From the desk of John C. Derrick

Goldtism

Investing in the Infinite

Autism logs, tools, and guides from someone who lives it every day. Written for autistic adults and the people who love them.

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Tools & Guides

Free interactive tools and comprehensive eGuides built from lived experience, not textbooks.

Interactive

The Spike Graph

What "on the spectrum" actually means. A visual explanation of the spike graph model, masking, and why the autism spectrum isn't a line - it's a landscape.

Explore the Graph →
Tool

Double Empathy Translator

Bridge the communication gap between neurotypical and neurodivergent perspectives. See how the same situation looks from different "operating systems."

Try the Translator →
eGuide

Your Architecture Is Not a Flaw

A comprehensive field guide for late-discovered, recently-wondering, and long-since-known autistic and neurodivergent people.

Read the Full Guide →
eGuide

The Manual You Didn't Know Was Missing

A practical guide for neurotypical people to understand autism and neurodivergence from someone who lives it every day.

Read the Full Guide →
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The Logs

Personal essays on identity, masking, burnout, entrepreneurship, and what it means to be autistic in a neurotypical world.

The Ethical Loop
When the traits that suggest autism are the same traits preventing you from accepting the diagnosis.
The Missing Label
On the difficulty of naming your own emotions when the labeling system runs on different hardware.
The Camouflage
Masking is not being fake. Nobody calls the octopus a liar.
The Practical Cost Sheet
A category-by-category breakdown of what autism actually costs.
The Spiky Profile
39 traits. One radial chart. The spectrum is not a line.
Does This Sound Like You?
The post I wish I had found in 2013. A mirror, not a checklist.
Review: Severity Assessment
On the gap between a clean-looking life and the weight of the support systems holding it together.
The Vocabulary We Borrowed
On seeing your support needs written down for the first time.
Trust Your Instincts
On the absurdity of gatekeeping a diagnosis that unlocks nothing except self-understanding.
Finding Tribe
The hum of recognition when you see your people for the first time.
Missed
On being one of the countless autistic people the diagnostic system never found.
The 97% — Autism Was Never an Epidemic
The data behind the prevalence numbers and why awareness is not a trend.
The Interpreter - AI as AAC for the Autistic Mind
AI as augmentative communication for people whose minds outrun their words.
The Instruction Manual
A field guide to what autism actually looks like versus neurotypical baseline.
The Unreliable Narrator
On the reflexive habit of gaslighting yourself about being autistic.
The Broken Compass
That persistent feeling of guilt when you have done nothing wrong.
Be Au-thentic
Because the autism merch aisle should not look like a medical catalog.
The Default Setting
Is autism a disability, or is it a disability within a neurotypical-default world?
The Remote Control
WFH reduced barriers. RTO is rebuilding them.
Catching Elvis
On temporal compression, middle age, and the summers that used to last forever.
The False Idle
Your brain looks like it powered down. It didn't. Stillness is when the real load kicks in.
Blinking Yellow - What Autism Actually Feels Like
The sensory experience most people never see.
The Mask
On the performance we learn to give and the cost of never taking it off.
The Wet Blanket - Understanding Autistic Burnout and Fatigue
When the nervous system hits its limit.
The Double Empathy Problem - The Operating System Mismatch
It's not a deficit. It's a translation error.
The Open Loop - A Guide to the Autistic Nervous System
Understanding the wiring underneath everything.
The Deep Sea Fish - An Evolutionary Feature
Autism as adaptation, not aberration.
Redlining Since September
Why February breaks the autistic nervous system.
We Started the Campfires - Autism and Entrepreneurship
The numbers behind autistic founders and builders.
The Depth Mismatch - Snorkelers vs. Scuba Divers
Why conversations feel different when you process at a different depth.
Mind Your Manners
Where etiquette ends and masking begins.
Anam Cara - The Ones Who See You Without the Mask
On finding the people who see you whole.
One Word - Refactoring My Own Source Code
What happens when the diagnosis lands.
We Were Always Here
Autism through the lens of history.
If You've Ever Thought About Your Thoughts, This Post Is for You
Metacognition and the autistic mind.
Superpower or Sloth - The Neurodivergent Divide
How AI changes the equation for neurodivergent professionals.
The Attention Layer
On attention, distraction, and what we choose to see.
The Wrong Chair
When you've been sitting in the wrong seat your whole life.
No Man's Land
On vulnerability, fear, and writing in the open.
Whose Human?
Questioning who gets to define "normal."
Goldtism

This Is Just the Beginning

New logs, tools, and guides are added regularly. Everything here is free, written from lived experience, and built to be genuinely useful.

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Get In Touch

Victoria Derrick Victoria handles all inquiries and will be your direct point of contact.
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