#Asd

[eternalking-cabbage-dragon]

I generally alternate between rage and 404

Diagrams are helpful to me

[bipolarmango]

My doctor and therapist: now with this autism + ADHD diagnosis you need to learn to unmask because masking all the time will make you burn out again and feel like shit

Other people: well it's just interesting how after getting the diagnosis you suddenly start behaving like that I mean I'm not saying you're faking it's just funny how you suddenly cannot be normal like you were before

[noodle-shenaniganery]

I hate how often some (typically abled) people will go “well, if you can’t [get a specific support], then what?” when it comes to disabilities. As if it’s a “gotcha” moment. And then act like you’re exaggerating when you answer that question honestly.

Disabled people often die from a lack of support. A lot of disability aids are not a luxury, but a basic need in order to live.

“Well what happens if—” people die. People hurt themselves. People hurt others. Disabled people don’t magically become abled if our needs aren’t met.

If a bedbound quadriplegic is caught in a housefire, and there’s nobody there to save them, they’ll probably die. They won’t magically become able-bodied out of sheer will.

If a nonspeaking/nonverbal autistic is denied access to alternative methods of communication, they’ll suffer in silence. They won’t spontaneously become capable of speech.

Disabled people are disabled all the time. Our disabilities don’t go away just because they’re inconvenient, or if we’re in danger.

[crazycatsiren]

No no you don't understand! I want to watch this show/movie, read this book, listen to this podcast, etc.! But I must be in the right mindset and the exact head space to begin, or I just can't!

[mikamagicalbox]

I'm so tired of all the unemployed jokes

Can we stop using "still lives with their parents" or "unemployed" or "doesn't have a drivers license" or "didn't graduate high school" as an insult or evidence that someone is a bad person? Struggling with independence or meeting milestones is not a moral failing.

[the-future-is-chrome]

the neurodivergent experience:

20% of the time: wowwieee!!! i love my passions and interests!!!!! they make me so happy i want to jump up and down!!!!! weee!!!!!!! :3333333333

80% of the time: this mind is a prison

[euclidean-viridian]

Long discussion about emotional intelligence incoming:

Actually the emotionally intelligent response to an apology is always "Thanks." (Or thank you)

What people are running into here is the concept of "distancing language". For the people in the notes discussing this: The first person saying just "sorry" is leaving out a personal accountability pronoun. Who's sorry? We don't know, they're not owning it. It's distancing. (Obviously this is subtext, the context tells us who. We're not being literal. We're talking emotional subtext, fellas.) When showing empathy, one has to take responsibility for another person's feelings, just for a moment. It's how we feel them as our own. We take them into ourselves and respond how we would want to be responded to. This is why "owning" the sorry is important.

The second person's response is a rejection of the first person's implied accountability. Despite the first person technically not owning it, the second person responded as if they did. "Don't apologize." They are saying, in effect, they don't want your empathy. It's a rejection and therefore distancing from the emotional subtext of the conversation.

Before anyone says this is "just" annoyance, annoyance is a secondary emotion. It's an expression of anger, at its basic form, yeah? Anger is a response to an underlying emotion such as fear or sadness. In this case, it's the fear of emotional intimacy.

This is not how we have empathetic conversations, folks. :3 Hope this helps! (No but really, I hope this made sense to someone. It's taken me (autistic) many conversations with my emotionally intelligent partner to figure all this out.)

i actually get a bit annoyed with people who get a bit annoyed when people say “sorry” in response to their bad news. “why are you apologizing you didn’t do anything :/” like okay well a) you don’t know that and actually yes i am the secret architect of all your woes and have been this whole time, way to refuse to acknowledge a woman (gender neutral)’s accomplishments. and b) we’re both fluent english speakers so you know perfectly well that “sorry” isn’t always an apology and is very commonly used as an expression of general regret or sympathy. not in this case, because i have been your secret nemesis for years, meticulously plotting your every misery, but, like, in general

[mysterioussinkhole]

Hey just a general PSA from someone officially diagnosed and documented:

Now is not the time to seek out an autism diagnosis.

RFK's plans have been made very clear and any diagnosis you do get will get you put on this "national disease registry" they're proposing.

Trust me when I say I completely understand the need for accommodations and a better understanding of yourself, but if you have gone this long without being diagnosed, you will be better off waiting.

Furthermore, listen to and advocate for folks who are diagnosed, especially folks with higher support needs. They'll be the first ones targeted for whatever bullshit "experimental treatments" the government tries to push.

Stay safe and look out for your neighbor.

[snakeautistic]

One of the weirder parts of being unaware I was autistic for me was that I simultaneously felt different and isolated from other people, and like I had to mask all the time, but I also assumed other people had similar innerworkings and just hid it better than me.

So like l'd come out of an interaction with a socialable NT and think like. Damn. They're a lot better at remembering to make expressions than me, I need to do better.

[do-u-know-this-autisticcharacter]

Do You Know This (canon) Autistic Character?

Propaganda:

He struggles to relate to others - both Vulcans and Humans. He struggles to process and understand his emotions. He likes logic, math, numbers, and concrete answers and becomes confused or frustrated by emotional reactions. Vulcans, including Spock, canonically have sensitive smell and hearing. Many fans consider him canonically autistic and find representation in him.

Any other details:

I was very surprised he hadn't been submitted yet! Don't mind me, I'm just going to go through now and submit a lot of my favorite characters I find representation in!

[getjinxzed]

did any other autistic people experience this type of....... "bullying"? (doesn't feel right to call it that but im not sure what else to call it) in school where people would be.. ""nice"" to you and say hi to you in the hallway and compliment you but in a way where.. you just know that they're only doing it to make fun of you because you can just tell by their demeanor and the type of person they are subtly making fun of you because they think you're weird? it makes me feel crazy cause they aren't overtly doing anything mean but i can just.... tell. but i hated it because i couldn't tell them to fuck off because then it's like "oh wtf is ur problem im just saying hi" when like. yeah i know you're not, you're literally making fun of me i CAN TELL ive learnt to be able to pick that up i always know but then im the problem if i react to it harshly??? did this happen to anyone else or am i crazy

[dead-core]

i just need to have more rules for myself. more rules and limits. surely that will help me

[aw-tysm]

"All autistics have low empathy" - This statement is wrong.

"Autistics having low empathy is a MYTH, we actually have HIGH empathy!" - This statement is ALSO wrong.

Autistics can have low empathy, they can have high empathy, they can have learned empathy. The myth would be that all autistics only experience one end of the empathy spectrum.

In spreading around misinformation that autistics actually have high empathy, you are disregarding the autistics who do have low empathy. And vice versa.

[wanderingmind867]

You want a fun fact? They still make noise next door. But they only do it when we don't have company over. Which (in a way) only makes us look crazier for hearing it. But when they shake the walls, they really shake them. It almost rattles. I have a headache. All I need is the wall rattling.

Not like my maternal grandfather is any better. He can't hear, but he won't get hearing aids. Instead, he just loves keeping the TV at 30 or 40 degrees of volume. With a headache, I really don't need that.

For the past four or five years we've had horrible, horrible next door neighbours. Their son bangs and rattles our shared wall, he swings on concrete outside, and he wails like a maniac whenever he's outside playing. Now that he's an older kid, it sounds like a goddamn murder scene next door! Also, my dad apparently caught him peeing outside one time. And he leaves his stuff all over our lawn, and used to throw his things over the fence into our yard. I can't stress enough: the kid is pretty much a menace, and yet his family and/or the authorities have done nothing. So we've had to put up with excessive noise for years.

Years ago, we tried to complain, but apparently we could never get anything done because this kid is autistic too. Which he may be, but he's a public disturbance who makes me suffer from noise problems! Also, my parents always dreaded complaining about them, because they were middle eastern and it looks to an outside perspective like we're just a white family mad at a middle eastern family. But that has nothing to do with my family's problems with them! It's all about the noise! They're just so, so loud!