blackautistics

[blackautistics]

[blackautistics]

Autism and affinity for Structure and Routine

[blackautistics]

Autism and Honesty

[blackautistics]

[blackautistics]

Strengths-based language

Neurological difference

Affinity for structure and routine instead of 'restrictive and repetitive behaviours'

[blackautistics]

[blackautistics]

[blackautistics]

reading an article about autistic burnout, and holy shit

“You may become more inflexible, your ability to ‘mock’ making eye contact may disappear completely, your ability to socialise may be drastically reduced… you may sleep more, want to be on your own more and [want to] bury yourself. Life just gets significantly harder and gravity, as I mentioned before, just pulls you down more and more.”

“The warning signs of Autistic Burnout are actually quite easy to spot if you know what to look for …

A growing lethargy

An increase in irritability

An increase in anxiety

An increase in over-sensitivity to sensory information

A dramatic decrease in sensitivity to sensory information

Heightened Auditory processing disorder

A decrease in verbal language

A decrease in text language

An increase in Shutdowns and heightened withdrawn state

An increase in the frequency and severity of Meltdowns

A diminished ability for the person to self-regulate their emotional state

The slowing down of the thought processes

Brain fog

Memory loss

A decrease in your ability to effectively communicate what you want

A decrease in motivation

An inability to generate momentum of body and of action

An increase of rigidity, narrowing of thinking

A feeling like your vision is tighter or narrower

Extreme forgetfulness

Extreme overwhelm

A massive increase in guilt

An increase in Executive Dysfunction

An increase in Demand Avoidance

“ … Can you see why it’s often mistaken for depression?”

the last few days i’ve been feeling so shitty that i was starting to wonder if i was getting sick, but nope, it’s just my brain not wanting to deal with the world i’ve forced it into

[blackautistics]

Reasons to Employ Autistic people

[blackautistics]

An Intersectional Social Model of Autism

[blackautistics]

Autistic & NEET

Ambitious About Autism's snapshot survey of 119 young people with autism aged 16-25 in March 2014 showed that 27.4% identified themselves as NEET, compared with 14.4% of young people in the general population (16-24)

Only one in four young people surveyed felt they had the support needed to get a job and just 10% thought employers were likely to recruit someone with autism. Most young people (77%) identified that increasing employers’ awareness of autism would make the biggest difference in enabling them to get a job. They also thought there was a need for schools and colleges to actively help them develop the necessary skills to gain employment.

[blackautistics]

When current statistics show that African American children are diagnosed with autism sometimes as late as two years later than white children, we need to discover more ways to intentionally include advocates who look like those little black boys and girls. When reports show that regressive autism may occur as much as 50% more in black children than in white children, our community must do a better job at reflecting diversity by including the voices of black autists into the main stream so that parents and children have someone to identify with.

[blackautistics]

Autism and Mental Illness

What contributes to the widespread occurrence of mental illness among the Autistic population?

Camouflaging our authentic Autistic selves to fit in, and lifelong exposure to stigmatisation, discrimination and exclusion. - Reframing Autism

Being #ActuallyAutistic means having to learn social skills which come naturally to non-autistics. I grew up copying people on TV and in films, as well as other children. I learnt scripts of what to say in conversations and what was appropriate and not. This was exhausting. - emkburke

The downside of pattern recognition is the anxiety though. It can really affect your mental health when you pick up on worrying social patterns, but you don't have good enough social skills to be able to address the patterns. - whimsicalstims

Stars that burn bright die fast.

That analogy may be applicable to autistic people, as the effort some autistic people take to function according to societal expectations and to keep up appearances comes at the expense of our mental and physical health. -

[blackautistics]

Comments about Picu

10 min activity - Bullet point on Red, Green & Yellow Post-its what they know about Autism or experiences they've had with Autism.

Picu was not a low-stimuli environment:

autistic people can have trouble filtering out noise

anxiety in social situations:

The communal dining room was a social space.

During supervised uses of pens and pencils I asked the accompanying staff not to make small talk.

The importance of music for sensory and emotional regulation:

"Music is my number one tool for sensory and emotional regulation. It lets me block out or cancel unpleasant stimulus. I can even adjust/change my emotional state with a perfectly selected song." - Neuro Rebel

Information processing

I am highly verbal but there may be times when autistuc patients struggle to identify their emotions and feelings on demand. It's important to augment communication with writing tools to aid self expression &/or help formulate requests for those who may be alexithymic, selectively mute or generally socially anxious.

Supervised uses of pens in isolation need to be approved under these communicative circumstances.

Stimming

Exposing myself to the cold by taking walks in the garden without a coat on during a winter month.

Pacing up and down or walking around in circles. These motions can be very therapeutic.

Burpees and shadow boxing to ease feelings of restlessness

Rubbing my fluffy Teddy bear material blanket

Wearing my Teddy bear material dressing gown and fluffy socks

Running my hands under shower water to help regulate my emotions.