From the desk of John C. Derrick

Goldtism

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

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 Free Preview →
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 Free Preview →

The Logs

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

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."

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.

All Logs All Tools About John

Get In Touch

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