Finding HopeToo Much And Not Enough, Vol. 1 – Out Now!
Posted on February 28, 2026
“This EP isn’t just music; it’s connection, validation, and advocacy wrapped in melody.” (x)
My proudest achievement of 2025 was releasing new music: two singles and an EP! Having not released a project since my Honest EP in 2020 (although I later released the acoustic version in 2021), I’ve been so desperate to release more music but health stuff got in the way and it took a long time to get back to a place where I was even close to capable of managing the stress of putting out a new project (and stressful it was). Given everything that happened between late June and December, I didn’t have the headspace, the physical ability, the time, or any combination of the three to write about it properly. But I didn’t want to skip it because it is so important to me and to the last year so – finally – here is the post about my recent EP, Too Much And Not Enough, Vol. 1. This is – hopefully – the first in a series about my experiences of being autistic, inspired by how lonely and isolating it was to grow up, never seeing or hearing my life represented in books, film, TV, music, and so on. It’s taken a long time to feel ready to take on a project like this but now that I am, I know without a doubt that this is the art that I’m meant to be making.
“What makes Too Much And Not Enough, Vol. 1 powerful is its dual role as personal diary and shared lifeline. Hooper writes for her younger self, for others navigating similar realities, and for those who may be hearing these experiences articulated for the first time. The result is a project that doesn’t just speak – it listens back, offering connection in a world that often overlooks the voices that need to be heard most.” (x)
The Loneliest Whale – Out Now!
Posted on April 24, 2025
NOTE: Spoilers for the documentary, The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52.
If you follow me on any of my social media accounts, you will likely already know that my new single, ‘The Loneliest Whale,’ is officially OUT! I love this song so much and I’m so excited for you all to hear it – it is, without a doubt, one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written.
If you’re a regular on my blog, you will probably have read the posts about ‘Write This Out‘ and ‘In The Mourning,’ the two singles that I released prior to this one. ‘The Loneliest Whale’ is the first official single of my upcoming EP but the earlier songs felt really important in establishing the foundations of this new project. Plus it meant I could release more music with the EP.
I wrote this song with an amazing artist and songwriter, lukeistired, who I went to university with. It was the summer of 2021 and our course had remained online up to this point and, finally able to work onsite again, we booked a practice room and started writing this song. We made a solid start and I later finished it by myself before working on the production with my long time collaborator, Richard Marc. It was then beautifully mixed and mastered by Josh Fielden.
Photographer: Thomas Oscar Miles // Cover Design: Richard Sanderson
The song, unsurprisingly, uses the story of The Loneliest Whale as a metaphor for the loneliness that can often come with being autistic. This whale calls at a frequency much higher than other whales (it’s believed to be a hybrid) and while other whales can hear it they can’t understand it; they can’t communicate. That was something that I desperately related to, both before and after I was diagnosed as autistic. I’ve always felt like I’m on a different, more difficult to access frequency, so I’ve had this story in the back of my mind for a really, really long time.
When I sat down to start writing songs for this project, I knew this was a story that I wanted to write a song about. Although I knew the story well, I wanted to make sure I had all of my facts right and so I started researching. But what I didn’t expect to find was just how many individuals and communities also related to this whale, how many people have made art about this whale… I was so inspired. I’d expected the song to be a lonely, melancholy one but this changed the emotional direction: the loneliness and isolation is still there but there’s also hope. It’s a much more uplifting song than I’d ever imagined it would be.
The one obvious source of research that I avoided was Joshua Zeman’s documentary, The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52. It was a documentary that I was really excited to see but I knew that, if they did find the whale during the documentary, I would never be able to write the song I was so inspired to write. So I decided that I’d watch it after the song was finished and then, if there was anything I wanted to change about the song, I could but I could also leave it as it was.
The documentary is great and I highly recommend it (although major trigger warnings for gruesome scenes of whaling – I’m not convinced that that level of blood and violence was necessary to make the point but that’s just my personal opinion): it manages to perfectly balance the story and mythology of the whale with the physical search and all of the science involved. And while they didn’t find the whale, they do manage to record two separate whale calls at this same frequency, close together but far enough apart that they had to belong to two separate whales. So there are two of them: two 52Hz whales. The Loneliest Whale no longer needs to be lonely. I was so moved by this discovery: just as the whale is no longer lonely, neither am I.
I am so excited to finally have this song out in the world. As I said, it is one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written and I think it’s the song that I’ve had most people reach out to me about, after playing it live or sharing snippets of it here and there. It seems to really resonate with people and that is so, so special. At the heart of it all, that’s what I want for my music; all I want is for people to feel seen and heard and understood when they listen to it.
Autism Tattoo Ideas
Posted on April 1, 2022
I have been thinking about and wanting to get a tattoo representing my Autism for a really long time now. There is a tattoo I want to get first because the symbolism is important to me but being autistic is such an important part of my identity and I would, at some point, like to get a tattoo to commemorate that. But figuring out what the right one is is taking a while and a lot of thought.
In my search for inspiration, I’ve now seen a lot of different tattoos representing Autism and I thought I’d share what I’ve found as well as some of my own ideas…
I’ve done a lot of searching and as far as I can see, most people go with the obvious symbols…
Puzzle Pieces:
The puzzle piece is definitely the most well known symbol associated with Autism, having been used by Autism charities and organisations for decades. As far as I can tell, most autistic people feel that the puzzle piece symbol is, at best, problematic and, at worst, offensive in that it symbolises something missing, symbolises autistic individuals as being less than neurotypical individuals. But despite this negative view, most of the tattoos I’ve found online involve the puzzle piece in some way.
Top left (x), top right (x), bottom centre (x)
As I said in my post about symbols associated with Autism: “Personally, I don’t hate it as a symbol. To me, the puzzle piece doesn’t represent something that’s missing; it represents the idea that we’re all puzzles and we wouldn’t be complete without every single thing that makes us who we are. We’re mosaics and we are who we are because of each piece that builds up the picture. I know many people feel that Autism isn’t just one piece and I agree but my point is that I don’t see the puzzle piece as something missing but as something fundamental. So I don’t hate it but I think it’s history – it’s original meaning – is too entrenched in society’s consciousness to ever really be changed. I doubt it could ever be a purely positive symbol at this point.” Personally, I wouldn’t choose it for a tattoo that represents my experience of Autism.
Infinity Symbols:
I’ve also seen infinity symbols come up a lot in the symbolism around Autism…
(x)
I understand why people like the infinity symbol and while there are some gorgeous tattoos out there (like this one), it just doesn’t really resonate with me as a symbol for Autism since it relates to so many other things. It doesn’t specifically represent Autism to me and that’s what I need this tattoo to do.
Rainbows:
Some people use rainbows to represent Autism, most likely a reference to the Autism ‘spectrum’…
(x)
While this is my preferred of the common Autism imagery, it feels too close to the LGBT+ rainbow flag. I’m queer and so I wouldn’t feel like I was appropriating the imagery but there’s a reason why these identities and causes have their own colours, right? Being LGBT+ and/or being autistic are both really important parts of who we are and I think, by using the same colours for these two identities, there’s potential for confusion when that’s the opposite of the point of these identifying colours and symbols. Maybe I’m overthinking it but it doesn’t feel like enough if it could be mistaken for something else.
Combinations of the Three:
Most of the tattoos I’ve come across involve at least two, if not all three, of these…
Left (x), centre (x), and right (x)
Some of them are really beautiful but none of them feel right and, for me, being autistic is so much about feeling that it has to feel right – beyond the idea that, if you’re going to have something on your body for the rest of your life, you’re going to want it to feel right.
Takiwātanga:
‘Takiwātanga’ is the Maori word for Autism and translates as ‘in their own time and space.’ This seems to be increasingly popular, I imagine because of the feeling of acceptance it evokes.
I really like the sentiment and I’ve seen some stunning tattoos that incorporate the word, the two above included, but I’m not sure it’s right for me. As much as I loved the parts of New Zealand I’ve visited – I think it’s the country I’ve felt most at home in – I’m not sure a word is what I want or what feels right for this tattoo when, so often, being autistic feels so difficult to describe.
More Unusual Ideas:
While the previous images and symbolism seem to be the most common, I have seen other beautifully creative ways of representing Autism…
To me at least, these tattoos seem more like the individual’s representation of Autism or something symbolic of it and I guess that’s what I’m looking for: my personal symbol or imagery representing my experience of being autistic. I just haven’t found it yet.
Ideas I’m Thinking About:
There are a handful of ideas that I keep coming back to so I thought I’d include those as well, just in case they resonate with anyone else. None of these images are exactly what I’d choose but they do illustrate the general ideas I have.
Circle of Three
The Circle of Three is a symbol for Autism created by Lori Shayew and Kelly Green to represent the different aspects that make up each individual person: “In light of the recent news that the rainbow is not an arc, but a circle. (Thanks for the proof NASA) It’s time to recreate the new model. Colours of the rainbow weaving in motion. We are recognised for all of our colours… It’s time to break down the spectrum (low-mod-high) and allow our innate gifts to bloom and flourish. Don’t we all excel at some things, but not in others? No big deal. We can jump from yellow to red to indigo to green and back again. Maybe then there are no colours, only light.”
(x)
I really like this as a similar but distinct variation of the rainbow and the way that it can be personalised according to each person: all you have to do is assign colours to different areas of your life – as you feel comfortable doing so – and then interweave them in a way that best represents you as a person.
A Whale
A long time ago, before I was diagnosed as autistic, I read the story of The Loneliest Whale – a whale who’s call is indistinguishable to other whales – and I’ve never forgotten it. I related to it at some level and that connection I felt has never gone away. I want to write more about this whale and how multiple communities have felt a connection to it and found solace in the story but now’s not really the time.
I’m not sure the whale alone would be enough to represent my being autistic but for me, that connection is there so it wouldn’t surprise me if the image of a whale found its way into my Autism tattoo.
The Use of the Rainbow or Colour Spectrum
Light and colour are important to me and to my perception of the world, particularly my perception of music, which is possibly the most important thing to me. So, the inclusion of a rainbow or spectrum of colour isn’t out of the question. I’m just not sure how.
Space
Being autistic, I feel so incredibly sensitive to the world around me. Sometimes it feels like I can feel the waves and particles in the air, the vibrations of every thing, the world turning, the frequencies of stars… It’s like all of my senses have been calibrated to be extra sensitive, too sensitive. And for some reason, that makes me feel weirdly connected to space and to stars. So the presence of these in a tattoo representing Autism would make sense to me.
Again, like the whale idea, it couldn’t exist on it’s own but I can imagine it as part of something bigger, although I wouldn’t want it to be a huge tattoo.
A Combination?
At this moment in time, the idea that feels most comfortable – feels most representative of my experience of being autistic – is something like this…
Something along the lines of these tattoos, but that involves some of the elements I’ve talked about or even all of them, is what I’m thinking about currently. But as I’ve said, I want to get it right so I’m taking my time to think through every detail and make sure I’m sure.
Getting a tattoo is not going to be an easy thing for me. I’m sensitive; sensory information is always loud for me. The sound won’t be easy. The pain won’t be easy (I’m sensitive to it but not afraid of it). The ongoing anxiety around COVID won’t be easy. So, yeah, it won’t exactly be fun. That’s part of the reason I want to get a smaller, simpler one first. But this is important to me so I am going to make it happen.
Do any of you guys have tattoos that represent being autistic? Being neurodivergent? I’d love to see them!
Finding Hope 