pigeon-cave - Tumblr blog

[pigeon-cave]

Survey About Support Needs Labels

Hi all! I have autism with level 2 social-communication difficulties and level 3 restricted repetitive behaviors. I mostly post in Reddit MSN/HSN autism communities, but I was recently made aware of this community.

I like surveys a lot, and the Reddit communities that I'm in have recently had several surveys that touched on support needs labels. It got me thinking about what people mean when they say they have "low support needs" or "moderate support needs." For example, what kind of daily life support needs do people have? How is it affected by their autism symptoms? What about their overall support needs, taking into account co-occurring health conditions?

I created a survey to see what other people think! I'll share the results when I have them. I'm curious if Tumblr and Reddit autism communities tend to agree on support needs labels or if the different communities have different ideas of what the labels mean. I'm also really curious if people who are undiagnosed, those with level 1 diagnoses, and those with level 2 or 3 diagnoses (or those from countries that don't use the level system but have LSN compared to MSN/HSN) all respond differently. I'd really appreciate if people could take the survey and especially if you could also show it to people that you know!

If you already took the survey on Reddit, you don't need to retake it here (it's a different link but the same questions), but I'd still appreciate you reblogging it!

Thank you!

[pigeon-cave]

Flashback Friday: Originally posted April 8, 2020

It's scary that this kit exists. It compares autism to cancer, tells parents to not accept their child's autism, tells them to mourn their VERY LIVING child because they're not neurotypical, and on and on. It's so disturbing.

[pigeon-cave]

How important is eye contact when you're not actually in the same room? My mom video called me while I was doing art homework and she said I clearly wasn't very talkative or paying attention (to be fair, I am not good at carrying conversation, especially on the phone, but I thought I was paying a normal amount of attention) because I was looking at my homework rather than the screen. I was listening to her though, and answering all her questions. I didn't feel like looking at the screen factored into how well I was paying attention to her. What do y'all think?

[pigeon-cave]

Hey, you are not an embarrassment for not knowing how to do certain household chores/basic self-care. They do not come naturally to us. A lot of it takes practice! Maybe you had a neglectful guardian. Maybe you had one that was very coddling and never thought to teach you. Maybe you haven't lived in a place where these things were available to you or needed. Doesn't matter. It's okay to not know and far more common than you might realise.

That said, this website provides very simple instructions on how to do everyday tasks such as making your bed, using a washing machine, cooking different foods, washing dishes, taking a shower, etc. All you have to do is use the search bar to find the task you're struggling with, and it'll come up with what you need + other related how-to's:)

If you're having trouble navigating it, let me provide you with some examples:

How to clean dishes by hand

How to make your bed (with visual demonstrations of each step!)

How to fold clothes (with visual demonstrations of each step!)

How to take a shower & dry yourself off (also provides ways to shave beards, armpits, legs and genitals)

How to shave legs, armpits, beards, pubic areas, etc. (a more in-depth guide)

How to mop the floor

How to sweep the floor

How to swallow pills

How to make small talk

How to make eye contact in different situations (or how to avoid it while still looking natural)

It's also perfectly okay if these don't help or aren't appealing to you. Unfortunately, nothing helps everyone.

[pigeon-cave]

“You shouldn’t self-ID as ADHD/autistic, you’re turning a very real mental condition into a trend” Ok then stop saying delulu. Stop speculating on which cluster C personality disorder the criminals you hear about on the news have. Stop saying “schizoposting” and “acoustic” and “is it restarted?” Stop using “psycopath” and “sociopath” as catch-all ways of calling someone a bad person. Stop saying “the intrusive thoughts won” when you bleach your hair and then turn your nose up at people who suffer from very real, very scary urges of physical/sexual violence. Stop saying “I’m so OCD” as a way of calling yourself neat. Stop treating BPD/ASPD/Bipolar as inherently abusive. Stop saying “OP I am living in your walls” without tagging for unreality. Stop diagnosing complete strangers you’ve never met on r/AITA with narcissism.

You first. If you don’t want our disabilities to be treated like trends then stop belittling and minimising them. I’ll NEVER judge a person for trying find labels for their symptoms when an apathetic, racist, sexist, ableist healthcare system refuses to. But I will absolutely judge a hypocrite. Which a lot of you are

[pigeon-cave]

in recognition of World Down Syndrome Day on March 21

[pigeon-cave]

My mom said she wonders if my autism is because she didn’t breastfeed me. Could it be a factor? I’ve never heard of it before.

[pigeon-cave]

If you don't want to call yourself disabled, that's fine, you know your own experiences. But it's reductive and inconsiderate to claim other autistic people are "putting themself into a victim box" by calling themselves disabled. To me (and many, many other people), autism is a disability. It has its positive aspects, and without it I wouldn't be me, but it also absolutely makes a lot of things harder for me. That's why it's classified as a disorder. Please do not treat it like it's just a personality trait.

It's okay to have a disability/disorder. Disability ≠ "victim box".

Being autistic doesnt mean I'm disabled. I don't suffer. I just have it. It's part of my personality and that's okay. Stop putting me and yourself into a victim box!

[pigeon-cave]

shortened version of that old post of mine I just reblogged:

non-verbal: permanent state of being where you’re unable to speak, or speak very rarely.

semi-verbal: permanent state of being where you struggle to speak, strongly dislike speaking, and do not speak often

situational/selective mutism: an anxiety disorder that makes you unable to speak in certain settings or around certain people

speech loss episode: an inability to speak for a certain period of time for reasons unrelated to anxiety. often experienced by autistic people

[pigeon-cave]

I think that special interests are actually a disabling part of autism

I'm tired of people (allistic and autistic) saying that it's bad that special interests are 'pathologised' because passions are good. This is because that comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of what a special interest is. Special interests are not just things you like a lot, they are 'highly fixated interests abnormal in intensity or focus'. For me (and pretty much everyone with autism I've asked about it), this means that special interests are basically your whole life. For me, my special interest is ASD. I think about autism all the time. It's the only thing I find interesting, and every thought I have can be linked to autism in some way. This is pretty disabling to me because it makes it way harder to talk about and do stuff that isn't related to my special interest.

It makes making friends really hard because, on top of my social challenges, I also don't know how to talk about anything other than my special interest, and I will bring the conversation back to my special interest if I feel comfortable around someone, and just not talk to someone if I don't feel comfortable around them. It also makes doing the things I need to do in life (such as doing work for uni, taking care of myself, cleaning my living space, etc) so much harder because my brain doesn't think it's interesting in the slightest and therefore I have absolutely no motivation to do them.

Maybe my special interests are more extreme than other people's. I wasn't diagnosed with a level, I just got a diagnosis of ASD, but I'm probably on the higher end of level 1, possibly on the lower end of level 2 but I can't really figure that out for myself. However, the ASD diagnostic criteria in both the ICD-11 and DSM-V state that your traits of autism must be causing 'clinically significant impairment' (i.e. they must be disabling) for you to qualify for an ASD diagnosis.

[pigeon-cave]

Can we just stop pretending autism is universally "being kind of quirky disorder" like I'm not one of those doomers about it who are like "autism is SUFFERING" either but can we remember that some of us have difficulties. Due to the disability. Pretty please. Barbara Please. Please Barbara

[pigeon-cave]

So today I hear that someone I know who has ADHD, thinks that ADHD is on the autism spectrum. They also think that we do have things like "superpowers" or just things we're really really good at. This person thinks their "autism" "superpower" is being really good at talking with people. Even when corrected that ADHD is not in fact autism or on the autism spectrum, this person was still adament that it is.

This is not the first time. Or the second. Or the third time that I have to hear people talk about ADHD being on the autism spectrum.

It's not. It's not autism. If overlapping with autism is what it takes to be on the autism "spectrum" then things like schizophrenia or NPD would be considered on the autism spectrum too. But we all know people wouldn't do that because those aren't considered part of the "quirky" disorders. Instead we just continue stigmatizing disorders like them and spreading misinformation.

[pigeon-cave]

I would look into gardening gloves

Hey everyone! One of my followers could really use some help, @violetamaxwell asks:

Hello! I was hoping to ask the community for help via your followers?

Sensory Issues!

Can I ask for some help searching for an item that I *hope* exists?

The idea? Rubber gloves lined in cotton (or something similar). The heavier kind meant to be reused a bunch.

I *loathe* the lining powders and suffocation of rubber, vinyl, latex type gloves. (I have to use some daily, but those are disposable and hated.)

I also can't stand Wet. Swimming is fine, splashes and hand-washing dishes are Not. Damp, ew.

I have several things that I would benefit from using more often, but that would mean handwashing them constantly and I Cannot as of right now.

Gloves *should* help, but gloves also are awful. Got me thinking. The ones I wear for warmth aren't icky- they breathe but also they are *fabric* touching me. I've seen ones meant for longer re-use lined in icky synthetic psuedo-fabrics, does anyone make them lined with cotton?

Wearing them for too long would still get sweaty and yucky but nowhere *near* as awful, just pull them inside out to dry/rinse the lining once in a while.

Thank you for helping!

[pigeon-cave]

Because I think I’ve seen some confusion regarding these two items

[pigeon-cave]

"disability only exists because the world isnt accessible" idk how to tell you this but chronic pain still hurts

[pigeon-cave]

(Long post under cut about the "autism isn't a disability" things I've been seeing)

Ah yes, so fun seeing aspie supremacy back at it again(sarcastic)

This "autism isn't a disability and you're ableist and mean if you try to correct me" mindset I've been seeing on here is just a rebrand of the "autism is a superpower! We're the next stage of human evolution!" aspie rhetoric that I used to see and hear as a kid. It's not okay.

Not only are these people throwing *every* autistic person under the bus(not literal), but they're *especially* harming autistic people who aren't low support needs. If this mindset spreads too far, people might end up losing important supports that they need to *survive*, because guess what? People thinking that autism isn't a disability will make people lose access to disability services!

And also? It's not just the "extreme" symptoms that are disabling. Severe sensory issues are definitely a disability, but... so are mild. The majority of people aren't having meltdowns or getting upset because they touched the wrong texture or had more than 1 background noise going at the same time. Thats a disability. It's called sensory processing *disorder* for a reason. Never learning to walk is definitely a disabling part of autism, but so is being so clumsy that you accidentally injure yourself. That's usually dyspraxia, and it is a developmental coordination *disorder*. Also, asd? Literally stands for autism spectrum *disorder*.

If you aren't disabled by your autism, I wouldn't be certain it is even autism, because what part of being autistic are you left with if you erase all the symptoms? Maybe you're masking, maybe your symptoms are mild, but autism is *always a disability*. That's what makes it autism, and not just silly quirky personality trait.

Low support needs still need support and your level of support is compared to *other autistic people*.

[pigeon-cave]

I am looking into potentially getting a service dog in the future to help with the daily impairments that come with autism, adhd, and anxiety. Does anyone here have experience with this? Do you have any advice for a total beginner?