Support for autistic women navigating trauma, chronic stress, life transitions and the search for deeper self-understanding.
Autism, Centered on Women
Free Guide
“But you don’t look autistic”
A practical response guide for autistic women
What do you say when someone questions your diagnosis or minimizes your experience?
Simple, thoughtful responses for:
Family & friends
Work & coworkers
(some)Healthcare providers
Masking comments
Setting boundaries
When you just don’t have the words
Free Guide
Newsletter
Podcast
HerTism, from the inside
HerTism was created by Michele Paiva, a therapist, Certified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist, writer, and autistic woman whose work spans science and technology, behavioral health, and the arts.
Drawing on 30 years of professional experience, she explores autism through research, lived experience, trauma-informed care, movement, mindfulness, and creative practice.
Women move through profound transitions that are too often misunderstood, minimized, or left unnamed.
For autistic and other neurodivergent women, these experiences may also involve masking, sensory overwhelm, disrupted routines, and unmet support needs.
What looks manageable from the outside may carry a significant emotional cost.
The imagery here is intentionally softened. Shells adapt to their environment, carry the history of how they were formed, and reveal only part of what they hold. Autistic women often move through the world similarly, adapting while much of their inner experience remains unseen. The softened portraits also honor those who find faces or eye contact visually intense.