• Video introduction from you (set the tone, share your journey)

• How masking showed up in your childhood, school, work, and relationships

• Invitation for students to reflect on their own masking experiences

• Activity: Journaling prompt — “When did you first realize you were masking?”

• Definition of autistic masking (in simple, relatable terms)

• The intersection of race and autism — why Black women often mask more intensely

• How masking is linked to survival, social acceptance, and safety

• Worksheet: Signs you might be masking (emotional, physical, social cues)

• Emotional toll: burnout, anxiety, depression, loss of identity

• Physical toll: fatigue, sensory crashes, chronic stress

• Impact on self-esteem and relationships

• Reflection Exercise: “Who am I when no one’s watching?”

• Why unmasking is a gradual, personal process (not a one-day switch)

• Building self-trust and safety

• Choosing when and where to unmask (it’s not all-or-nothing)

• Downloadable Resource: Unmasking boundary-setting guide

• Self-care for sensory needs

• Communication scripts for being yourself in conversations

• Identifying safe people and safe spaces

• Activity: Create your “Authenticity Affirmations” list

• Navigating work, dating, and friendships while staying true to yourself

• Dealing with backlash or misunderstanding when you unmask

• Celebrating your identity and neurodivergent strengths

• Closing Video: Encouragement from Alisha + reminders about masking

• What is sensory processing?

• Common sensory experiences for autistic people (hypersensitivity, hyposensitivity, mixed)

• How sensory overwhelm affects body and mind

• Personal stories/examples of sensory overwhelm

• Activity: Sensory checklist — identifying what senses feel strong, weak, or confusing

• How to notice early signs of sensory overload (physical, emotional, behavioral)

• Environmental vs. social vs. internal sensory triggers

• Using journaling or tracking to discover patterns

• Worksheet: Sensory trigger diary template

• Introduction to sensory supports: fidget tools, noise-canceling headphones, weighted blankets, etc.

• Techniques for calming sensory overload (deep pressure, breathing, grounding)

• Creating sensory breaks throughout the day

• Activity: Build your personal sensory toolkit — what works best for you?

• How environment affects sensory input

• Tips for modifying home, work, and public spaces

• Creating “safe zones” for sensory regulation

• Downloadable: Sensory-friendly space checklist

• How to explain sensory overwhelm to others

• Advocating for accommodations at work, school, and with family

• Sample scripts and boundary-setting language

• Activity: Practice writing your own sensory needs statement

• Recognizing signs of burnout and when to seek help

• Integrating sensory self-care into daily routine

• Balancing sensory needs with social and professional life

• Closing Reflection: Your sensory self-care action plan

• Overview of workplace disability laws and protections

• How to request accommodations confidently

• Common accommodations for neurodivergent employees

• Activity: Draft your accommodation request

• Recognizing microaggressions and cultural incompetence

• Understanding the impact of racial and ableist bias at work

• Strategies for coping with and responding to bias

• Reflection prompt: Share or journal about experiences with bias

• Setting boundaries with coworkers and supervisors

• Clear and assertive communication techniques

• How to advocate for your needs without guilt or apology

• Activity: Practice self-advocacy scripts

• Signs and symptoms of burnout specific to neurodivergence

• Self-care routines tailored to workplace challenges

• Techniques for stress reduction and sensory breaks

• Worksheet: Create a personalized burnout prevention plan

• Finding allies and mentors

• Building a professional support network

• Navigating social dynamics while staying authentic

• Activity: Map your workplace support system

• Planning for promotions or job changes

• Balancing authenticity with professional goals

• Strategies for overcoming workplace obstacles

• Reflection: Your career vision and next steps

• How autism and Black identity influence social expectations

• Common challenges and strengths in relationships

• Reflection: Your relationship history and hopes

• Journaling prompt: Describe a relationship where you felt truly understood

• Verbal and non-verbal communication differences

• Active listening and clear expression techniques

• Activity: Practice expressing your needs in different social scenarios

• Worksheet: Communication check-in — identifying your preferred communication styles

• What healthy boundaries look like

• How to say no and handle pushback

• Worksheet: Boundary-setting scenarios

• Reflection: Recall a time you set a boundary successfully — what helped?

• Understanding family roles and cultural expectations

• Strategies for managing conflict and creating space

• Reflection: Identifying supportive vs. challenging family relationships

• Journaling prompt: What kind of family support do you need right now? If you have no family support, what can you do to create a new support system?

• Finding neurodivergent-friendly communities

• Balancing energy and social needs

• Activity: Create your ideal friend profile

• Worksheet: Friendship boundary checklist

• Communicating needs and consent

• Navigating sensory and social challenges

• Safety planning and self-care in dating

• Reflection: What does a healthy romantic relationship look like for you?

• How autism intersects with mental health

• Common challenges and myths

• Self-assessment: Identifying your current mental health status

• Journaling prompt: Describe what mental wellness means to you

• Symptoms and triggers specific to neurodivergent people

• Mind-body connection and emotional regulation

• Activity: Anxiety and depression tracking journal

• Reflection: Recall a time you managed anxiety effectively — what tools did you use?

• What burnout looks like for autistic Black women

• Early warning signs and stages

• Worksheet: Personal burnout warning signs checklist

• Journaling prompt: List self-care actions that help you recharge

• Mindfulness, grounding, and relaxation techniques

• Sensory-friendly coping tools

• Building a personalized self-care toolkit

• Reflection: What self-care routines have you found most helpful?

• Finding culturally competent and neurodivergent-affirming providers

• Preparing for therapy and medical visits

• Advocating for your mental health needs

• Worksheet: Questions to ask your healthcare provider

• Strengthening social supports and community connections

• Developing long-term mental health plans

• Reflection: Your resilience story — times you overcame challenges

• Journaling prompt: Who are your key supports, and how can you nurture those connections?

• What intersectionality means for Black autistic women

• Systems of oppression and privilege

• Reflection: Mapping your intersecting identities

• Journaling prompt: How have your identities shaped your experiences?

• Key rights in healthcare, education, and social services

• Different types of advocacy (self, peer, systemic)

• Worksheet: Your advocacy strengths and goals

• Activity: Set 2–3 personal advocacy goals

• Crafting clear, confident messages

• Handling pushback and microaggressions

• Activity: Role-playing advocacy conversations

• Reflection: Describe a time you advocated for yourself—what went well?

• Preparing for appointments and meetings

• Accessing accommodations and support services

• Resource list: Culturally competent providers and programs

• Worksheet: Checklist for healthcare or education appointments

• Finding and creating supportive networks

• Collective advocacy and activism

• Activity: Plan a community advocacy project

• Journaling prompt: What qualities do you seek in allies and supporters?

• Managing advocacy fatigue and emotional labor

• Celebrating wins and progress

• Reflection: Your ongoing advocacy journey

• Worksheet: Self-care plan for advocates

• Overview of dyspraxia and motor coordination differences

• Common signs and impacts on daily life

• Reflection: How does your body feel during movement or coordination tasks?

• Journaling prompt: Describe a time you felt disconnected from your body

• What proprioception and interoception mean

• How these senses affect body awareness and regulation

• Activity: Body scan mindfulness exercise

• Worksheet: Tracking body signals — what you notice and when

• Adaptive exercises and physical activities tailored for dyspraxia

• Tips for practicing motor skills safely and effectively

• Reflection: What movement activities feel enjoyable or calming?

• Activity: Create a personalized movement plan

• Mindfulness practices that support body connection

• Grounding techniques for sensory regulation

• Worksheet: Self-care checklist for body and movement

• Journaling prompt: How does being present in your body affect your mood and energy?

• What executive functioning includes: planning, organizing, task initiation, etc.

• How executive functioning differences show up unevenly

• Reflection: When do you notice your brain works best or struggles most?

• Journaling prompt: Describe a task that feels overwhelming and why

• Recognizing triggers for procrastination and fatigue

• Tracking daily productivity fluctuations

• Worksheet: Executive functioning triggers and strengths chart

• Activity: Time tracking and task analysis

• Using planners, reminders, and visual schedules

• Breaking tasks into manageable steps

• Reflection: Which tools have helped you before, and what new ones will you try?

• Activity: Build your personalized executive functioning toolkit

• Understanding neurodivergent brains and avoiding self-judgment

• Setting realistic goals and celebrating small wins

• Worksheet: Self-compassion affirmations and goal-setting

• Journaling prompt: Write a compassionate letter to yourself about your productivity

Focus: Understanding your value beyond validation from others.

• Lessons:

  • How societal conditioning, media (Disney, movies, TV), and stereotypes shape your expectations

  • Neurodivergent perspectives: how autistic traits affect social experiences and emotional processing

  • Recognizing when you’ve been pedestalized or objectified

Exercise: Journal reflection — “Where have I been rewarded for being what others wanted me to be, instead of who I truly am?”

Protecting your energy, body, and mind from disrespectful or exploitative people.

• Lessons:

  • Setting emotional, physical, and financial boundaries

  • Trusting your intuition and gut when people cross lines

  • Role-play: saying no in dating, casual sex, and friend situations

  • Recognizing when you’re being treated as a “character” rather than a human

Exercise: Create a visual “boundary map” — non-negotiables and soft boundaries

Spotting the subtle and obvious ways people try to use you for their benefit.

• Lessons:

  • How sexual objectification shows up for Black women

  • How neurodivergent perspectives might make objectification harder to spot or harder to challenge

  • Patterns of gaslighting, manipulation, and control in casual/sexual relationships

  • Real examples (like Eli) and how to respond without losing your power

Exercise: Case studies — identify red flags and draft responses

Reclaiming your sense of self after exploitation, disrespect, or invalidation.

• Lessons:

  • Processing trauma without shaming yourself

  • Separating self-esteem from others’ validation

  • Neurodivergent strategies for emotional regulation

  • Grounding techniques and self-care practices tailored for autistic Black women

Exercise: Guided journaling or meditation: “What I deserve vs. what I’ve been settling for”

Building connections with people who see, value, and respect you fully.

• Lessons:

  • How to recognize those who truly care vs. those who only want access

  • Communicating needs and desires clearly and assertively

  • Avoiding the trap of “surface-level” or sexually objectifying relationships

  • Understanding how your unique experiences as an autistic Black woman inform what you need

Exercise: “Relationship blueprint” — define your ideal connection, boundaries, and red flags

Sustaining your growth and confidence in all areas of life.

• Lessons:

  • Owning your narrative — no apologies for your boundaries

  • Refusing to celebrate people who don’t deserve it

  • Celebrating your individuality and neurodivergent strengths

  • Cultivating resilience, self-compassion, and agency

Exercise: Affirmation journal + vision board of life and relationships you deserve

Focus: Understanding how autistic brains process the world

Modules

1. Autism Basics

2. Sensory Processing

3. Executive Function

4. Emotional Processing

5. Identity & Self-Acceptance

6. Autism in Black Women

Focus: Managing executive dysfunction, impulsivity, and motivation differences when autism and ADHD overlap

Modules

1. Autism vs ADHD

2. Executive Dysfunction

3. Dopamine & Motivation

4. Organization for Neurodivergent Minds

5. Managing Impulsivity

6. Burnout from ADHD + Autism

Focus: Distinguishing autistic routines vs OCD compulsions

Modules

1. Autism Routines vs OCD Compulsions

2. Understanding Intrusive Thoughts

3. Breaking the Anxiety Loop

4. Exposure Techniques (in a neurodivergent-friendly way)

5. Moral Scrupulosity & Perfectionism

6. Reducing Shame

Focus: Navigating mood episodes + autistic stability needs

Modules

1. Understanding Bipolar Disorder

2. Mania vs Autistic Special Interest Energy

3. Recognizing Early Warning Signs

4. Protecting Your Nervous System

5. Sleep Stabilization

6. Managing Emotional Aftermath

Focus: Understanding emotional intensity, rejection sensitivity, and trauma responses.

Modules

1. Emotional Dysregulation

2. Rejection Sensitivity

3. Fear of Abandonment

4. Autism & Misdiagnosed BPD

5. DBT Skills for Autistic People

6. Building Secure Relationships

Modules

1. Social Anxiety vs Autistic Social Processing

2. Catastrophic Thinking

3. Nervous System Regulation

4. Safety Behaviors

5. Managing Overthinking

6. Creating Predictable Environments

Focus: Understanding autistic burnout, depression, and rebuilding energy and motivation

Modules

1. Autistic Burnout vs Depression

2. Energy Accounting

3. Reconnecting With Joy

4. Breaking Isolation

5. Micro Goals

6. Identity After Burnout

Focus: Understanding how race, bias, and stereotypes impact autism recognition and diagnosis

Modules

1. Why Autism Is Missed in Black Communities

2. Stereotypes That Hide Autism

3. Cultural Masking & Code Switching

4. Misdiagnosis Patterns

5. Medical & Mental Health Bias

6. Reclaiming Your Identity

Focus: Understanding how trauma responses interact with autistic nervous systems and learning ways to rebuild safety and regulation.

Modules

1. Autism & Trauma Overlap

2. The Protective Nervous System (fight, flight, freeze, fawn)

3. Triggers & Sensory Memory

4. Emotional Safety & Regulation

5. Rebuilding Trust & Boundaries

6. Healing & Self-Compassion

Topics:

• Why life can feel empty after burnout recovery

• The “now what?” phase

• Grieving lost time and lost potential

This is a critical emotional stage many autistic adults experience but don’t have language for.

Burnout often strips away:

• hobbies

• personality expression

• goals

Students may feel like blank slates.

You can help them explore:

• What was authentically them vs what was survival behavior

• How burnout reshapes identity

• Why it’s normal to feel disconnected from past dreams

Post-burnout life requires a new relationship with energy.

Teach:

• energy budgeting

• recognizing early burnout signals

• pacing dreams, not just daily tasks

This is where your previous course content and this one connect smoothly.

Many autistic adults crash because they try to return to the same expectations that caused burnout.

You can explore:

• neurotypical productivity myths

• sustainable ambition

• quiet vs visible success

This helps students avoid repeating the same cycle.

After burnout, interests may:

• feel muted

• feel obsessive

• or feel scary to engage with again

This module helps students reconnect without shame or fear of relapse.

Exercises:

• low-pressure curiosity exploration

• structured “interest sampling”

This is where purpose becomes tangible.

You can guide them through:

• hobby → skill → value → opportunity mapping

• identifying environments where autistic traits are strengths

This avoids the common problem of:

“I know what I like, but I don’t know what to do with it.”

Traditional goal-setting is often:

• rigid

• time-pressured

• shame-based

You can introduce:

• flexible timelines

• capacity-based planning

• “pause without failure” systems

This is one of the most practical and differentiating parts of your course.

Purpose isn’t just about goals—it’s about environment.

Topics:

• choosing work structures that reduce sensory load

• building routines that support recovery

• creating safe living and social environments

This prevents students from building dreams on unstable foundations.

End the course with action, but gentle action:

• testing paths

• small experiments

• low-risk exploration

The goal is momentum without triggering fear or overwhelm.

Start by dismantling the idea that femininity is just:

• dresses

• makeup

• submission

• or aesthetic softness

You can explain femininity as:

• emotional expression

• receptivity

• nurturing energy

• self-care

• intuitive awareness

This prevents students from thinking they must perform hyper-feminine stereotypes to “qualify.”

To understand why many Black women feel disconnected from femininity, you need to explain the social history.

Topics:

• survival roles placed on Black women during slavery and segregation

• the expectation of strength and self-sufficiency

• how these expectations were passed down generationally

You could reference ideas discussed by
bell hooks, who wrote extensively about Black womanhood, love, and societal expectations.

Introduce the concept of
Misogynoir.

Explain common stereotypes:

• the “Strong Black Woman”

• the “Angry Black Woman”

• the hypersexualized Jezebel trope

• the desexualized caretaker trope

Discuss how these stereotypes pressure Black women to suppress softness to avoid:

• being dismissed

• being targeted

• or being fetishized

• TV

• music

• film

• social media

Examples you might reference:

• Love & Hip Hop

• Precious

• caricature tropes in early Hollywood and minstrel imagery

Explain how repeated portrayals trained society to expect Black women to be:

• loud

• aggressive

• hyper-resilient

• or hypersexual

This module helps students see that public reactions to their femininity aren’t random—they’re conditioned.

Topics:

• internalized strength expectations

• discomfort with softness

• feeling unsafe expressing vulnerability

• being treated differently when you present as feminine

You can include reflection prompts like:

• “When did I first learn that softness was dangerous?”

• “What reactions did I receive when I showed vulnerability?”

Explain that when someone changes roles in a social system, people react because:

• they’re used to benefiting from your previous role

• they feel confused or threatened by the shift

Examples:

• family calling you “different”

• friends accusing you of being fake or bougie

• men reacting with either fascination or hostility

This prepares students so they don’t interpret backlash as proof they’re doing something wrong.

This is something many femininity courses ignore.

Discuss:

• how being visibly feminine can increase harassment

• how to balance softness with boundary setting

• situational awareness without returning to hyper-vigilance

This module is crucial because Black women often learned hardness as a survival tool.

A major fear is:

“If I become soft, I’ll become weak or taken advantage of.”

You can teach:

• assertive femininity

• emotional boundaries

• soft voice + firm decisions

• nurturing self, not just others

This reframes femininity as controlled softness, not helplessness.

Because femininity is often embodied, this module can include:

• body image in the Black community

• hypersexualization vs body shame

• reconnecting with sensuality in a self-defined way

You might discuss beauty standards influenced by Eurocentrism and colorism.

This lesson should validate a very common but rarely discussed experience:
Many autistic women were told they were:

• too blunt

• too serious

• not expressive enough

• or “not ladylike.”

End the course by emphasizing:

There is no single correct way to be feminine.

Students define:

• how they dress

• how they speak

• how they express affection

• how they carry themselves

You can include exercises like:

• building a femininity mood board

• writing a personal femininity definition

• designing daily rituals that feel soft and grounding