Now that I have the energy and time to comb through this article, to give it the due it deserves, I want to begin by saying something a bit general. I like how you didn’t begin with the uncomfortable truth as you’re about to explain here (I’m responding as I read, so I can tell what’s coming).

Instead, you started with a softer approach by sharing what attending an Out of the Darkness Walk, a nationally renowned event, was like. That was a brilliant strategy to draw in readers by using the ease of something many might otherwise be spooked by. As an autistic, all too often I jump right in and tell it like it is. That isn’t always the best tact.

As a writer now, your approach was, in my humble opinion, soft, casual, and effective.