iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 06/09/2026

Who needs the autistic joy of miniature toys? Please help me sort out who to give these to, since I no longer have an office but I do have love for tiny things and wish to share the joy. autisticphd.com/theblog/tiny...

000

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 20/07/2026

Big Personal News of 2026 ~ There's a LOT more to this life update on the website (please read if you're interested in details) but we are moving to Midcoast Maine! 🤗 autisticphd.com/theblog/we-a...

Collage of Google Maps images showing our route from the Twin Cities, Minnesota, to Midcoast Maine. It's basically route 90-E until around Albany/western Mass

010

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 27/06/2026

Crip Time IS ALSO an explanation for late. Deadlines often do NOT account for time to put leg braces on, assemble a wheelchair, wait for accesssible transportation, prepare to do a thing. Students have set travel time between classes, assuming what it takes. Crip Time factors in the rest of it.

Most people might think of Crip Time as a reference to us always being late.

But I think of Crip Time as an acknowledgement of our finitude, and of the sacredness of time.

For me this is about finding that time in the day with the least pain and the most potential for activity. And what I choose to DO in that sacred CRIP TIME reflects my values.

But crip time is SO much more than an excuse for us being late.

020

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 19/03/2026

Me: Dogs were barking all night so I couldn't sleep. Morgan the Dog: ✋"Not all dogs!" Me: 🤔 obviously (This post is not about dogs.)

Morgan the Dog (left) and Erika sit outside under a clear blue sky.

000

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 25/01/2026

I made up an SVG file and I want to share it for free. I wrote some licensing language on the download page here. Basically this is my original graphic and you are free to use it for personal noncommercial purposes. autisticphd.com/theblog/free...

Block letters in two rows read: ICE OUT and FUERA ICE. The cutout inside the letter "O" is in the shape of Minnesota.

020

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 08/01/2026

Minneapolis. I am here. To everyone, everywhere on the right side of history: I wish you so much peace in body, mind, and spirit. TY for what you do. I know you're weary. For disabled folks like me, I know you're weary too. Thank you for staying. (h/t Mychal Threets) Solidarity always, friends.

Selfie of me (Erika) sitting on my night-time back steps a minute ago, wearing a hoodie and beanie, with a tired expression

060

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 07/12/2025

Feeling grateful for my family. I can't hold my phone long enough to type out why, but I'm a very fortunate person. Last night we decorated our always-up-not-always-decorated Christmas tree 🎄😁💕 #DisabledLife #AutisticLife #AuDHD

Selfie of me (Erika) appearing content, sitting in a living room. Behind me, Rachael the Beloved stands with a crutch decorating our always-up-not-always-decorated Christmas tree

Rachael the Beloved and Morgan the Dog decorate our Christmas tree. The tree is next to a fireplace in a comfy, informal living room.

Morgan the Dog sits next to our decorated Christmas tree, similar to how 70s kids were posed next to the same.

Morgan the Dog, a good boy when he feels like it, poses for pics in front of the Christmas tree.

030

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 20/11/2025

Doing an Irish Gig Does Not Cause Autism* *Scientific studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant dancing contributes to the development of autism. The rise in prevalence since the 1980s correlates with the rise in music videos for kids. We are launching studies into this matter. #AuDHD

An infant is dancing in public. Text overlay is pointing out sarcastically where the autism enters under the baby's foot. Autistic PhD.com branding below.

110

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 25/10/2025

I may have Squirrel Beef 🤷 And what?!

How it started: Erika smiles next to a decorated pumpkin with no squirrel bites in it.

Photo 2 of 3: Erika looks with suspicion, while next to a decorated pumpkin with a small squirrel bite in it.

How is going: Autistic-Erika smiles while next to a decorated pumpkin with a slightly bigger squirrel bite in it.

020

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 14/08/2025

#Autistic Rachael the Beloved and I LOVE being at the beach. Those who know us know that it's sacred ground to us both. Here we are at the lakeshore of Gichigami, or Lake Superior, our first year after moving away from the ocean 10 years ago. What do YOU look for in such a place as this?

Photo of two hands, palms up, coming from two people holding small rocks. One hand has about twelve, similar and mostly gray, flat rocks. The other hand has about 50 little rocks, of a wide variety of colors, textures, and shapes.

140

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 05/08/2025

😍 We went to the zoo and I walked the most steps that I've walked in a year (confirmed truth). Watching the prairie dogs is my favorite and feeding the goats is Rachael's. We both love the llamas 🤗 #Accessibility details in comments #DisabledLife #AutisticLife #Grateful

Rachael (right) and Erika posing with a llama who is lying in the shade. Both people are wearing N95 masks and leaning in together.

Collage of two similar photos of a pair of prairie dogs upright eating blades of grass.

Rachael is feeding two very attentive goats from her hands.

A dark haired goat is showing his joy at receiving food by flashing a big smile.

150

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 19/07/2025

✊ Disabled people don't owe anyone a performance of their pain, and our joys and freedoms are #DisabilityRights period. See also: #DisabilityJustice #DisabledLife #Ableism #DisabilityPrideMonth #InvisibleDisability #DisabilityPride

🔴 You know, someone else got some attention at a #Coldplay concert, last month in Vegas. Celine Dion was there with her sons and she playfully danced, and said she had the time of her life. 💕 I love that for her!

🟠 Except no. Skim any comment section on that story, and you'll find the folks doing the most to say that she must be faking her stiff-person syndrome.

🟡 Comedian Drew Lynch got his big break joking about his stutter on TV. He's funny, I'm a fan. He's done years of speech therapy and so sometimes now his stutter is barely there at all. WhenEVER that happens, people accuse him of faking it all along.

🟢 FFS. When Simone Biles said she had the twisties (which is a real thing) and so she didn't do the Olympics? Yeah, folks accused her of faking all that.

🔵 We can keep going. Selma Blair publicly shared that she has MS. And sometimes she uses a cane or needs help walking. Sometimes she doesn't. It's all good except folks are in her business when she's having a good day, there to accuse her of faking or exaggerating her support needs.

🟣 Folks with a disability do NOT need to publicly perform their suffering for you. Many disabilities come with a range, variables or whatever. People have Good Days and that really does not mean they're "faking" those Other Days.

🟤 None of us knows what it takes for another person to have a good day, and we definitely don't know how hard the bad days get.

⚫ Facts: Disabled people have better and worse days, and it's ableist af to expect disabled people to perform their suffering in some way that looks convincing enough for you. This is coming from the observer's bias, not the disabled person's alleged faking.

ℹ️ #Ableism is an oppressive set of assumptions that devalue and deny the realities of disabled people's lives. Ableism often comes from not understanding that many disabilities are invisible and/or variable, and the result is oppression.

Folks assume they'd for SURE be able to tell if someone's REALLY disabled or whatever, but you really can't. Most of life is unpredictable, friends. Disabilty usually is too.

And someone's support needs will probably not always look one way and remain constant either.

✌️😊 tl;dr People with disabilities have a right to experience joy and even some times of success and freedom without having to endure this bs about how they were surely faking those other times.

AutisticPhD.com

041

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 10/07/2025

This is from the vault, from 2020, when my head was much rounder, so much that my brain no longer recognizes myself even knowing that it's me (ref: prosopagnosia). 👋😆 But I genuinely LOVE imagining what Morgan the Dog is thinking, as depicted here. 🤔 I wonder if other people do this??

The scene:

Erika and Rachael the Beloved are in the pool. Morgan the Dog is standing on the ground, and (I feel) talking to Rachael.

Text bubbles overlay:

Morgan: Mommy? I'm sorry I ate the pool noodle. I thought it was stick. As you know, I do eat sticks...

Erika: He did not think a pool noodle was a stick.

Morgan: Yes I did! I'm talking to my Mommy right now. Do you know my thoughts, hmm?

Erika: Sorry, counselor, I don't buy it. I see a demonstrated pattern of behavior.

Morgan: This is why Mommy is my favorite.

010

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 07/07/2025

#NewArticle Everything can seem out of control and threatening right now in the world near and far. And I am reminded of something that can actually help #Autistic #AuDHD folks with #EmotionalRegulation, hence this sensory memory hack! Full-text: autisticphd.com/theblog/emot...

This text-based graphic is part of a series of 8 in total. Text overlay:

Just Go Somewhere: An Emotional Regulation Strategy in Honor of My Gram

Everything can seem out of control and threatening right now in the world near and far. And while I’m not (at all) getting into the CAUSES of that distress, I am reminded of something that can actually help, and I’d love to share that with you all.

Here is the Strategy for You to “Go Somewhere”

This works in the heat of the moment when you’re overwhelmed with Big Feelings. This doesn’t stop the Big Feelings per se, but it can help you reconnect at your baseline.

This text-based graphic is part of a series of 8 in total. Text overlay:

Just Go Somewhere: An Emotional Regulation Strategy in Honor of My Gram

Step 1: Choose a Somewhere

Think of a place you’ve been that felt okay. My Gram had two go-to places: the beach, and her mother’s kitchen. This is for you to choose, and there’s no wrong answer. Think of exactly when and where you were when you felt safe and calm.

This text-based graphic is part of a series of 8 in total. Text overlay:

Just Go Somewhere: An Emotional Regulation Strategy in Honor of My Gram

Step 2: Focus on the Smell

Yeah so what did your Somewhere smell like? Gram’s beach smells like salty air and a bit of low tide smell. Low-tide smell isn’t often deemed a pleasant one, but it can take you to that place. Think of exactly how this place smelled.

This text-based graphic is part of a series of 8 in total. Text overlay:

Just Go Somewhere: An Emotional Regulation Strategy in Honor of My Gram

Step 3: Smell the Smell

Describe that smell in some way to yourself. Dig into it. Take several slow, deep breaths while you recall the smell of the place where you felt safe and calm. If you can, push your brain to recall the smell as you are breathing in through your nose.

140

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 11/06/2025

So THIS superstar (Seimith) 🏆 was in my high school Support Math back in 2004–05. Today I got to chat w/ a whole grown-up 35 yo. Same kindness that autistic-me remembers 🫶 My heart is full. I'm so grateful. Seimith, I'm wishing you ALL the good things👋😊💕 #AuDHD #AutisticProfessor #AutisticTeacher

Screenshot from a Google Meet call.
Seimith is centered in frame: a Millennial with long hair, smiling and looking into the camera.
I'm Erika, in the inset: a Gen X person with short hair, glasses, and a slightly confused expression.
We're both in well-lit home offices.
Seimith's background looks tidy and professional, like she might be about to launch a shiny new tech product tomorrow or something.
I've got a Pac-man sign behind me, because Reasons.

020

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 06/06/2025

What’s Threatening Higher Education Isn’t ONLY Students Using AI What I’ve always loved about teaching has been supporting students. Right now, everything seems aligned against all of the good things. Saying I’m "sad" doesn’t come close. #Autistic #AuDHD autisticphd.com/theblog/stud...

text-based infographic: Students have been using AI since it became widely available in 2022. And in 2025, when they’re told AI will take over all the good jobs? They use the hell out of it.
– Erika Sanborne, Autistic PhD

Why Real Learning Is Disappearing

This whole process accelerates a rapid decline in our society’s ability to reason through its own problems. With fewer funded research opportunities and a growing reliance on generative AI, universities risk becoming less Sites of Knowledge Production and more Places of Technical Mimicry and I hate that, for everybody.

What I hate most about this (as an autistic person who values discovery and cares about students more than I am getting into here) is that students aren’t realizing what they are losing.

Read more at AutisticPhD.com

031

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 21/05/2025

✌️🫤 Shout out to the dangerous, subversive intellectuals and educators near and far 🫶

A black-and-white political cartoon depicts a young woman seated at a school desk with an open book. She looks confused and anxious as a group of stern men surrounds her, trench-coated men in fedoras taking notes and interrogating her. One man points to a large classroom map showing the USSR (!) and parts of Europe. Another examines a wastebasket. A briefcase on the floor is labeled “State and Local 'Anti-Subversive' Committees in the U.S.” The wall features a portrait of a man in a wig labeled “Jefferson.” The cartoon’s caption reads, “You Read Books, Eh?” suggesting suspicion toward education and intellectual inquiry, referencing anti-communist paranoia in mid-20th-century America. The cartoon is signed “Herblock,” a well-known political cartoonist.

2122

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 12/05/2025

Perhaps Home Depot causes autism. If we're going to get silly with our spurious correlations, then maybe we need to also take a closer look at Home Depot as the cause of autism in the US. ✌️😁📈 #AutisticPhD #AutisticResearcher #Autism #AutRes

Erika Sanborne generated a line graph overlaying the US annual autism prevalence data according to the US CDC with the average annual stock price of Home Depot stock according to the historical records of Macrotrends. These graphs across the past three decades (1992-2022) have a very similar shape. 🤔

27228

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 11/04/2025

Got Big Feelings missing #PAA2025. Recent, acute #disability has knocked me out. 🤔 Empty DHS booth pic is chilling. Pics of Advocacy Day on the Hill are hopeful. 🤷 I'm at home sorting medical appts, wishing I was in DC as my calendar says, talking population health and demography. Solidarity.

Image Description: Side by side screenshots from the PAA 2025 app, showing this year's meeting on the left and my research topic on the right, not being presented today. "The Empowerment Nexus: Education, Technology and Safety among Ethiopian Women." - Erika Sanborne, University of Minnesota

050

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 31/03/2025

#NewArticle Disclosing disability comes with newer risks and fewer protections, as those once in place are being removed for the sake of corporate “efficiency"... (US-context) autisticphd.com/theblog/disc...

Erika is wearing over-ear headphones and glasses, with a somewhat doubting facial expression, making eye contact with the lens in this black and white photo.

030

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 28/02/2025

*On Being an Autistic + ADHD Employee Today* #AuDHD

A multicolor graphic of terms in a circle: dopamine deficiency – novelty seeking – reskilling – all or nothing thinking – abrupt decisions – workplace inaccessibility – and, finally, cycle continuation.

020

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 06/12/2024

Who's going to #PAA2025? What are you sharing? Me: The Empowerment Nexus: Education, Technology, and Safety among Ethiopian Women. Higher education levels and mobile phone ownership were significantly associated with reduced interpersonal violence #Autistic #demography #socsky

Screenshot of the accepted abstract: Poverty and conflict disproportionately affect women in sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopian women face compounded challenges from public health emergencies, violence, and climate shocks. This study investigates the impact of education and mobile phone ownership on women's empowerment domains of personal safety (freedom from interpersonal violence) and agency (decision-making power in family planning), using longitudinal data from the IPUMS PMA Ethiopia 2021–2023 cohort. The study includes women aged 15–49 who were pregnant or recently gave birth, surveyed across rural and urban regions. Mixed-effects regression analyses were conducted, and results suggest that higher education levels and mobile phone ownership are significantly associated with reduced interpersonal violence. These findings underscore the importance of access to both education and technology in enhancing women's personal safety, suggesting pathways to support women's empowerment in Ethiopia amidst ongoing crises.

030

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 30/11/2024

Goal: To get BACK to the car without stress or getting lost. Strategy: Starting at the car, take photos. As you move away, take pics. Later, retrace paths using pics in reverse. If you still get lost? Show pics to helpful someone. #ADHDlife #ADHDbrain #ADHDLifeHacks #Neurodivergent #ADHD

This is a grid of six photos showing my way back to my car. Images include the street, building, elevator, and Jeep, with arrows and pointers.

170

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 29/11/2024

👋😁 I am on pause. I have an appointment in 3 hours. So. This is what I'm doing. #TimeBlindness #HyperFocus #AutisticPhD #ADHDLife #AutisticLife #Neurodivergent

This image is of a young woman with long brown hair and medium-brown complexion. She appears to be on pause. The post's text overlays the image.

350

Autistic PhD - Erika Sanborne @autisticphd.com · 14/11/2024

This video brings me joy because it reminds me of when I got to meet one free range llama named Bandit. 💕 I hope this reminds you of something awesome you got to do maybe. (Yeah this is autistic-me trying to share joy 🤷) #AutisticLife #AutisticCommunity #AutisticBrain #FindYourPeople

020