She Rocks the Spectrum
A Therapy Center for Autistic Girls & Women
Meet
Ashley YLK!
As an Autism Advocate & Educator, Ashley brings a rare mix of emotional honesty and strong communication skills to everything she does. She has a gift for taking experiences that are often hard to explain and putting them into words that people can actually feel and understand. Real connection is not always simple for autistic people; Ashley knows this firsthand. She understands what it is like to want closeness while navigating a neurodivergent life in a world that seems determined to misunderstand ND people. There are two things that she is always focused on: being creative and being a proactive advocate.
Follow Ashley:
Living life Creatively
As a multidisciplinary creative, she does anything and everything. For She Rocks the Spectrum, this looks like managing content from beginning to end, including planning, editing, captioning, posting, and adjusting strategy based on audience response. It’s not just a monotonous process for her–she’s always learning new skills and adapting to make sure what she makes is fresh and valuable. Her creative life extends beyond advocacy content as well. She is drawn to film, writing, art, music, fashion, and design. Across all of it, the common thread is connection. She wants to make things that reach people.
Education and Advocacy!
While working for her university’s Diversity and Belonging department as a student, she helped create events that fostered a welcoming environment where people could explore identity and local community. She also developed visual content for both social media and print materials. Her work was thoughtful and deliberate, and even played an important role in creating a strong brand identity for the department during a time of high turnover and instability. Her advocacy is fueled not only by insight, but by recognition. Ashley is neurodivergent herself, with autism, ADHD, and OCD. She’s always struggled with depression and anxiety, as well as isolation, growing up. These personal experiences were difficult, but fostered wisdom. These moments are essential to lending irreplicable depth and credibility to her work. The people who fall through the cracks into liminal spaces where identity, struggle, and difference are often overlooked–she sees them and cares for them. Ultimately, that’s her end goal in life. Check out some of her work on our social media platforms and website blog!