#what do you mean I’m neurodivergent?

[three-taikas-in-a-trenchcoat]

My therapist had me write down when I feel happiest and my list included

1. Fostering cats

2. Reading/learning

3. Infodumping about my passions

Anyone else get joy out of the slightly startled look on people’s faces when they realize they’ve opened the can?

[gremlin-pattie]

no more discourse about high empathy vs low empathy autistics. neither one makes you a better or worse person. let’s all hold hands

[themanirealityshifter]

once again, not shifting related, but see, i have a lot of things that come along with autism and ADHD, and the like, but i’m still prettyyy damn sure i don’t have em, but also maaaybe, buuut alsooo i don’t knoooow. i have hyperfixations, special interests, the verbal shutdowns, shutdowns in general, meltdowns, also executive dysfunction, neurodivergent stimming (plus some that can pass as neurotypical stimming), and lots more that i can’t remember at the moment, cuz i haven’t eaten enough, OH YEAH AND SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER, annnd auditory processing disorder, also internalized echolalia and just echolalia, possibly alexithymia, and have trouble with social cues and eye contact. plus food allergies which is also common/comorbid with autism. plus also i was what ya call the gifted kid and now i’m burnt out and even though my grades are always good when i actually hand something in, i constantly procrastinate and have basically given up on school altogether, cuz there’s no possible way for my mental health to be okay, for me to have relationships, for me to do things i like, and do well and be consistent in school all at the same time.

soooo, what am i? i relate to autistics and ADHDers A TON. buuuut i don’t think i am one of y’all. buuut what else can i possibly be? i have no idea. i am a mystery and i pretty sure i always will be.

[monokuma-apologist]

fun fact you should stay up late and right / rp while listening to some everywhere at the end of time songs

[howldean]

i am not god’s favorite. (guy who mopped for the first time in months and then promptly spilled his victory soup all over the floor)

[clottedscream]

this is SO kids when all they have in the world is each other-coded. literally SO you’re all that i have-pilled. so found family core

[edge-oftheworld]

one thing I love about following celebrities/artists who are honest and proactive about their mental health struggles etc is I can’t count the number of times someone I know is going through something and I’m like ‘I’ve got a song for u’ and how much of my life involves telling myself ‘if [redacted] can do something/get better/etc then so can i’ (and having actual real evidence of it in front of me) and I can’t understate how much I appreciate these things.

but at the same time it involves a whole lot of watching people I care about suffer and you learn to read the signs and infer between the lines in songs and interviews, and yes we can never fully know what they don’t share with us, but when they do share things it’s not a big stretch to be like ‘this seems like it’s what life is like for you and I have taken encouragement from it but you deserve so much better’. and it’s easy to find ways to get angry at a predatory industry and realise things that could be hurtful if you’re already fragile.

and we can advocate for some things and help ourselves and the people around us feel better but it’s hard to meaningfully reach your faves as an individual. and there are things we can’t say on the internet in too much detail, speculation becomes the harmful kind of gossip, and so sometimes it’s a whole lot of internally saying ‘you’re doing incredibly well to have gotten to where you are but I wish for your sake things would get better faster’

[uncaught-coolfish]

thank fuck I didn’t end up in the “willingly accepts the copaganda of rwby because the fake catgirl told me to do it” club because each and every time some new person tries to stand up and preach to the world “the writers writing an organization of in universe minorities, led by a fridged desi woman, with members including an indigenous girl, two middle eastern-coded twins, and a jewish named ex slave with the initials of a german named company branded into his eye, thats ackshully ☝️🤓 just an evil bunch of reverse-racist TERRORIST ABUSERS who are ON THE LEVEL OF if not WORSE the racists OPPRESSING AND ENSLAVING THEM…… is actually good and subversive writing” I want to throw a cinder block at something I am so serious

[oakt733]

when i think about it yeah i am autistic i got the symptoms but i don’t have time to get into all of that rn i got stuff to do

[raisedbythetv89]

The thing about a lot of the Autistic coded characters in media, especially with female characters (thinking Anya Btvs and Bones as examples) is they’re often shown as being almost completely oblivious to how they’re perceived by the group and only know they’ve made a misstep when someone else tells them directly they did something everyone perceives as strange or odd or impolite and that is not the reality for so many Autistic women - especially adult women.

Many of us know almost instantly when we have made a misstep and so part of our mask is cataloguing that feedback to try and prevent that from happening again which is why so many of us go undiagnosed because this hyper-awareness caused by our socialization as women turns us into the slightly quirky manic pixie dream girl archetype or in my case the “surprisingly bold” and entertaining yet slightly weird girl who is a little odd but not enough to cause alarm and if you’re pretty it’s often found charming or refreshing.

And so you’ve developed this insane hyper awareness and then you learn you’re autistic and life isn’t this hard for everyone else and masking is slowly killing you because it disregulates your nervous system so severely you can’t eat or sleep properly and you start developing all these chronic pains and health conditions so you have to start unmasking which means being PAINFULLY AWARE of how bizarre/weird/different you come off in social settings without the mask you worked on for decades and you just have to accept it!! You just have to be totally ok with other’s discomfort at your abnormal behavior that doesn’t follow social norms and take zero action to try and rectify the situation or prevent it in future unless absolutely necessary like to keep a job or keep yourself safe around unsafe people

and the thing is, when you’re hyper aware that you are different but you don’t know how/why as a kid you’re always trying to “get it right” by “humaning properly” and finally fitting in. Embracing standing out and letting everyone see just how different you are is one of the scariest things you can face - like I have to know they think I’m super fucking weird and do NOTHING ABOUT IT - for the sake of my health??? But standing out is dangerous what are you talking about??!?!?

The blissful ignorance to the social norms you’re breaking that occurs in your youth can be more peaceful in the moment but leaves you easy prey to being taken advantage of or manipulated. Whereas full awareness of the social norms you can better keep yourself safe but every moment interacting with others is a practice of radical self acceptance which can be extremely isolating in a world where so many want to fit in. Obviously I can’t go back to blissful ignorance (nor would I want to) but this radical self acceptance of my weirdness and others perceiving it is:

A LOT

[onceuponaweirdo]

what do you mean i'm a real person with wants and needs, responsibilities and obligations and not a 2D character

[belgian-tea]

”guilt”?

such a funny word

guiltguiltguiltguiltguiltguilt hehehe

[theeldritchdarling]

Wait.

Most people don’t do this?

[rotteneldritchhorror]

Steve “the hair” Harrington? No, Steve “the concussed” Harrington

[clowningcrows]

HOW am i meant to be mentally stable in times like these? it’s almost dark outside and it’s not even 4pm

[technicallyaminecraftsimp]

What. What’s with instagram now giving me the most wild of takes with phineas and ferb clips. You’re joking right guys