Welcome.
If you clicked Start Here, you’re probably looking for something simple:
- a way through the noise
- words that finally fit
- help that doesn’t shame you
- a place where your mind makes sense
Stimpunks is a public library for neurodivergent and disabled life.
We build tools, language, and care infrastructure for people living at the edges of systems that weren’t designed for us.
You belong here.
New here? Stimpunks is a survival library, not a linear book. You don’t have to read it “in order.” Start with the door that fits your moment — and if you want a quick guide to navigating without overwhelm, read How to Read Stimpunks Without Getting Lost →
Help in 30 Seconds
If you need support right now, start here:
- Get grounded and find coping resources → Coping Field Guide
- Burnout, overwhelm, sensory survival → Burnout & Sensory Safety
- Communication without pressure → Communication & Interaction Access
- Urgent lifelines and next steps → Help Page
🆘 Crisis Mode: Small Steps, Right Now
If your brain is loud, your body is shaking, or everything is too much: you’re not failing. Systems are heavy. Sensory life is real. Start with the smallest next step.
I need help today
- Get Help — fastest paths and next steps
- Coping — survival resources and grounding
- Mutual Aid Grants — real help against the onslaught
My sensory system is on fire
- Burnout & Sensory Safety — reduce load, reduce harm
- Neuroception & Sensory Load — what’s happening in your bodymind
- Sensory Checklist Gallery — quick environment fixes
Words are hard / people are hard
- Communication & Interaction Access — connection without pressure
- Situational Mutism
- Glossary Map — find language that fits
Permission slip: you are allowed to stop. you are allowed to need help. you are allowed to be a real human with real needs.
Choose What Matches Your Day
Pick the doorway that fits your current reality:
- I’m overwhelmed / running on fumes
→ Coping Field Guide - My sensory system is on fire
→ Burnout & Sensory Safety - I need words for what I experience
→ Glossary Map - My attention works differently
→ Monotropism & Attention Worlds - Talking is hard / social rules don’t work for me
→ Communication & Interaction Access - I want the big picture: power, harm, systems
→ Justice & Systems - I want spaces designed for real humans
→ Learning Spaces
Not Just You
What brought you here is not a personal failure.
A lot of what gets labeled as:
- “too sensitive”
- “too intense”
- “too much”
- “not trying hard enough”
…is actually what happens when a real bodymind is forced through hostile systems.
Stimpunks rejects neuronormativity.
We presume competence.
We name power.
We build for dignity.
Authenticity is our purest freedom.
The Words People Come Here For
Many people find Stimpunks through a single term that finally clicks.
Start with the Glossary Map:
→ Glossary Map: The Words People Come Here For
A few common on-ramps:
- AuDHD — overlapping autism + ADHD traits
https://stimpunks.org/glossary/audhd/ - Monotropism — deep, narrow attention worlds
https://stimpunks.org/glossary/monotropism/ - Neurodivergent — minds that develop differently
https://stimpunks.org/glossary/neurodivergent/ - Autistic Burnout — the cost of masking and overload
https://stimpunks.org/glossary/autistic-burnout/ - Samefood, dolphining, penguin pebbling — everyday neurodivergent realities
https://stimpunks.org/everyday-realities/
Explore the Core Hubs
These are the main doorways through the site:
- Monotropism & Attention Worlds
Deep focus, overload, shutdown, spiky profiles - Burnout & Sensory Safety
Nervous system reality, sensory checklists, survival design - Communication & Interaction Access
Connection without coercion or performance - Everyday Neurodivergent Realities
The lived texture of different minds - Justice & Systems: Name the Power
Schools, policing, meritocracy myths, structural harm - Learning Spaces
Cavendish, belonging, human-centered education - Languages: Stimpunks Around the World
Shared words across cultures
Start Here if you are…
Pick the doorway that matches your moment. Three links max. No wrong answers.
…in crisis / overloaded
…trying to name your experience
…Autistic / AuDHD / neurodivergent
…a parent / caregiver
- Autism Pathway (start with the intros)
- Enable Dignity (Access)
- Burnout & Sensory Safety
…an educator
- Education Pathway
- Learning Spaces (Cavendish)
- Justice & Systems (name the power)
…a healthcare worker
…a designer / builder of spaces
…here for justice / systems change
…a donor / funder
Quick Why Sheets (2–3 minute reads)
Fast explainers for the ideas behind the work. Start here if you want the “why” without the rabbit hole.
- All Why Sheets
- Why Cavendish Space — spaces designed for real nervous systems
- Why Foreground Complexity — complexity is the baseline, not an edge case
- Why Access Is Infrastructure — dignity is built, not granted
- Why Written Communication Helps — opportunity without pressure
- Why Name the Power — inequity is a power problem
Learning Pathways (guided walkthroughs)
Prefer a guided sequence instead of browsing? Take a path. We’ll walk you through the next right links in the next right order.
Starter Paths (5 links)
- Crisis / Survival Path: Help → Coping → Sensory Safety → Sensory Checklists → Communication Access
- Language Path: Glossary Map → Neurodivergent → Monotropism → AuDHD → Everyday Realities
- Systems Path: Justice & Systems → Systems of Power Pathway → Policing the Norm → Meritocracy → Learning Spaces
Deep Paths (10–15 links)
- Autism Pathway: Take a Walk in Our Shoes
- Education Pathway: Progressive, human-centered education
- Enable Dignity Pathway: Access is mutual
- Sensory Experience Path: Neuroception & Sensory Load
All pathways: https://stimpunks.org/pathways/ (index page)
You Don’t Have to Earn Access
Stimpunks exists because:
- survival is work
- care is infrastructure
- disabled people deserve support without performance
- the accommodations for natural human variation should be mutual
We are building the place where we belong.
Live your truth.
Shred some gnar.
