#Atypical autism

[nonbinary-cyber-outlaw]

I’m like two thirds through season 6 of criminal minds and the fact that I’ve seen a lot of people online genuinely saying that Spencer Reid is totally not autistic is insane. Like in the first season it already felt obvious but I could get why someone wouldn’t see that but this entire season like every episode has at least one scene that starts with him straight up just ranting at someone about a random topic he’s interested in and them clearly not paying attention at all. Also I know the sunglasses migraine thing is cause the writers thought Matthew Gray Gubler was maybe gonna quit so they were setting up a storyline of him developing schizophrenia and having to quit the bureau but I have atypical autism and I wear sunglasses constantly cause the lights are annoying. Spencer Reid is a hot autistic guy and anyone that claims he isn’t is lying to themselves

[httyddragonfox]

Claudia's Autism

It's confirmed that Claudia is autistic as well. Let's get into this:

Obviously high functioning, probably atypical.

Her fixation probably being on magic, more specifically dark magic. She keeps trying to convince Callum it's good.

Her fixed mindset: True Family sticks together, and does anything for each other, no matter how dangerous or vile.

However, being Autistic doesn't make you good, and it doesn't justify your actions.

My brother almost wants to spend no time with his family and is a bit rude to others. We can't ignore that. I'm a bit petty with my intolerance for jewelry, and I can accept I can't force my views on other people. My cousin my be a tad autistic but at least she keeps connections with her family open.

Even Claudia can accept her acceptance of Dark magic might be a problem with how she sees a kitten for parts.

However, her fixations might drive her to do horrible things even to her previous friends or brother. Leola was autistic and still only wanted to be kind to others.

Sometimes people use autism in order to be forgiven for their actions no matter how horrible. Autism means some things are hard to grasp, but that doesn't mean you can treat people however you wish.

[sunspira]

Im laying my bets now. the entire idea that autism (and adhd) is more common in men and boys is pure myth created by poor science, backwards statistics and faulty parameters of the condition itself. in another 50 years we will understand it was never a gendered condition. just a highly gendered and biased measurement system. i'm absurdly confident on that

the rates of autism in girls is "rising" exponentially. it is rising even more exponentially in girls than in boys. not because girls are becoming more autistic. but because the "science" is just getting better at measuring and accurately acknowledging autism in girls.

autism often does present differently in girls, due to how girls are raised or personality differences. the literature and criteria was based on boy sample groups. the entire research data was done on white men as if that is a standard default person and control group.

not only that, doctors and teachers and parents literally were not looking for it in girls under the false widely propagated belief it was rare in women in girls. it is a self fulfilling prophecy. that's not science.

we will soon have to reckon with the lost generations of autistic girls and women and children assigned female at birth* who never got diagnosis and early intervention. we should be forcing the world to reckon with it right now. a great deal of autistic millennial women are brilliant minds who dropped out of STEM and the workforce due to their untreated and misidentified disability overtaking their life. the impact of never Knowing you or your child is autistic or adhd is difficult to comprehend for autistic and adhd people who did get diagnosed as children. even when the awareness and interventions were unhelpful or harmful. the harm of not knowing means the child trying even harder to become neurotypical and a level of autistic burnout few others on the spectrum can comprehend, often taking place after the woman is a legal adult, and there are no legal protections in place for this disabled person.

the unmitigated stress of being developmentally delayed and never knowing it, simply hating and blaming yourself and fighting day in and out past your limits to become neurotypical, limits your don't know you should have because you have never been so much as briefed on what adhd or autism can feel like. you don't know the distres and tiredness you're feeling is "dysregulation". this is why we see women in nervous breakdowns. psychiatric wards. treatment resistant depression. electric shock therapy. hard drug addiction. cutting. homelessness. personality disorders. dissociation. psychosis. early death by accident or suicide. (obviously people who are not autistic or adhd have these illnesses but my point is untold and disproportionate numbers of them are undiagnosed neurodivergent with unprocessed trauma. i'm telling you. more than you think).

it's why we see young people on tiktok not faking DID per say, but describing a dissociated experiences and fractured sense of self and escapist alternate personalities, a mental illness that has much less in common with traditional DID, but has much in common with struggling and under-treated autistic people. DID is a very rare condition. autism is very common. autism can create out of body experiences and self protective blurring of reality and fantasy so extreme, no person can be expected to understand it is autism if they never been advised about their own disability and the knowledge that should he available to them. it's no wonder we have people with mislabeled rare disorders like DID who are clearly very sick but instead of showing real DID signs, are sick with all the signs of severe unassisted autism they have been completely barred from understanding or coping with in any other way. for those lucky enough, we see unemployed young women with severe chronic pain in their 20s and 30s who look and feel like they're elderly and gave up their dreams when they hit 21 or 25 and their brains stopped working and their bodies shut down. now they mostly scroll tumblr and tiktok and try to remember to open the blinds. they have a roof but people scorn them for entitled laziness and worst of all derided for "self diagnosing".

again i'm asking why CFS chronic fatigue syndrome is so responsive to adderall. i'm asking why professionals are reluctant to test women for adhd if she does well in school because she is very bookish and why experts in the field are openly amused and doubtful to test a woman for autism if she has a long term boyfriend. why is ability to mask or function a disqualification. why is inability to function in women, who later turn out to be autistic or adhd, so aggressively mischaracterized as BPD, bipolar, depression, OCD, schizophrenia. why is autism and adhd clinically diagnosed and defined by distress and dysfunction and not by intrinsic traits and qualities that present while still functional for preventative care. why are all people, men and women forced to wait until their lives and minds are deteriorating and they have experienced some irreversible disasters and pain before they can be diagnosed. why must girls and boys wait until their daily life as children have become unbearable hell for them before their disability can be treated and acknowledged. and if these policies are changing now, why are doctors and psychiatrists not eagerly and urgently reaching out to find the vulnerable adults they missed during more archaic screening methods. we aren't rising in adhd diagnosis because of tiktok you assholes. adult onset adhd and autism don't exist. those people were always adhd. adult onset skill regression and increase in severity due to stress DOES happen in adulthood. modern day stresses like loss of structure during the pandemic and social media is advancing to become more attention span draining. everyone is feeling the effects but these are causing adhd and autistic people to cope less and mask less effectively so they are running into significant problems, their loved ones are noticing, they are getting referrals and suddenly forced to google their rapidly worsening mental issues for the first time and seeing they line up with a known neurological condition . this is obvious. doctors blaming it on some sort of trend are being willfully clueless

*because autism especially is screened identified diagnosed and first intervened ages 2-5, before a child has an internal concept of self or gender and above all before they can express their gender, diagnostic practices and criteria are based on how adults perceive a child via birth assignments. and the studies are overwhelmingly beholden to data only on children assigned male at birth, rarely accounting for their actual future gender either. as part of the warped science insisting that autism is as if somehow linked to the y chromosome and not a universally likely human quality, you see amab kids laser focused on as candidates and afab kids fucked over most of all. all children assigned female have the worst chances of their developmental disability being identified and acknowledged in a timely manner and disproportionately experience late diagnosis in later adolescence or adulthood. tho i wouldn't be surprised if trans womens rates of accurate diagnosis is lower than cis men. as trans girls may present autism differently and characteristic of girls autism, even while still in the closet or before she knows she is trans. regardless adults are very vigilant for signs of autism, even atypical ones, in any child they perceive as a boy. so any millennial or gen z child identified female at birth had significantly worse chance at receiving autistic support compared to peers

in particular women assigned male at birth might have a better chance at being identified for types of autism that are often labeled "high functioning", involves high masking, and often receives few services. these more invisible types of autism often need to be diagnosed before age 5 in order to qualify under the criteria at all. and so in the days where autism was believed to be 20x more common in the genetics of xy children, any chance of being considered and diagnosed would come down to almost purely birth assignment dependent. with the less outwardly visible types of autism, a person who misses this window will remain autistic all their life but once they learn a certain level of skills and masking, no matter how late they learn these, the person will no longer qualify for diagnosis, either not until they have a nervous breakdown or possibly not ever qualify. it's this type of more hidden autism we see struggling across the board as undiagnosed adults including both trans and cis women especially, tho we are seeing it disproportionately even more so in undiagnosed afabs of any gender. who are dropping out of schooling and work and succumbing to severe mental illnesses during what should be the prime of their lives. overall tho birth assignment is not everything this is an issue that disproportionately impacts cis women. trans women. trans men. non-binary people. likely doubling for those that are afab. and then tripling and quadrupling for children who are not white.

bit of an understatement in that last part there. gender likely isn't even the biggest barrier to proper diagnosis and treatment. probably race is even more so. but since gender is such a big disparity in itself across race and one i relate to and can speak on from experience ive focused on it here. a more in-depth look is needed on the neglect of adhd and autistic children of color especially black native and latino kids. but for now do keep in mind the points i'm making increase exponentially for kids who aren't white across all genders including cis boys

[nympho-scene-boy]

Are you good at math?

I HAD A 1+/A+/BEST GRADE IN MY FINAL GRADUATION YEARS ON THE HIGHEST DIFFICULTY LEVEL.

I'm autistic and math makes sense.

[autistic-earth-genasi]

I know I have atypical autism and mask heavily and every autistic person is different but every time I’m around an autistic person with more “typical” and obvious traits I’m just like clearly I’m a fraud, this is the only way autism can look

[mirrmirrmurr]

Just remember, when you think all is lost, the future remains.

[transgendercastiel]

I feel so bad whenever someone mentions that their favourite autistic rep is like. Sam from atypical or sheldon from the Big Bang theory. we need to get you some autistic characters who aren’t treated like shit by their friends STAT

[autismcultureis]

Autism/adhd culture is having the urge to bite people you love

.

[saltandfire-blog]

So I’ve been wrestling back and forth about this scene.

I really wanted it to be like it was in Fire and Blood, so I feel let down.

But! I feel like people may want to attack Phia Saban because they didn’t get the Helaena we were expecting. Yes was is strange not to see her begging and offer herself instead of her son like she did in the book, though we need to consider we weren’t given many details about Helaena and have been presented a character on the show that seems to have atypical traits. I am particularly tenderhearted towards her character because I myself have a child on the spectrum, so I thought I might try to offer some insight on Helaena’s reaction.

Not everyone has that flight or fight reaction when there’s is danger. Especially for those on the spectrum and special needs. To “freeze” is a very real thing that happens to people. It honestly reminded me of the story about Kyle Valesquez from Columbine, a boy who everyone noted was very smart with computers, but was one of the first people in the school’s library who was shot because he was confused and didn’t understand how to react to the two shooters when everyone else was hiding and running. Of course special needs is a broad spectrum and these two aren’t the same, I’d just like to point out before we judge SO harshly about Phia Saban’s performance, remember the audience she is also representing. I’ve heard her called hurtful things that have nothing to do with the bad writing that went into that scene. From my experience with children and adults on the spectrum and watching her processing and reacting to what’s happening, her acting is actually amazing and I genuinely applaud her.

[httyddragonfox]

Leola's Autism

it was confirmed that Leola was autistic. Autism is a spectrum, and seeing as autism is prevalent around me, I'm going to attempt to analyze hers.

My brother is autistic, but also has a learning disability. Meanwhile, I may be atypical autistic. I've also been to autism walks.

My brother likes to jump in place and kick out his legs at times. I stim on what's in my pockets (a smooth button, and a ball of colorful thread) and occasionally I flap 1 of my hands.

Autism you like to fixate on something, my brother it's large animals, for me it's storytelling.

We are both sensitive to loud (in my case also sharp) noises. My brother would occasionally sort beads, movies, his Figurines, etc. When I was younger I arranged all the picture books in front of me, to see and feel them all, I also sorted my fake food into groups, my lego into colors, my barbie objects into groups.

Details need to be exact, my brother (thanks to his learning disability) a fact is a fact, an opinion is an opinion, and it never changes. For me, things have to be done a certain way. If someone gets a detail wrong for something I like I get upset, and if something isn't done how I usually do it I get irritated (applying to protocols at work).

There's also when we get overwhelmed. I have an anxiety disorder, so normally when I'm very stressed I can't breathe and I clench up. My brother when gets frustrated or stressed he folds his ear. I feel calm when i muffle my ears.

There's a difference between high and low functioning autism, as well as male and female autism. I'm high functioning, but my brother has a learning disability. I've seen lower functioning autistics who can hardly talk, and higher functioning ones who choose not to.

I'm sensitive to certain things touching my skin, and I'm not sure about my brother. I don't like jewelry at all, meanwhile my brother seems to not like tight clothes or hair on his limbs. He prefers sandals, but wears boots when he feels he should.

That's all I know about Autism. There's Leola...

She had many friends, which is not easy for autistic people to forge bonds. However, she is female autistic, and they are more in tuned with their right brains (feelings and creativity), hence why my focus is storytellingand my cousin's is art. Girls are prone to be more emotional beings, so that might explain why she is so loving and accepting.

My brother only takes hugs because he was conditioned to be okay with them, meanwhile I love hugs. Which is probably why Leola sought physical comfort.

If I had to guess, Leola is a standard autistic, not atypical. She was also feminine autistic, so she's not closed off. Her focus maybe was on the stones of magic. When it comes to what we fixate on, we tell everyone we can about it. My brother loves spouting facts on large animals, I love sharing knowledge of stories as well as my own with others, so if her focus was the primal stones and how they connect to magic, of course she'd share it with humans. She'd want to share it with everyone.

[moonssugar]

we gotta talk about the intrinsic hatred neurotypicals have for neurodivergent people particularly when they dont know theyre neurodivergent but automatically know they hate something about them. and also how they acquire that hatred so quickly during childhood and now that hatred grows when the neurodivergent person has other attributes society hates

[nympho-scene-boy]

What would happen if you have an autistic character who has a special interest in weapons and making explosives who helps out the protagonist acting like a traveling companion during the apocalypse? The autism character doesn't have long lasting relationships due to being abused or used as they have anger issues along with being cynical about it. Those anger issues can get them into trouble which can lead to fights. Is it too offensive?

Anger issues are very common with autistic people AND abused people.

Portraying the ugly and not- uwwu victim side of trauma is not offensive. Its just reality.

[smile-files]

i kinda ship 4x romantically but i kinda don't? they're squishy creatures that love playing together and being near each other... in my eyes they're queerplatonic and romantic at the same time if that makes sense. either way they definitely love each other!!!

[snailurefailure]

Fandoms stop patronizing the autistic character challenge [IMPOSSIBLE]

[mirrmirrmurr]

Autism combinded with bpd and cptsd traits that aren't often talked about unusual posture when standing or sitting. Mimicking facial expressions of others especially from a TV show. Having to process people's words after they said something so you pause for a few moments. Auditory processing issues. Black and white thinking. Having a hard time understanding people's facial expressions. Walking on your tip toes or sitting on your feet/legs. Thinking in pictures. Inventing your own words or language. Unknowingly asking inappropriate questions. Not understanding the space you occupy/ running into things. Making lists and schedules for EVERYTHING. Hard time keeping track of time. Good long term memory, recalling details others can't. Not understanding dry humor or sarcasm. Very high or low pain tolerance and not to forget the fucking waves with overthinking!