Laura Richmond
Like many autistic people, Laura Richmond has always felt like the proverbial square peg amid a sea of round holes. She’s never really fit into the parameters of any recognisable career, and generally she just makes it up as she goes along. She completed a PhD in medieval history in 2017. She has continued to publish historical research, and she has been a regular contributor and an advisory editor at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Currently, she’s a researcher, campaigner, and consultant who works to improve mental health care, especially for parents and families. She uses her own lived experience of autism and complex PTSD and works in partnership with several charities and universities. She also runs a dolls’ hospital. Her memoir, All My Worldly Joy, will be published by Wilton Square in January 2026. She lives in Southampton with her son and two cats.
Role model! Teacher inspires autistic teens to stop going to school
A teacher has been praised for promoting the belief that autistic young people can do anything they put their mind to – even, apparently, staying the fuck away from her. Karen Hoyland, 45, teaches Citizenship at a secondary school, where she prides herself on creating...
Help! Parents running out of euphemisms for undiagnosed autistic child
A couple are becoming increasingly unhinged in the language that they use to describe their daughter, who is obviously autistic but must never, ever, ever be named as such, according to sources. Becky and Lloyd Didcot, 39 and 41, feel that an autism diagnosis carries...
Autistic mum fine with breastfeeding in public just likes hiding in cupboard
An autistic mum is happy to breastfeed while out and about, but even happier not to be out and about in the first place, sources have revealed. Krista Shure, 32, believes passionately in a parent’s right to breastfeed wherever and whenever is most comfortable, and...
Treat yourself! Autistic woman buys yet more tat from dead people’s houses
An autistic woman is living her best life by filling her home with items that other people have thrown away, sources have claimed. Charity shop menace Beth Hapworth, 35, appears to be enjoying an inexhaustible supply of dopamine, having turned her kitchen into an homage...
Autistic person somehow manages to mishear every song lyric
A person has been identified who has never heard the lyrics to a song correctly in their entire lifetime, scientists have discovered. Luca Mignon, 40, is like many other autistic adults in that they have reportedly spent at least two thirds of their life in...
Autistic woman who claimed not to take things literally discovers she took the concept of literalism too literally
An autistic woman is reportedly reconsidering some of the answers she gave in her diagnostic assessment three years ago, in light of startling new information about what the word ‘literally’ means. Lottie Fitzgerald, 25, was diagnosed as autistic in 2023, but has since realised that...
It has pockets! Autistic woman’s clothes contain no keys or phone but plenty of tiny knitted rabbits
An autistic woman has chosen to fill the pockets of her new skirt with whimsical little oddities while continuing to lose all the items that she actually needs, sources have claimed. Megan Aldrich, 33, was reportedly delighted to discover that her latest Vinted purchase had...
Win friends and influence people! Five of the best pigeon-themed vocal stims
Nothing attracts new friends and lovers quite like sudden and alarming vocal stims. Here are five of our pigeon-themed favourites. Shouting “PIGEON!” Keep it simple, keep it loud. Best done when others are least expecting it. The perfect way to wake up your sweetie when...
Reverse lie-in? Autistic woman goes to bed so early it’s still last week
An autistic woman who loves her bed with the ardour usually reserved for a new romantic partner has accidentally broken the concept of time, scientists have revealed. Siobhan Moorton, 35, has always been tucked up in her jammies with a mug of cocoa by 9pm,...
Baby face! Middle-aged autistic woman no longer takes being asked for ID as a compliment
A woman in mid-life still regularly finds herself being asked for proof of age in pubs and supermarkets, due to what commentators have termed “the mysterious autistic baby-face phenomenon”. Julie Walker, 40, who was born before the fall of the Berlin Wall, is pivoting from...