cosmichael.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

A taster poem from my forthcoming collection and a blog post about the writing of it - hope you like it!

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Looking forward to my short keynote on Thursday at the 'Inclusive Digital Mental Health Services for Older #Autistic People' workshop at Heriot-Watt Uni. I'll be presenting on 'Health & Quality of Life for Older Autistic People,' with a few notes on digital inclusion. #MentalHealth #AutisticElders

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

This is what I've been advocating for, for years. So when will older #autistic people be included in policy & commissioning in health & social care settings? Without that, there's no statutory duty to even admit our existence. #AutisticElders #Discrimination www.nursingtimes.net/older-people...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

#Poetry book launch in #Norwich on Thursday, 6-8pm: Sally Festing launches her new collection of #poems, 'Meeting Places'. maddermarket.co.uk/event/meetin...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

This Thursday's #AutisticElders monthly online chat is about Negative responses to late autism diagnosis. It's a relaxed hour of peer group chat, exclusively for #Older #autistic people (aged 50+ yrs). Hosted by #A2ndVoice. It's free, but you must register to join. us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

Just remembered this poem I had published last year on the terrific Black Nore Review (thanks Ben Banyard!) blacknorereview.wordpress.com/2024/10/28/j...

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Some reassuring news for #autistic people. The ...study showed that most pple, whether they had high levels of autistic traits or not, maintained their cognitive ability over time. www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/ap... #AutisticElders #Autism #Ageing

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

The context for this is that the rules for getting Carer's Allowance are ridiculously strict. It's almost impossible to get any support for caring while doing more than a tiny bit of paid work, but Carer's Allowance on its own is nowhere near enough to live on.

submitted 25 days ago • 2 comments

New dates & themes for #AutisticElders monthly online chat, hosted by #A2ndVoice. A peer group exclusively for #Older #autistic people. It's free, but you must register to join. lnkd.in/eDrdcu7a After registering, you'll receive a confirmation email containing info about joining the meeting.

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

Thank you to London Grip New Poetry, for accepting a poem of mine, 'Reading the small print', for publication in their June issue. londongrip.co.uk/category/poe...

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... Important new research from Sue Fletcher-Watson, Heidi Kristiina Kaljusto, & Emma Wilson. Endless £millions being spent on genetics research for autism: Hardly any research teams bother to work with us, listen to our priorities, or use respectful language.

submitted 34 days ago • 6 comments

Good, re the registry being cancelled, but I doubt the $50m 'research' will be intended to benefit the lives of #autistic people. The USA pond has ripples everywhere. These people don't know if they're coming or going. I think they can't go soon enough.

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

I'm visiting Glasgow very soon - staying in City Centre area. Anyone know a nice place for good coffee in a comfy chair? I do a daily coffee / read a book hour & like calm places.

submitted 35 days ago • 2 comments

Check out how the anchors of CBS Evening News ended their broadcast tonight:

submitted 37 days ago • 1683 comments

On a related but separate note, 60% of late diagnosed autistic adults reported suicide ideation compared to just 42% of individuals who were diagnosed earlier in life. This tells me that the problem of adults remaining undiagnosed is way worse than anyone is acknowledging.

submitted 39 days ago • 44 comments

#AutisticElders - come along for an hour of chat. Not a lecture or a research group, just #autistic people aged over 50, talking to each other online. It's tomorrow, Thursday 17th April. Free, but you need to register to get in.

submitted 43 days ago • 0 comments

If you're #autistic & aged over 50, you can register for Thursday's chat. (17th April, 11am-12. Free) It's a relaxed safe space for older autistic people to meet each other. We'll be chatting about Processing pre-diagnosis life- something most late diagnosed #autistic pple go through #AutisticElders

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

we are still recruiting!

submitted 57 days ago • 0 comments

The Medical Tribunal Practitioners Service (MPTS) rule a rape is a one-off event in a Dr's personal life & say he hadn't abused his position of trust as a Dr, as the victim wasn't a patient! So he isn't struck off. Whaaat? The MPTS answers to @ukparliament.parliament.uk www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 61 days ago • 3 comments

Let this sink in - Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are choosing to push 50,000 children into poverty - but won't ask multi-millionaires and billionaires to pay a little bit more tax. Absolutely sickening.

submitted 64 days ago • 31 comments

Further benefits cuts planned as Rachel Reeves forced to find extra £1.6bn. It is continuation of the Tory austerity with the old, sick, disabled, unfortunate as targets. No talk of reducing corporate welfare, ending tax perks of the rich, redistribution of income/wealth.

submitted 64 days ago • 27 comments

another @grrand-team.bsky.social publication with top thinkers in the field- paper we coled with @aquinnunbroken.bsky.social to reiterate: Isolation is not a therapeutic alternative to inappropriate in-patient wards #autism #mentalhealth #learningdisability www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

submitted 65 days ago • 1 comment

Great collaborative work going on, between Heriot-Watt University & Scottish Autism. #AutisticElders getting a voice about their lives. #Autism #Autistic #SocialCare www.scottishautism.org/about-autism...

submitted 67 days ago • 1 comment

I don't think enough of a stink is being made about the naked dishonesty of Reeves and Starmer's crap about 'get people “trapped on benefits” back into work'. PIP is incapable of trapping anyone. You still get it if you're in work. It is one of the few UK benefits offering no perverse incentives!

submitted 67 days ago • 9 comments

"Up to 1.2m people could lose between £4,200 and £6,300 per year from changes to Pip, Resolution Foundation says" That's 1.2 million people living with disability, and already struggling. That's a lot of misery that this move will cause.

submitted 72 days ago • 0 comments

Thank you, MP @labourlewis.bsky.social for standing up for #disabled people. #PIP is a #disability benefit, unrelated to paid work. Without the mobility element of PIP, many disabled ppl will lose their jobs. @teamlabouruk.bsky.social should read their own info:https://www.gov.uk/pip #WelfareCuts ♿

submitted 72 days ago • 1 comment

Dear Government and Press. Autism is neurodevelopmental. A form of neurodivergence. It is not a mental health condition, or behavioural condition, or a learning disability. It concerns me that people in charge want to slash benefits but apparently haven't the slightest idea what we are.

submitted 73 days ago • 3 comments

Mr Streeting announces airily that MH conditions and ADHD are overdiagnosed. Naturally, he provides not a single scrap of evidence for this because there is none. Can politicians find some other way of making decisions that aren't about pandering to right-wing parties or media please and thank you.

submitted 74 days ago • 4 comments

If you're #autistic & aged over 50, there's still time to register for today's chat. (Thur 13th Mar, 11am-12. Free) It's a relaxed, safe space for older autistic people to meet each other. Today's topic is Managing Wellbeing. We often stray into what else is on our minds.... #AutisticElders

submitted 77 days ago • 0 comments

Had a #diabetes eye screening last wk. Now had a text on my NON-Smartphone saying to view the results by following a link. There's no way to reply. So this, and other links from @england.nhs.uk is inaccessible. #Digital #Discrimination. @diabetesuk.bsky.social @nhsmillion.bsky.social #AutisticElders

submitted 79 days ago • 1 comment

Our #A2ndVoice chat for #AutisticElders is on Thur 13th March, from 11am-noon. If you're #autistic & aged 50+ years, you're welcome. This month we'll chat about Managing wellbeing. It's not a lecture or class, it's an informal chat. It's free, but you must register at us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

submitted 79 days ago • 0 comments

This is shocking. ITV reporting that even those with extreme disabilities in the unfit to work category are likely to lose money under new government plans. Charities have branded the move catastrophic

submitted 83 days ago • 106 comments

Today I've been comprehensively mucked around by an international #autism organisation. (Not the main UK one this time). I'm thoroughly upset & going to bed, as there's nothing worth staying up for. As part of self care, I won't engage with them again. #AutisticElders

submitted 83 days ago • 3 comments

More & more black women are being diagnosed as #autistic it’s time for the medical industry to stop overlooking us & invalidating our struggles, we will not be forgotten #blackautisticwomen #actuallyautistic #autismacceptance #autismawareness #autisticadult #autistic #neurodivergent

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

This #Chancellor intends to punish the poor & #disabled to protect the rich & profit making privatised service providers. How is @teamlabouruk.bsky.social different to the Tories? Same old same old, as far as bashing the vulnerable is concerned. #Discrimination www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 85 days ago • 0 comments

A curious synchronicity has half of my feed about #WeirdPride day, and the other half discussing the BBC news story about the autistic woman locked up in a hospital for 45 years. Stigma is literally a danger to autistic lives, and celebrating the weird and wonderful nature of autism is so needed.

submitted 86 days ago • 1 comment