Kim is a licensed Occupational Therapist who developed her passion for educating clinicians through her own personal experience navigating a healthcare system unfamiliar with Adult Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder.
Kim Clairy OTR/L graduated from Brenau University with a master’s in occupational therapy (OT). As an adult, she was diagnosed with autism (ASD) and sensory processing dysfunction (SPD). Kim learned to break through many personal and societal barriers, including navigating the healthcare system with ASD and an eating disorder (ED).
Her experiences forged a passion for educating others on ASD, SPD, and eating disorders with the hope of helping give voice to those unable to articulate their inner worlds. Now in recovery, she is an autism advocate and uses her unique perspective as an OT living with autism to teach continuing educational seminars to healthcare clinicians nationwide.
She also does private consultations and conducts local trainings and talks for parents, churches, businesses, support groups, and various community organizations. Additionally, Kim is helping to develop a series of continuing education classes challenging clinicians to look outside the box when working with clients struggling with eating and food related difficulties.
You can hear Kim speak at the upcoming World Autism Organization in Houston Texas November 12th through the 15th.
In her own words…
I also have autism and SPD. Yeah, sure, I may not look like I have autism-but what does autism look like anyways? Autism is a word, not a person.
I mean I can do many things everyone else can do, but here is the caveat-not many people know the amount of energy and work I expend in order to function and to look like I “don’t have autism.” So even though I may look “normal” to the observer, it does not mean that I do not have autism. Kids with autism, well, we grow up and become adults with autism and we often become a master at hiding it. I have 31 years of experience learning how to look “normal” so I can function within this society. It has taken me many years of hard work, self exploration, and the patience of many people.
When I was a child I became a very good detective. I watched people and I analyzed everything (still do). I learned healthy and unhealthy coping strategies to handle the sensory world. I became an actress living in the movie of life.
I want to show people what it is like for me when I am out in public as well as when I am alone. I want to transpose what goes on in my head and in my body, if I could then maybe others would understand better how hard daily life can be for someone with autism who looks “normal.”
Maybe then, people will begin to understand that kids with autism become adults with autism; adults who often see and interact with the world a little differently. And, that differently isn’t wrong. No. Actually, it’s quite beautiful.
Maybe then, those with autism will no longer feel as if they have to be actors or actresses, but instead they, along with society, will learn to embrace their unique and beautiful ways of thinking and experiencing the world.
Meet Kim’s Husband
William Miller
#1 Amazon Best-selling Author
William was born and raised in sunny Saint Petersburg, FL on a steady diet of action movies and fantasy novels. After 9/11, he left a career in photography to join the United States Army. Since then, he has travelled the world and done everything from driving a forklift to teaching English in China. He studied creative writing at Eckerd College and writes the best-selling Jake Noble series available on Amazon. Check out the books at www.williammillerauthor.com
