#autism

[autiebiographical]

You're not "too sensitive" for getting upset when someone purposely upsets you. It's not "just a joke". They know what they're doing. They're just hiding their bullying behind the label of joking so they can play innocent.

[zebulontheplanet]

I get confused a lot. I think other people get confused too.

Talk about visible autism sometimes, talk about being visibly disabled. But when talk about it, always get low support needs people saying “yeah, I stim and people notice and stare at me. I’m visibly autistic sometimes”

And don’t think they understand when I say visibly autistic or developmentally disabled. Yes, know that sometimes “visibly autistic” isn’t black and white. Some people do get marked as visibly autistic just for stimming a bit.

But when I talk about visible autism, don’t talk about that. And it can be frustrating. Feels like people talking over me. Just want to scream “you don’t get it”.

Example: was in library yesterday. State Caregivers came with their clients, they sit in library, walk around, watch movies, look at books, eat lunch. They’re required to take their clients out into the community for a certain amount of hours a week, so why not the library? I was there. Was there with my caregiver. Looked over, saw the clients, and saw the caregivers looking at my caregiver with a knowing look. They knew. I knew. Their clients knew. I was like them, and they were like me. Just people sitting in the library who are disabled and require caregivers.

That’s what I’m talking about. That knowing look. That look of pity. That look to my caregiver that says it all. The looks of pity from the librarian. From everyone.

Visible autism for higher support needs autistic people, so much more different than visible autism for low support needs people. And that needs to be realized. Strangers know. And sometimes they don’t know what’s going on, but they all went to school probably, right? They know the special education kids. The “special” kids. Yeah. That’s us. That’s me. They know. I’m tired of people not understanding.

Yes, community. Find middle ground. You’re like me, I’m like you. We are all autistic (those who are autistic), but that doesn’t mean all experiences the same. That doesn’t mean we think, act, eat, sleep, the same. You’re different, and that’s ok.

[theomnireader]

This is very true for me especially when I was younger, my best friend would insult me and stuff like that, at times it felt like genuine insults. It got to my head a lot and I thought "Maybe she wouldn't care if I died? Maybe no one would care if I died?". I'm doing sorta better now but it still hurt me a lot

People underestimate how much it fucks you up to be subtly excluded as a kid. I would try to talk to my classmates and be met with disinterest or annoyance. The one friend I had, who I clung to and nodded along to his every word, had other friends he liked just as much or more. And his other friends didn’t care for me at all.

I look back at pictures from the time and see how separated I was from them. I remember knowing I was different. I remember posing questions about the world to the girls playing next to me and realizing that they had never asked the same ones to themselves. That the ways we thought couldn’t be more different.

I kept myself amused with my own fanatical stories and musings in my head. I would wander the playground on a circular path, imagining a friend and being sorely disappointed when it didn’t feel as real as I’d hoped.

There was a bubble separating me from everyone else, thin, and nearly invisible, but with a pearly sheen you could catch under the right conditions. I knew it was there, they knew it was there, and it changed me

[chessb0r3d]

What I mean when I do not control the hyperfixation.

[small-bambi]

Harrison Wood Hsiang

[suffering-and-misery]

adhd paralysis sucks bcuz im just sitting there and my brain is like

YOU ARE WASTING TIME YOU ARE WASTING TIME YOU ARE WASTING TIME YOU ARE WASTING TIME YOU ARE WASTING TIME YOU ARE WASTING TIME YOU ARE WASTING TIME YOU ARE WASTING TIME YOU ARE WASTING TIME YOU ARE WASTING TIME

no work done no rest gained. literally no point of this at all

(to everyone who reblogged, donate and share @olagaza's initiative!)

[noihavenosanitythanksforasking]

THIS

There’s no such thing as work-life balance for neurodivergent & chronically ill people.

This is because everything in my life requires work:

maintaining friendships

keeping up with my hygiene

managing bills

making money

remembering my basic needs

sleeping regularly

outputting creatively

All requires some aspect of work for me.

And when everything in your life requires work, your balance goes out the window.

If you're neurodivergent and overwhelmed — I see you.

If you're chronically ill and overwhelmed — I see you.

You're not dysfunctional.

You're not incapable.

You're doing your best.

[2003-playground]

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.

[gabrielora]

When I was younger and researching the autism diagnosis criteria and symptoms, I thought “oh I couldn’t POSSIBLY be autistic.” Because when I read “takes everything literally” I thought it literally meant EVERYTHING and I was like “I don’t take EVERYTHING literally, just most things!” And I just realized the other day that it didn’t actually mean EVERYTHING and that was an overstatement.

[canineentity]

“Why’d you do that?” Please remember that I am using what I’ve seen in humans to mimic them

[anexperimentallife]

[callmemanatee]

The way most autism literature describes "literal interpretation" is often not at all similar to how I experience it. Teenage me even thought I couldn't be autistic because I've always been able to learn metaphors easily.

In fact, I love wordplay of all kinds. Teenage me was fascinated to learn all the types of figurative language there are in poetry and literature.

But paperwork and questionnaires are hard, because there's so much they don't state clearly. Or they don't leave room for enough nuance.

"List all the jobs you've had, with start and end dates." What if I don't remember the exact day or month? Is the year enough?

"Have you been suffering from blurred vision?" Well, if I take off my glasses the whole world is blurred, but I'm fairly sure that's not what the intake form at the optometrist is asking.

Or the infamous (and infuriatingly stereotypical) "Would you rather go to a library or a party?" What sort of party? Where? Who's there? I work at a library. Am I currently at the library for work or pleasure? Does it have a good collection?

It's not common figures of speech that confound me. It's ambiguity, in situations that aren't supposed to be ambiguous.

[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

[mgcucket]

As a cis man with tits, this comic brings me a deep comfort. You guys get it. I’ve been wearing flannels ever since a child came up to me and honked my titties and his parents said “sorry, he’s autistic” and walked away.

[victusinveritas]