Married to Autism? Find Connection and Ease
What you'll learn
- Students will have the information and resources they need to get results in their individual lives. Students who commit to the course and do the work will have a series of self-made materials they can use to impact their mindset and elicit positive change.
Requirements
- Life experience -- being married to someone on the autism spectrum.
Description
Welcome!
This course is for typically developing people (aka "neurotypicals") married to people on the autism spectrum (and those who aren't married yet or were married before).
If you have autism yourself, come back soon for a course about marriage and relationships geared specifically to you. It's coming!
If you're typically developing and your partner or spouse is on the autism spectrum, you're probably more than aware that there are very few resources available for you. This course is different. It was built with you in mind. I address autism within the context of what autism means for you considering that you are now and always will be typically developing -- with typically developing needs and typically developing desires. You are who you are.
You can't end your "typically-developingness" any more than your partner can change the autism. That is neurodiversity. Both partners are different and both partners are equally important.
This course is designed to give you, the typically developing member of a mixed-neurological relationship, the education and tools you need to get results in your life. As you already know, I can't make impossible promises. You will always have a typically developing brain and your partner will always have a brain with autism. That isn't going to change. I can't "fix" the communication difficulties you and your partner inherently face because nobody can jump in and magically change the functioning of either of your brains. "Techniques" only go so far. They're hard on the typically developing partner and they're hard on the partner with autism.
So this course doesn't focus on "techniques." Instead, it does something more: it focuses on what you do have control over -- you.
I'm looking forward to seeing you around!
Who this course is for:
- Typically developing spouses and intimate partners of people who have high-functioning autism (aka "neurotypicals). This course is not for people with ASD.
Instructor
![Anne Janai](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.9 Instructor Rating
- 47 Reviews
- 171 Students
- 1 Course
Anne Janai has over 20 years of personal experience with autism and autism in marriage. She is a practicing consultant and coach who specializes in supporting typically developing spouses (aka "neurotypicals") of people with high-functioning autism.
Anne is typically developing and has a master's degree in clinical psychology from Harvard University. She received the director's award for scholarship for her original research on the topic of mixed-neurological marriages, or marriages between typically developing people and people with autism. Her research results are currently embargoed in preparation for the peer review process and publishing.
Anne is committed to forwarding the public conversation about mixed-neurological marriages despite what she knows to be the many obstacles. Sex, marriage, families, children and relationships are always sensitive and difficult topics. Adding autism, the unique needs of people on the spectrum, and the unique needs of their typically developing spouses and children makes public discussion even more challenging.
Anne hopes for both support and pushback from the autism community and typically developing spouses. She believes that happiness and life satisfaction for all involved requires more discussion, more "looking hard subjects in the eye," and less finger pointing and name calling. She intentionally avoids using the words "autistic" and "neurotypicals" for this reason.
Anne knows that everyone's goal is fulfilling marriages and happy children despite neurological differences. She is an avid supporter of neurodiversity and both partners.
Anne likes being known for saying, "Neurodiversity includes everyone: Typically developing people are just as important as people with autism and vice versa. The best marriages are equal partnerships. It can't be all about any one person."