Hello. My name is Rebecca Finch Vitsmun. I’m an autistic author from Lafayette, Louisiana living with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), co-morbid conditions, and Congenital Stationary Night Blindness (CSNB from a mutation at the SLC24a1).
I have a significant impairment in interoception and had a broken bone in the middle of my head for 35 years; I just thought bone on bone pain was what it felt like to have a head.
I tested at a 5th grade level in Kindergarten and was placed into the Gifted program. In high school, I lettered in math, two mental health professionals later labeled me a “savant” in physics, I received a Sandy Nininger Medal, was in 11 clubs and an officer of 6, and co-hosted and was crew for Shut Up and Watch, a television show on Acadiana Open Channel.
I graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with Honors curriculum in 2005 with a Bachelor of General of Studies (B.G.S.) in Arts and Humanities. I chose this path to create a degree in Humanities coursework; the focus of my studies was comparative religion under Ian Kinsella. I was nominated and inducted into Phi Beta Delta, an Honor Society for International Scholars, by John “Jack” Ferstel for distinguishing myself academically in English. I started math in Calculus III and Differential Equations, have minors in English and Math, and was the videographer for the improv troupe Cult of the Stage Monkey.
In 2015, I was the recipient of the Humanist Visionary Award through Foundation Beyond Belief for envisioning the first national humanist disaster recovery volunteer program, Humanist Disaster Recovery Teams, as well as the Atheist Impact Award recipient in 2016 through Atheist Community of Austin for developing and running that program (later renamed Disaster Resilience Teams and run by GO Humanity). I’m the Secretary of the Board for LymeTV, lobby with Center for Lyme Action, volunteer through many local organizations, and earned my Washington State Emergency Worker card through FEMA.
While I am a humanist, embracing people of all religious and cultural backgrounds, I’m most well-known for “outing” myself as an atheist to Wolf Blitzer after a tornado destroyed my home in Moore, OK in 2013. This exchange has been covered in many works, including Wendy Thomas Russell citing me as an example of a paradigm shift on the first page of “Relax, It’s Just God.” Comedian Doug Stanhope raised money for my family that we used to leave Oklahoma. A t-shirt with my quote sold in 20 countries. In 2024, I revealed I used physics to escape the tornado.
My humanistic atheism is agnostic, meaning I don’t claim to know. While I recognize there are things that are unimaginable in the context of being beyond human comprehension, I have no way to personify the unimaginable. Personification is, by definition, imagination. I can’t get around that; I’d be lying.
I have friends and family who are believers and they’re wonderful and have kindness in their hearts.
The line for me is having hate in your heart, though I hope those carrying wounds like that heal.
I believe truth and boundaries are important for healing. I believe accountability is necessary for growth. I worry about the internal pain I believe would come from remaining in the stage of grief called denial for a prolonged period. I dream of a world where “prisons” are mental health hospitals, and the patients are treated with the care they need and did not receive as children. I dream of a world where Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is taught in high schools.
I was the author and artistic designer for Eliza Dee’s Universes in 2022. I hired illustrator Victoria Mikki, because I believed her art style could align with the pictures that were in my head of a child who experiences autistic hyperphantasia. She’s a brilliant artist and I’m forever grateful to her for bringing my vision to life. I created the supplemental material for this book on February 29, 2024. On July 12, 2024, I put out the science education promo for the book, “Where science ends, imagination begins.“
My autistic special interests are psychology, health, law, and parenting, and previously weather, math, film, religion, and disasterology. Due to my experience of autistic hyperphantasia, I have access to significant amounts of memory.
I have a history of strange stories. Example: I had a humanizing experience with a man who was carjacking me at gunpoint. I’ll try to compile a list at some point.
In 2019, I created this list of human needs that I use to help myself and others with communication after spending 3 years hyper-focused on feelings and needs (through my psychology interest) and self-care sheets to improve my daily routines.
I live in Tacoma, WA with my partner, five children, two cats, and leopard gecko.
I’m a stay-at-home mom.
Before writing this section, I hadn’t shared most of this information publicly. Some, I hadn’t even shared privately. My partner said it’s okay to say what you’ve done in life, but it makes me uncomfortable to talk about myself. I typically talk about my special interests, not myself. But I determined he was right and ended up writing things even he didn’t know. We’ve been together for 8 years.