Welcome to Miswired.me

About Steve

Steve Wharton was born in 1960 in Iowa, and grew up on the East Coast from where he escaped his (now deceased) whited sepulchre father in 1979. During 18 years as a working student, Steve earned an undergraduate degree in Economics followed by his MBA from Pacific Lutheran University.

The above writer formerly known as Steve--the miswired acceptance came later--is me. I prefer writing in the first person.

I've lived in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maryland, Florida, and Washington State as a safety manager, Sales Representative, Director of Sales Asia Pacific, residential contractor/handyman, real estate appraiser, landscaper, security guard, courier, grocer, and disabled retiree.

During my 35 years of living in Seattle, I met and married Sally. We now live on the Washington State border north of Bellingham. I frequently describe our home as, "...living where there are more bald eagles than people, and I'm good with that." Our life is skookum, and I am thankful.

About Miswired.me

I've denied my late-1990s diagnosis of autism since the day it was delivered to me. During a January 2026 two-week vacation with Sally, my spouse, I had a startling ah-HA! moment. I was doing some research on Perplexity.ai--asking about the definition and origin of the word, "neurodiversity" which I had recently read (or actually noticed) for the first time.

It's a newer word, relatively recently (within the last 20 years or so?--I need to double-check this) coined to describe the cognitive "wiring" in people's brains who have autism, ADHD and similar processing, communication, learning, and memory realities. Reading about neurodiversity, got me thinking about my own brain and past struggles and life experiences. I really started digging in to the research, and more and more memories came back.

My memories are like that. They can be startling and highly detailed...like watching mental movie clips. I was seeing myself in a new way that basically required me to accept the reality of my true neurodiverse self. The ah-HA! moment I mentioned above was my awakening as I truly embraced my autism for the first time. I write about that in greater detail in a series of posts on the subject.

This new project of mine, Miswired.me, serves as my record of self-acceptance and discovery as I embrace and explore my autistic neurodivergent self. It's become my new obsession (in a good way?) to learn everything I can about it. My memories, as I see myself through the lens of neurodiversity, make so much more sense now.

I'm trying to untangle it all and share what I learn here. My autism, my ADHD, and my learning disabilities just might be my superpowers. When I say, "miswired me," what I'm saying is that THE WORLD is miswired for me and my brain.

Welcome! If any of this resonates with you, please dive in, explore, or even subscribe for free updates by email when I write and post new content. Either way, I’m so glad you’re here.

—Steve Wharton, Bellingham, WA

P.S. - Please be kind to yourself.