#level 3 autistic

[stuffieautism]

when i could still talk enough to make a point on tiktok, and talked about being visibly autistic, i got countless comments saying “well we’re all visibly autistic they can tell there’s something off about us we’re all weirdos to them”. and it’s like. no. you do not understand. people finding you vaguely offputting is not the same as people seeing you and immediately knowing you have a mental disability.

it’s not the same as parents pulling their children away to “give you space” and giving you a tight lipped smile to make up for it. it’s not the same as people knowing they can take advantage of you if your caregiver is standing too far away, and them noticing and pulling you away from the person you didn’t realize was trying to harm you. it’s not the same as people immediately speaking to you as if you are inferior and unable to have real complex emotions about it. it’s not the same as being denied access to medical care and assistance and places you need to get help because of your disability aids or caregiver. it’s not the same as doctors being visibly impatient with you when you are using an aac device and “typing too slow”. it’s still not the same as the kind-intentioned but pitying people that are out there knowing something’s wrong with you immediately and being extra patient, treating you like a child. it’s not the same as a medical professional not taking you seriously because you can’t talk and being skeptical that you even need care or can make decisions for yourself.

yes, studies have shown that people can tell autistic people are slightly off. there are, however, autistic people who don’t get the benefit of the doubt or chance to be listened to and taken seriously and treated with respect in the first place, because they immediately can tell i’m not like them before i say anything.

I think the people who come onto my posts and ask “well how would you know if you’re visibly autistic” just…don’t get it. Because truly, how do you think we’d know? Surely it’s not the stares, or the looks to our caregivers, or the comments, or the verbal and sometimes even physical altercations/fights, or the isolation, or the segregation, or the baby talking, or the being underestimated, or being put in ABA, or being put in special education/contained classrooms. It surely can’t be that. Right? /sarcasm

I don’t think people REALLY read my posts. They get defensive. Think I’m screaming in their faces about how they’re not autistic enough because they don’t experience the same discrimination as a higher support needs, caregiver dependent, nonverbal/nonspeaking/semispeaking individuals. Because no, that’s totally what I’m doing. /sarcasm.

Discrimination is discrimination. But that doesn’t mean that the discrimination is going to be the same.

I’m totally screaming in your face, telling you you’re not autistic enough, that everyone should experience the discrimination and “horrors” of being higher support needs. That’s totally what I’m doing /sarcasm.

If you’re visibly autistic, it’s not a matter of asking yourself “well how do I know?” Because you don’t ask yourself that. You ALREADY know. It’s been something that’s so integrated into your mind that you’re reminded about it Every. Single. Fucking. Day. Because? You make your parents life difficult. You give your caregiver fatigue. You go hungry because no one has fed you because you can’t cook, or only can cook very basic things. You are constantly under and overstimulated, so you have violent meltdowns that ruin relationships, friendships, etc. You can’t get out of bed without help or prompts, so you just stay in bed all day. Mindlessly watching movies and scrolling social media.

You go outside, have to wear headphones or ear defenders, sunglasses, have chewlery, have to carry a AAC device and a bag with everything you could possibly need to help you from not having a meltdown, you see the stares. The way they look at you as you flap your hands, and laugh inappropriately, and rock, and skip, and run, and walk “weird” and drool, and mouth breathe, and put your fingers in your mouth, etc. and you see it on peoples faces. The way they cross the sidewalk, the way they lower their gaze, the way they do anything to get away from YOU.

There is a difference between being higher support needs and low to medium masking, so every trait is more intense, and being low support needs, high masking but looking a little “odd” or “off putting.” This isn’t an attack on anyone, but there are differences, and I’m tired of acting like people who aren’t higher support needs know what I go through.

This is my reality. This is what being visibly autistic is like. And I hope y’all realize that, cause it ain’t fun.

[kazandautism]

It okay if you want to get rid of your autism.

Lot of people on internet say that autism great and that they like it. That okay too, everyone allowed own opinion on self.

But not make you bad person if you don’t like it.

It hard having meltdowns and sensory overload. Hard to need others to care for self.

You allowed to dislike your autism.

[cripp-tid]

tbh i find autism so debilitating because it feels like no one takes the time to listen to us. the general population around in-person spaces forget that LSN/Level 1 autistic people exist, and the online spaces forget that HSN/Level 2-3 autistic people exist.

like i either get hit with the "but you don't look autistic" irl or the "ugh why cant that kid just learn to type right" online. and theyre ableist as hell in both directions!!!!!!!! they both uphold The Norm™

everyone either expects a fully nonverbal diagnosis-caught-early type of autist, or someone who has 0 neurodivergency based issues at all. make up your fucking mind????

as someone who isn't really sure where it falls on the support needs spectrum, both sides of this shit suck for different reasons.

just. don't be a dick to people who have different support needs. that's it, that's the post. someone needs more? less? exactly the same as you? does not fucking matter regardless and you better not make it into a Thing. I'm stealing your kneecaps. im foaming at the mouth. im going to throw a brick at you.

[threelogsinatrenchcoat]

I just saw someone say that physically disabled people and mentally disabled people are different because “people look at me and know I’m disabled.”, which is such an ignorant statement.

level 3, high support needs autistic people don’t get the privilege of being able to hide their autism. People with intellectual disabilities don’t get the benefit of being discreet.

people know, they always know. They can tell when you slur your speech, and flap your arms, and make noises they don’t understand. They can tell when you talk and when you don’t. When I have a meltdown in a busy area, everyone fucking knows. Most of us don’t get the privilege of masking.

This is not a physically disabled exclusive experience, ever. And to act like we’re some how less likely to face danger because of it causes actual harm.

I’m not saying we are exactly the same, we aren’t. I’ll never fully understand the physically disabled experience. But this experience is real for other people that aren’t you.

[borderlinedolly]

Things I Rarely See Talked About

Level 2/Medium Support Need Autistics

Level 3/High Support Need Autistics

Deaf and/or Blind Autistics

BIPOC Autistics

Nonverbal Autistics

Semiverbal Autistics

The Downsides of Getting a Diagnosis

Older People (30+) With Disorders Like DID, ASPD, BPD, Autism, Etc

[kittentism]

uhm ,, potentially controversial post kitty not really know how tag exactly so hope get right audience but ,,,

i love you hostile autistic people . i love you violent autistic people . i love you autistic people unable control reaction emotions all it . love you autistic people who lash out yell kick scream bite all it . love you autistic people who feel guilty after and autistic people who dont .

i love you autistic people who dont even realize being hostile or mean . i love you autistic people who struggle to care . i love you autistic people who are "bad" and rejected by the community and told to "be better" even though you can't help it . i love you autistic people who struggle to have friends or close people because of it and i love you autistic people who have people who understand you and stick around . we all very cool and dont deserve be treated as if we mean for fun by people who not struggle way we do .

(come from autistic person who unable process and regulate emotion and do lash out frequently even at people very much care about)

[ghxst-system]

destigmatise people who visibly autistkc

"its invisible"

actually

low mask and high/mid support needs usually "visible" to extent

i make noises walk around and look "odd" "different"

other people said before on here

not all autistic people visibly autistic and autism doesnt have "a look" but some people LOOK autistic

people so obsessed with show how "normal" high masking LSN people look and behave that we get swept under rug

[ichverdurstehier]

Nonverbal autistics of Tumblr, why do you guys use third person language so often? It seems to be a very common thing

[tobydandelion]

Severely Autistic Adult explains the actual problems with self dx:

When your don't have a good neurologist, or actual psychologist specializing in Autism, diagnose you and explain your diagnosis to you properly, the only place you're learning about autism is just among those of similar support needs, based on how social media functions. So when you spread misinformation in a video, we often don't even get to hear it, because usually, You're Boring Your Eyeballs Into The Camera so we can't even read the captions we usually need to even process what you're saying. So, most severely autistic folks cannot watch these types of videos to even dispute the misinformation within. That's just one example how we're shut out of our "own community" via lack of social supports and education. It's a self-reinforcing exclusion. Your understanding of the severity levels of sensory and cognitive impairment that can be "Just Autism" are then limited even more, causing folks to spread misinformation about other people's disabilities, and what more severe autistic accessibility needs look like in general.

And that's not even my main problem with self diagnosis- there's also the huge crossover of symptoms in the DSM to consider- and I'm absolutely sure autism self diagnosis is preventing a lot of people from understanding their fixable problems that come from complex trauma and require intensive inner child work and DBT, rather than just autism accommodations.

So it's not always invalid, but it requires a lot more work than the average 22 year old barista on tt has the time, energy, and media literacy skills to figure out, so being skeptical that someone isn't actually just ADD, or some other cousin neurotype, with unaddressed CPTSD due to that, and not autistic, should be valid as well. And I really wish "labels" didn't matter, but they unfortunately do, when these are the people prescribing language and obfuscating the actual types of accommodations society needs more of for MY DISABILITY that they demonstrably do not understand.

For instance, why do self diagnosers hate the word 'Severe' so much? Is acknowledging someone actually has a life quantifiably harder than you really so ego-shattering? Oh, oops, it actually is, because none of you will go get proper therapy for your trauma because you're all too busy in cycles of codependency and accusing each other of being secret evil narcissists, when really you're all just traumatized weird kids who are desperate for community and don't know how to heal. I get that now. But just, try to find that without prescribing language for people's disabilities, if you could please. And if you have time to self diagnose, you have time to take a full DBT course online or do some DBT workbooks. No matter what your neurotype, they are useful skills, especially if you were not raised kindly. And for every low support needs person on social media you follow, seach and try to find just as many higher support needs folks to follow too. And other severely disabled folks of all disabilities, too.

(Leaving this here to read feedback, refine the points, and turn it into shortform when I'm up to it, probably next year. Sorry if you've ever dm'd me, I do not consume any Tumblr currently, I only post. Super burned out, only social spoons for my baby and our team.❤)

[arquaticdreamer]

I love this so much.

A comic I made recently about my feelings on being chronically ill/disabled :)

tumblr quality always does me dirty 😭

[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.

[ghxst-system]

being told "sharing is caring" to force me as an autistic child to share was weird as hell

it ISNT caring

it isnt caring to me, to cause myself immense stress and meltdowns because people are touching and using MY things

like fuck off

if i care about u i dont share my shit, i just tell u.

[ichverdurstehier]

Is it possible for someone's autism levels to change due to trauma? Like could a 1.5 go to a 2.5 after being kidnapped and tortured? I'm writing a story

[yellowyarn]

i always see sensory avoidant autistic people talking about how their favourite foods are all plain carbs but where are the sensory seeking autistics who live on garlic and spicy foods? the ones who will eat a straight lemon and hate buttered noodles.

[lead-academy]

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