from their own. When so much of social...

Welcome back to The Ideal-ist , the YouTube Shorts companion series to The Autistic Mile . In this series, Shane Gaffney explores the characters, games, shows, and stories that resonate with him on a personal level—not simply because they’re entertaining, but because they can reflect real emotional struggles, social difficulties, and ways of experiencing the world that may feel especially familiar...

Autism can look very different from one person to another. There’s a wide range of support needs across the autism spectrum. Some autistic individuals may live very independently, while others may require significant assistance with communication, daily routines, sensory regulation, employment, or other parts of everyday life. Terms like “high-functioning” and “low-functioning” are sometimes used...

Cognitive Inflexibility: Welcome to the Dumpster Fire 🔥 Ever have one unfinished task, unexpected change, or problem that your brain simply refuses to let go of? Welcome to the dumpster fire. In this episode of The Autistic Mile , Jim and Shane dive into cognitive inflexibility —what happens when the autistic brain gets stuck on a task, thought, plan, or problem and changing direction feels almos...

Welcome back to The Ideal-ist , the YouTube Shorts companion series to The Autistic Mile . In this series, Shane Gaffney explores the characters, games, shows, and stories that resonate with him on a personal level—not simply because they’re entertaining, but because they can reflect real emotional struggles, social dynamics, and ways of seeing the world that may feel especially familiar to autist...

The internet has made it possible for people to build opportunities for themselves in ways that once would have been almost unimaginable. Online platforms have dramatically lowered the cost of sharing your work, ideas, talents, and personality with the world. For people who struggle with traditional employment—or who find themselves in difficult financial circumstances—the internet can provide alt...

A job can provide income—but the best kind of work can provide something more. Personal fulfillment matters just as much as financial stability when it comes to employment. Earning enough to support yourself is obviously important, but finding work that also gives you a sense of purpose, interest, or direction can make a major difference in overall happiness. That applies to everyone, including au...

You don’t always need a massive studio, a huge budget, or an army of people to make your voice heard. Podcasts differ from larger, high-investment mediums like television. With fewer financial barriers, smaller production teams, and less dependence on corporate gatekeepers, podcasting can give individuals and communities far more freedom to decide what they want to talk about—and how they want to...

Not every important contribution looks glamorous—and some of the most essential work in the world is also some of the easiest to overlook. Occupations and areas of influence that seem ordinary or unremarkable can still leave an enormous mark on society. Farming is a perfect example. It may not always be treated as prestigious, but without farmers—and without innovations that make it possible to gr...

The future can feel exciting, overwhelming, or sometimes both at once. Uncertainty can make future possibilities feel intimidating—whether they involve new technology, major life changes, or simply the challenges that come with being autistic in a world that can be difficult to predict. Fear may be understandable, but allowing it to completely lock you in place rarely makes the uncertainty disappe...

When something goes wrong, the mistake itself isn’t the end of the story—what matters is what we learn from it. Technological innovation often involves trial and error. Sometimes a new system, tool, or implementation creates more problems than it solves. But rather than treating those failures as reasons to stop innovating altogether, they can become valuable opportunities to troubleshoot, adapt,...

The internet has changed what it means to have an audience—and who gets the opportunity to create for one. Online platforms have given independent creators unprecedented opportunities to share their ideas directly with the world. Artists, animators, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and countless others no longer necessarily need to wait for a traditional studio or publisher to decide their work des...

Welcome back to The Ideal-ist , the companion series to The Autistic Mile . In this series, Shane Gaffney explores the characters, games, shows, and stories that resonate with him on a personal level—not simply because they’re entertaining, but because they can reflect real emotional struggles, social experiences, and ways of seeing the world that feel especially familiar to autistic individuals....

Not every source is equally trustworthy—and sometimes the most confident claims are the ones worth examining most carefully. It’s important to seek out multiple sources when researching complicated subjects such as autism, artificial intelligence, health, or technology. Rather than relying on a single article, personality, or organization, it helps to compare evidence, understand where information...