#higher suppprt needs

[zebulontheplanet]

Anyways.

Higher support needs disabled people needing help with things like eating, going to the bathroom, and showering isn’t gross or babyish.

It isn’t gross to have help showering, or using the bathroom, or any other bADL. Disabled people deserve not to be called gross for needing help with hygiene and things. Disabled people deserve to be seen as people if they need help with these things.

I’m a disabled person who needs help with showering, grooming, and sometimes eating (yes, physically getting the food from the fork to my mouth) and that doesn’t make me gross. That doesn’t make me babyish. That makes me a higher support needs adult. That makes me someone who needs help. Stop saying that these things are gross to need help with, or telling people that “you’re grown, you should be able to do this”. That isn’t helping anyone.

Especially with the autistic community constantly screaming about how we don’t need help with these things, when a lot of us do. A lot of us do need substantial help with bathing, grooming, and toileting. Some of us do need substantial help with all these things, and people need to realize that.

[zebulontheplanet]

This this this!!

Mental health is not something taken seriously with HSN people. It’s not something taken seriously with them at all. It’s always marked as something different. Extreme mood swings? Just unpredictable and behavioral issues. Hallucinations and delusions? Just in their own little world. They not even understand what hallucinations and delusions are right? So therefore can’t have them. Am Medium-High support needs. Grew up high support needs and was until my teens. I am intellectually disabled. Always always marked as those things. Took until very late in life to be diagnosed.

My Schizoaffective disorder was not taken seriously. Wasn’t diagnosed until very very late in life, although showed symptoms very very young. Even sometimes think was born with it. Always just marked as being in my own little world. Talking to myself? Just imagination. Not understand real world. Not understand reality. Delusions? Just don’t understand reality. My cognitive function “just too low” to understand reality from imagination. “Lying” because I believe something happened when another thing happened? Again, just in own little world. Don’t understand.

Depression was even worse, and so was thoughts of hurting myself or ending it. Depression? Behavioral issues. Something that could be fixed by bad behavioral therapy.

Bipolar that wasn’t diagnosed until late? Meltdowns. Behavioral issues. Just apart of being autistic. Right? Just apart of being higher support needs. Mood swings? They’re Meltdowns.

Doctors didn’t believe me until I was very much older. Doctors thought it was all due to my autism. Even when it was so bad I required hospitalization, was all symptoms of autism. “Autistic people hallucinate sometimes” “it’s just behavioral issues” “it’s just meltdowns” “it’s just attention seeking behavior” none of it was. None of it was “just autism”. It was severe mental health issues. And no one believed me. Put me on strong medication to try and “help”. Make me go to therapists that know nothing about how to handle autistic people so they just let you sit there and talk to you like child. They recommend coping skills that don’t work because they don’t believe others will work on someone like you. “Why don’t you color?” “Why don’t you paint?” “I’ve had great success with insert random coping skill, with people like you”

It’s hard. No one believes you. No one takes you seriously. Wasn’t until adult, even though show many symptoms young that was diagnosed. And even now, people don’t take me seriously. It’s rough, and I wish more people talked about it.

It's a common idea amongst ALOT of LSN autistic people that HSN autistic people in general don't struggle with mental health, and that people who are HSN autistic are HSN because that's just the areas they ended up needing more support, and that it levels out and that in general LSN autistics struggle most in their mental health and HSN autistics struggle with other things.

It stems from peoples misunderstanding, and not wanting to accept there are people out there who have more support needs in every single area that they do, more severe in every single area.

But I'd argue someone who has such extreme sensory issues being in the presence of another person causes meltdowns that last hours on end, someone that needs to be restrained for hours a day or else will literally die, that's housbound due to extreme sensory issues, wants to die and has extreme sadness every single time there is a small change such as the light going on and off, but also does not have the skills to communicate anything to anyone so can never talk about how they feel and even as simple as if they feel unwell.

Struggles significantly more with their mental health than someone who simply dislikes their life and feels anxious, and those with more severe mental health problems as-well.

Someone with HSN autism and severe mental health problems can co exist, and I think alot of people seem to forget that. Someone can be HSN with all their needs met and still have a terrible quality of life.

[things-arent-what-they-seem66]

What if in the blind au, Emily is Adams little sister and Eve is their elder sister. This might get a bit messy! So I hope you understand!

Adam saved Eve when they were kids. Eve was sick and needed either a bone marrow transplantation and after liver transplantation. Acute cortical blindness has been reported occurring 5-47 days following bone marrow transplantation and after liver transplantation. Reversibility within few weeks after discontinuation of tacrolimus is generally observed. But let’s say Adam never regained his sight and instead it went the other way and became worse.

Eve literally fucks off. She gets her transplant, gets healthier, makes a ton of empty promises like graduating from the top university and getting a great paying job to take care of Adam. You see, Eve, Adam and Emily all were from a high-end family but they lost their parents in a horrific storm when they were little. All they have are trust funds that they will either gain access to though graduation or marriage.

Since Eve was sick and it looked like she wouldn’t get a doner, her trust fund was separated into Adam and Emily’s with the thought they would suppprt and take care of her. Doctors told them without the transplantation she’d die. However when Adam found out he was a match and did the transplant for her, he became very sickly - basically on deaths door. Eve promised Adam and Emily that if they gave her their trust funds, she’ll be able to make it through university and support them. They believed her and…she fucked off with the remaining money after graduating.

This left Emily to take care of Adam on her own. Adam did eventually turn around and become better but he remained blind. Emily becomes a social worker in hopes to earn enough to support then. Their grandparents (only loving relatives) cut them out after the death of their parents.

Eden was the first thing good to happen to them. The moment they gained a support dog, their luck began to turn around.

Lucifer might be a nurse but he comes from an even bigger and more higher ranked family then Adam and Emily. He might even know Eve and disliked her already - they met at a business function maybe? Lucifer loves medicine and has always wanted to be a nurse but his father thinks it is a side hobby and that one day Lucifer will take over their family company (worth thousands!!)

Holy shit I love this!

Fuck Eve, what the hell?

That is so damn sad, Adam just wanted to help his sister and she fucked both Adam and Emily over.

Adam being blind means he can't work and he collects disability. Emily has his home set up with braille and everything is voice activated.

Lucifer not liking Eve to start with a professional way, but when he finds out what she did to Adam? Oh boy.

Yes he loves medicine and takes his job seriously. This is however, the first time he's fallen in love with a patient.

Adam Doesn't trust him right away he doesn't want to be seen as weak even though he's blind. Or god forbid Lucifer turn out to be like his last nurse Steve.

[zebulontheplanet]

Sometimes yes, people with meltdowns do need to be retrained. Sometimes yes, they can seriously hurt themselves. Yes, there is nuance. Restraint can be seriously harmful, but restraint can mean the difference between injuring yourself severely, and someone else hurting you from the restraint.

I’m an autistic person that has violent meltdowns with self injurious behaviors. And yes, this does mean that sometimes I need to be restrained.

I think that in the autism community, there’s a lot of people saying “never restrain!! Never do that!!” And they forget about people like me, who WILL hurt themselves severely if they are not restrained. Does this mean that I allow random people to restrain me during meltdowns? Absolutely fucking not. My caregiver is the ONLY person I trust to restrain me during meltdowns. Why? Because they know how to do it in a way that won’t hurt me, or lead to me hurting them.

I feel like within the autism community, there’s so many people telling us what we can and cannot do. And what our caregivers can and cannot do. YES! Restraint can be life threatening and harmful, but I am prone to hurting myself. To giving myself a head injury, to self harming. It is far more safer for me to be restrained correctly from my caregiver.

Please remember that those of us with higher support needs and more violent meltdowns, do sometimes need to be restrained. However, it’s important to remember anatomy. When my caregiver became my caregiver, that’s one of the first things we talked about, and we came to an agreement and I talked to them about the CORRECT way to restrain me during meltdowns.

Please remember those of us who do need restrained, and please remember those of us that this is the safest option for us.

[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.

[zebulontheplanet]

Hello, I saw your post about elopement and wanted to ask: how would you like to be treated/cared for when you elope?

I ask because I am an autistic who has not experienced elopement and I’m trying to learn more about it, but all the resources I can find, as usual, are catered to parents of toddlers and have no autistic adult input.

Feel free to not answer or to correct any ignorance on my part, I’m here to listen.

Hello! I know this is late. But I thought this was an important question that had to be answered.

So, how would I like to be treated with elopement? Kindly. If you notice an autistic person wondering around, being confused, looking lost, then it’s ok in my opinion to stop them and ask if they’re ok or if they’re lost. It’s better safe than sorry.

I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve eloped and gotten recognized by strangers. However, here’s some things that I’d like to see from someone if I eloped and was caught by a stranger.

If you find the person, and it’s confirmed their lost, look for an ID bracelet, or a temporary tattoo, or anything that’d be used for contact information for their guardian or caretaker(s).

Sometimes people with autism will not respond to you. If I’m overwhelmed, then I might not even nod, or do anything. I’ll just stare or look around in a confused manner.

Talk to me calmly and softly, reassure me that things are going to be ok.

If you can’t find a ID bracelet or phone number on me, ask me for the name and number or my caretakers/parents. If I don’t respond, contact the proper authorities.

Please before contacting authorities, look around the store, outside, or around the area for my parents/caretakers. Authorities should be a LAST resort unless i am in immediate danger. Authorities are not properly trained to deal with higher support needs autistic people.

Stay with me until you know it’s safe not to.

Be patient!! I may not respond, I may cry, I may go catatonic or shut down from the stress and being overwhelmed. Be weary of that and act accordingly.

Understand that I need time to respond with my AAC. Be patient.

Overall, just do your best! These are just some pointers. Being patient and understanding is so important. Hope this helps! Have a lovely day.

[zebulontheplanet]

“There’s no such thing as level 3 autism, everyone’s autistic. Everyone’s the same level 😊”

Do you…do you genuinely hear yourself? You realize the levels are made to determine the level of support you need. Right?

There’s some nuance. Yes, everyone is autistic. But that doesn’t mean everyone is the same level of support. Not everyone is the same or at the same place. Some people need more support. And saying that everyone who’s autistic is at the same level is completely disregarding a LARGE portion of the autism community. If not the entire community because not everyone is at the same level. Everyone is at their own unique place.

Saying these things just make me upset, because I have plenty of friends with higher support needs and even high support needs, that drastically need more support then I see from the vast majority of the community. And they’re often ignored. They’re often fakeclaimed, bullied, harassed, etc etc.

Not every autistic person is going to need the same level of support. Not every autistic person is going to be at the same place. Not every autistic person is going to be like you. Yes, I get some people get confused. Some people say “well the levels of autism kinda feel like severity levels to me” and I get that. However, a lot of higher support needs autistic people have expressed that that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That they do feel like their autism is more severe than their lower support needs peers. That isn’t a bad thing. Autistic people with higher support needs deserve to be talked about.

I feel like a lot of autistic people don’t realize that sometimes someone DOES have more “severe” traits than you. Someone does have more “severe” things. Why are we allowed to say this with any disorder besides autism? It isn’t invalidating you to say that someone struggles more than you. Some people just do. And for you to deny that, is just feeding more into your own internalized ableism.

[posts-without-the-letter-e]

I gt confusd a lot. I think othr popl gt confusd too.

Talk about visibl autism somtims, talk about bing visibly disabld. But whn talk about it, always gt low support nds popl saying “yah, I stim and popl notic and star at m. I’m visibly autistic somtims”

And don’t think thy undrstand whn I say visibly autistic or dvlopmntally disabld. Ys, know that somtims “visibly autistic” isn’t black and whit. Som popl do gt markd as visibly autistic just for stimming a bit.

But whn I talk about visibl autism, don’t talk about that. And it can b frustrating. Fls lik popl talking ovr m. Just want to scram “you don’t gt it”.

xampl: was in library ystrday. Stat Cargivrs cam with thir clints, thy sit in library, walk around, watch movis, look at books, at lunch. Thy’r rquird to tak thir clints out into th community for a crtain amount of hours a wk, so why not th library? I was thr. Was thr with my cargivr. Lookd ovr, saw th clints, and saw th cargivrs looking at my cargivr with a knowing look. Thy knw. I knw. Thir clints knw. I was lik thm, and thy wr lik m. Just popl sitting in th library who ar disabld and rquir cargivrs.

That’s what I’m talking about. That knowing look. That look of pity. That look to my cargivr that says it all. Th looks of pity from th librarian. From vryon.

Visibl autism for highr support nds autistic popl, so much mor diffrnt than visibl autism for low support nds popl. And that nds to b ralizd. Strangrs know. And somtims thy don’t know what’s going on, but thy all wnt to school probably, right? Thy know th spcial ducation kids. Th “spcial” kids. Yah. That’s us. That’s m. Thy know. I’m tird of popl not undrstanding.

Ys, community. Find middl ground. You’r lik m, I’m lik you. W ar all autistic (thos who ar autistic), but that dosn’t man all xprincs th sam. That dosn’t man w think, act, at, slp, th sam. You’r diffrnt, and that’s ok.

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.

[minimumlie]

“When you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person.”

—Meg from the YouTube Channel I’m Autistic, Now What

It’s a spectrum and we all have different strengths and weaknesses and struggles??

Just like how we aren’t all cis white boys, we don’t all have the means to live by ourselves.

I thought we would want to keep acknowledging the fact that this community is full of all kinds of people, because that was the push, to show that we aren’t all the same person.

We’ve all been working so hard, don’t ignore higher support needs people, we’re supposed to be working together :(

“There’s no such thing as level 3 autism, everyone’s autistic. Everyone’s the same level 😊”

Do you…do you genuinely hear yourself? You realize the levels are made to determine the level of support you need. Right?

There’s some nuance. Yes, everyone is autistic. But that doesn’t mean everyone is the same level of support. Not everyone is the same or at the same place. Some people need more support. And saying that everyone who’s autistic is at the same level is completely disregarding a LARGE portion of the autism community. If not the entire community because not everyone is at the same level. Everyone is at their own unique place.

Saying these things just make me upset, because I have plenty of friends with higher support needs and even high support needs, that drastically need more support then I see from the vast majority of the community. And they’re often ignored. They’re often fakeclaimed, bullied, harassed, etc etc.

Not every autistic person is going to need the same level of support. Not every autistic person is going to be at the same place. Not every autistic person is going to be like you. Yes, I get some people get confused. Some people say “well the levels of autism kinda feel like severity levels to me” and I get that. However, a lot of higher support needs autistic people have expressed that that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That they do feel like their autism is more severe than their lower support needs peers. That isn’t a bad thing. Autistic people with higher support needs deserve to be talked about.

I feel like a lot of autistic people don’t realize that sometimes someone DOES have more “severe” traits than you. Someone does have more “severe” things. Why are we allowed to say this with any disorder besides autism? It isn’t invalidating you to say that someone struggles more than you. Some people just do. And for you to deny that, is just feeding more into your own internalized ableism.