#high functioning autistic

[clown-around-and-find-out]

everyone is all about autism acceptance until they meet an autistic they can't infantilize

[imaginarylungfish]

"high-functioning" autism is like driving a manual car. you can go as fast as an automatic, but it's arguably more work.

[starcrossedandstupid]

GUESS WHO GOT THEIR DIAGNOSIS TODAY BABBYYYYYY

IT’S IN MY MEDICAL RECORDS NOW

I now officially have high functioning autism!!

[ireonic]

Me: how do I study as a neurodivergent person?

Google: how to help your autistic child study

Me: how to study as an autistic adult/teen

Google: teachers guide to how to deal with autistic children

Me: how do I study as an autistic teen/adult

Google: study tips for autistic people(-written by this allistic man that will talk about autistic people like they're zoo animals)

Me: how to study as a neurodivergent adult, tips from neurodivergent person to neurodivergent students, on how to study independently as an autistic person, no reliant support needed

Google: high functioning autism and school

Me: fuck just. How do I focus during this test that I'm in rn as an AuDHD person

Google: ok, so, to focus on this thing that you currently are doing and need to get done TODAY; weeks before the test you'll need to eat healthy and exercise, meditate, study, set timers, take breaks, drink water, sleep, find the secrets to a happy life, adopt five children, sacrifice a goat, take short showers, brush your teeth

Executive dysfunction:

My fucking deadline:

[surrah698]

[pixierainbows]

30daysofautismacceptance

April 16th: Is loneliness or a sense of isolation something you either currently or in the past struggled with? Is it related to being autistic? What types of things helped you deal with it?

It can get very very isolating , yes . especially with how so many level 1 / low support needs / high functioning / verbal autism people , people in autism community , in own community , what should understand , still reject higher support needs autism people like Pixie .

Pixie grateful to be the kind of autism not feel strong need for community and relationships . AND . that Pixies guardians make sure Pixie have enough social activities with both other disabled and not disabled people .

[neurotypicalabusesurvivor]

Accept your child with autism or you will be forced to accept a child with autism and DID, cluster B personality disorder and/or PTSD.

The choice is your.

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

always interested in autism community history n archive… especially high support needs / severe / low functioning / etc self identifier part of community history. we always been here we always will be n this include high support needs & severe & etc people. even back when resources n aids n techs n therapies n knowledge not as good as today we still there.

anyways. when do some searching, found old blog of person in UK with (to use word used call self) severe autism & mild intellectual disability & severe challenging behaviors & epilepsy causing todd’s paralysis n wheelchair user. unfortunately last blog update 2014, n hope doing alright, n it hard see when first ever blog. but. at least 28 by then, n been on Wrong Planet (older autism forum website that.. has its issues) since 2003.

it nice see “elders” of community talk about much of similar thing as we are today. we not so different. n it sad see it too. not much changed.

“the challenges of severe autism;low mental capacity with rigid thinking”

“the challenges of severe autism;needing behavior friendly furniture”

“being LFA and against the idea of personaly having a 'cure'”

“a communication barrier of severe autism; pain”

“the use of retard,and what intelectual disability is all about”

“the imbalance of respect in the autistic community”

“the consequences of poor restraining”

wrong planet for those who like archive.. can’t look through it personally bc no account

[there be outdated language. it 2014. n also disabled ppl allow call self whatever they want including severely disabled severely low functioning people. know people who call self that now. if you so hung up on “right language” you refuse bear through your own discomfort to read through people actually living it then assume you part of problem.]

[imaginarylungfish]

i need to remember i am sensitive and things will hurt. avoiding the hurt is useless. it's inevitable. so rather than using all my energy to avoid it, i can accept and let the hurt happen. i can let myself hurt. i can feel my pain. i will be okay.

[4evrgreeny]

Image description

A meme with the caption "When you meet a person who understands autism"

The image below the caption is of a screen shot from a marvel movie (sorry idk which) with Tony Stark gesturing to Bruce Banner. Tony Stark is saying "finally someone who speaks English"

End of image description

I've said it before and I'll continue to say it till the day I die, but the communication differences between allistics (non-autistics) and autistics feels more like a language barrier rather than of a simple series of misunderstandings and miscommunications.

Idk how to describe it, but when I talk to someone who doesn't speak autism, it feels like talking to someone from an alternate universe, where English formed with different meanings and definitions than the one I speak, similar enough to sound like the English I speak, but different enough to make effective communication nearly impossible.

Yeah we're both speaking English, but despite me saying 4 times now that I only asked why they were doing [x] in that way is because I was simply curious, and not because I think they're stupid, or that I think they're doing it wrong, or anything like that, they're still mad at me and are continuing to insist I'm being a judgmental dick.

It's the uncanny valley of language. It's almost something I can understand but not quiet.

Yeah I can understand and define all the words you're using, and you can do the same for what I'm saying, but despite that we're having two entirely different conversations with entirely different interpretations and understandings, and often it feels no matter how much I clarify and explain I'm still not going to be understood.

However when talking to another autistic person, it's like finally being able to talk to someone from your world. Yeah there are still arguments and misunderstandings, but often I feel both like I understand them better and that they understand me better.

It's like the difference between talking on a phone with shitty reception, (the audio is fuzzy as hell, the audio keeps cutting out randomly, and sometimes the call just drops without warning) and talking to someone face to face, in a distraction free, quiet space.

yep

[trashandwriting]

Autism is funny, one moment you're like "I'm fine this is fine I'm actually so great I wonder if I even have autism or if I'm gaslighting myself" and then the tiniest change happens and you're all like askebhdbejsvfbdied

[spacefaringamoeba]

I hate that I'm considered "high functioning". I barely qualify for any "level" of disability in my country and I will never get a disability income. Yes. I'm able to go to work. But I will not be able to hold it for more than a few months before getting burned out and having daily meltdowns. No, having 10 minutes extra work break won't help me. Neither will wearing headphones or carrying fidgets. I'm literally not able to work 40h a week without severe negative consequences... How do i fucking exist in this society!

[oghellokittyislandadventure]

Guys I had to cut my hair off for health/medical reasons. Please tell me I'm hot. I just got a new belly tattoo can't wait to show u!!

[theautisticdoctor]

Entry #007

Sensory System

In autism the sensory system is a funny part of the body, it can be hypersensitive or hyposensitive. It can be a kind of a superpower and a disability at the same time. When people think about the senses, they often think about the five senses that do the seeing (visual), hearing (auditory), smelling (olfactory), tasting (gustatory), and feeling (tactile), but there are three more systems in the body that take in information for the brain to process and acts on it. It are the balancing and coordination (vestibular), the positioning (proprioception), and the information from inside the body (interoception).

I won't be explaining the visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactile senses separately. I think they are pretty self-explanatory, in contrary to the vestibular, proprioception and interoception senses. Generally there are three categories in how people can perceive the information through their senses, they can be normosensitive, hypersensitive and / or hyposensitive. It is not one fits all, you can be hyposensitive and be stimulating it yourself, but then suddenly get overstimulated after all. It is a journey to find out how you react and how to balance your systems. But know that all the systems work together, for example your visual system works together with your auditory and vestibular system. I have drawn out the links I have found up until now how my systems work together, so that if one system gets overstimulated it could have some effect on another system for me.

Vestibular

The vestibular sense is the sense of stability, balance, movements and position of the head on the body. It works together with the visual system to make sure your eyes look in the right direction while moving your head and to correlate movements registered with what's being seen.

Proprioception

Proprioception is the possibility to perceive the position of your extremities. It gets registered by the mechanoreceptors in the tendons of your muscles and together with the visual and vestibular system it makes sure someone can coordinate movements with correct force. It is partly conscious and partly unconscious regulated, and is responsible for body position, reflexes, movement coordination, correct tone of muscles and stability. People with autism can often have trouble with correctly positioning their body, stability and coordination of movements. This is partly because of the two other senses as well, but also because of a hyposensitivity to the mechanoreceptors in the tendons.

Interoception

Interoception includes the thermoception (possibility to perceive temperature and regulates body temperature) and the nociception (possibility to perceive pain), as well as all the other bodily sensations like hunger, thirst, pain, toilet urge, flatulence, intra-abdominal gas, nausea, etc. Notice that pain is listed twice, as 'nociception' and as 'other bodily sensation'. This is because nociception is a complex thing. Nociception is pain through a stimulus within a tissue by either thermal, chemical or mechanical. But pain can also derive from other sources, for example pain from nerves is called neuropathic pain. It's a separate study on its own, but the distinction could be relevant, because for example, I'm hyposensitive to nociception and hypersensitive to neuropathic pain stimuli. Meaning, I won't feel I'm overstretching my muscles and creating an inflammation around or even doing a little damage to a nerve. Ending up with a neurogenic inflammation pain and sensory loss across an entire nerve branch for weeks, which is excruciating for me. But hey, I was able to bend my arm backwards and get that paper from behind the cupboard without moving it.

Integration

It's useful to make an inventory in what categories one is hypo- or hypersensitive for certain stimuli and what practical problems it creates for you. Beneath this sensory system inventory worksheet I have included mine too, so you have an example as well.

Mine looks something like this:

It's probably not finished yet, but I thought I might already share it. How I think my sensory system works together or influences each other for me, that I found out up until now (the faint and bolder green lines are both interactions):

[bunnieswithknives]

The moment you start throwing around a slur as a genuine insult you are no longer reclaiming it. Reclaiming a word involves referring to yourself with it in a positive manner, using it to spread community and trying to remove the feelings of shame around it. If you are using it as an insult you are not fucking reclaiming it, you are just using a slur.

[psychiatricwarfare]

autism is so fucking hated, you arent allowed to be high functioning because youre "faking it", you arent allowed to be low functioning because youre "faking it" and all of us are expected to just try harder and "stop acting stupid" (which is extra insidious when intellectual disabilities are so commonly comorbid with autism)

oh you need some help with getting things done? grow up

oh you need someone to remind you to shower/take meds/etc? grow up

oh youre nonverbal/nonspeaking or lose speech at times? just Talk

oh you Cant Eat unless its This Specific Food? grow up

oh you dont understand when something is dangerous? stop being stupid

oh you need lots of help with bADLs? youre a leech. do it yourself

oh you need a caregiver in order to keep yourself alive? youre so dramatic, everyone else manages just fine without one, why cant you?

oh you can get around for the most part in day-to-day life but need extra support in some areas? youre just exaggerating, youre not really autistic

autistic people are literally never allowed to just exist in society. we are always expected to prove something, whether thats being autistic or being human beings that deserve respect

youre either not autistic enough or too autistic for allistics and its really fucking annoying. autism is a real disability and those of us who are autistic live with it every single day. it can be extremely disabling or it can be a bit of a nuisance or it could be both or somwhere in between or fluctuate depending on the day

stop shaming autistic people for being autistic in a way you dont like or arent used to seeing. that goes for everyone, other autistic people included