Autistic blogger creates compassion and understanding through relatable Facebook posts
Lyric Holmans aka NeuroDivergent Rebel.
When Lyric Holmans was diagnosed with autism at the age of 29, it was like they were born again. It fundamentally changed how Holmans saw themself and others, and it led to the important realization that they no longer had to live up to neurotypical expectations.
"Finally learning the truth allowed me to grow a skill that I'd been lacking for most of my life—self-compassion," Holmans tells Upworthy. Adding that the diagnosis was like a "guidebook" that allowed them to "finally understand myself, and once I understood myself better, I even began to understand other humans—because I now understood how different people's minds can be."
This rebirth allowed Holmans to create a blog and social media profiles under the moniker NeuroDivergent Rebel. As the NeuroDivergent Rebel, Holmans elevates neurologically atypical voices to broaden the conversation surrounding neurodiversity.
The NeuroDivergent Rebel has nearly 88,000 followers on Facebook and 34,000 on Instagram.
One of the NeuroDivergent Rebel's primary focuses is letting the public know that no one should attempt to turn neurodivergent people into neurotypical people.
"We know that treating people like they are inferior or destined for failure can push them into that self-fulfilling prophecy of not believing in their own abilities," they told Upworthy. "Neurodivergent people, like all people, need to believe in themselves. We also need society to stop asking us to be all the things we're not."
Holmans wants neurodivergent people to take off their "masks" and to be themselves instead of contorting their minds and bodies in an attempt to be indistinguishable from their neurotypical peers. They understand that "masking" is a form of self-protection but it can push people to the emotional and physical breaking point.
"For some of us, myself included, simply being yourself means standing out, which can be dangerous if you are around unsafe people or situations. For me, as an autistic person, masking often means I am hiding my discomfort or confusion in a situation. I may also mimic neurotypical expressions, cues, and body language, or fake eye contact, because I know non-autistic people sometimes feel you're up to no good or lying if you won't look them in the eye," Holmans says.
As a leading neurodivergent voice on social media, Holmans has seen how platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are slowly changing the way people understand neurodiversity.
"Social media has given rise to neurodivergent voices. Once upon a time, even as recently as five years ago, when I was first diagnosed, it was very hard to find the words and voices of other neurodivergent adults," Holmans says.
"If you went to Google or any other search engine and typed in 'autism' or 'ADHD' you would only find stories and resources about children, from medical professionals and worried parents (who were also only finding the medical articles that tend to slant heavily towards the harder parts of the neurodivergent experience)," they continued.
"For those of us, like me, rediscovering ourselves late in life, neurodivergent adults were lost and alone with few resources aimed at helping us. Now we are finally seeing a bit more balance to the narrative, though things are still far from perfect, and we have a long way to go," Holmans says.
Some of the most impactful posts they've made have helped parents understand their neurodivergent children.
Their posts are also a way for neurodivergent people to feel connected to others.
They also allow people to celebrate their differences.
And they're advocating for changes to our classrooms and schools to create a more compassionate, inclusive space for neurodivergent students.
In the end, Holmans is all about helping people improve their understanding of themselves and others to build a more compassionate world. "If I am able to give my readers the gift I received, in learning about neurodiversity that I'm not a broken neurotypical person—and it empowers them to live their lives more boldly, I've won," Holmans says.
A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via 
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
Gif of baby being baptized
Woman gives toddler a bath Canva
An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.