#ActuallyAutistics

[youronlyoneofcl]

I agree. I ask not because I am impatient but because I want to plan before I lose my wits.

Also, if I know a specific time frame then I know when to follow up--and not look impatient. If I followed-up after the time they told me and they get angry, well …

If they can not give a time frame, I ask if I can do something else somewhere else and just come back an hour or two or three later (and not fall in line again in some cases). If they say 'yes', that's cool. If they say 'no', I start to get uneasy … specially if there are too many people and it's noisy.

[vagabondbones]

So I’ve been thinking about my (possible? probable?) autism lately

(My psychiatrist thinks I might have autism, but would like me to be properly evaluated and I can’t afford that at the moment. I personally find it very helpful to frame pieces of my behaviour and ways of thinking as autistic, so… here we are.)

So I’m making myself a master post of things that uh, are probably a case of the old ‘tism, as I realize them. I always find it very funny in retrospect that I didn’t know that sooner, so… yeah. I’ll separate this in reposts because this makes it easier to organize somehow??

However!!! If you have insight on any of this??? Please please let me know 😭 genuinely don’t assume I know, because uh, I mostly don’t 😂

[pigeon-cave]

Diagrams are helpful to me

[she-waves-at-cats]

I think it needs to become common knowledge that "inability to read social cues" can show up as overcompensating.

You don't know how much misbehaviour is allowed, so you become the perfect child who never tests rules.

You don't know if someone is irritated with you, so you'll be extra generous and self-effacing.

You don't know how much is expected of you at work so you'll kill yourself in a minimum-wage job and not notice that nobody else is working like this.

"Hardworking and quiet" should be as much of an autism red flag as "ignores rules and doesn't know when to stop talking". Or why don't we just start using words to communicate so i can stop tracking everybody's eyebrow twitches, that would be great.

[disabledprincesses]

Non-autistics living with autistics:

They keep eating the same freaking food and it frustrates me so much! We can't have the "big scary light" on just lamps everywhere! Even when I try to find peace by doing stuff with them they just ignore me and do whatever they want. They can't even do the simplest of things like go with me to the grocery store every week! How do people expect them to survive in society??

Autistics living together:

So as long as we get my 10 packets of this really specific food, and some snacks, I'll be okay. Also is it cool if you go to the grocery store? I can clean the bathroom since thats bad sensory for you and the store is bad sensory for me. Can you turn on the lamp instead of the big light? It gives me a headache. Thanks man. Yea I'll unplug the TV for you since you can hear the high pitched noise. Do you want to do two separate things in the same room as bonding again this evening? Thats my favorite part of the day too.

[aw-tysm]

What frustrates me with being an "out of sight, out of mind" person is that people tend to love suggesting notepads, diaries, apps, lists, anything that you can write reminders in. But my kind of "out of sight, out of mind" extends to that as well. Truly. If it is not in my sight, it is not in my mind. And you know what happens when you close a book or an app? It is not longer in sight.

[raccooninapartyhat]

every now and again i think "surely it can't be that weird for a child to sort things, it has to be something every child does"

and then i remember that my mother finally had an allistic child after two autistic kids in a row and was baffled and annoyed to find out she couldn't just keep him occupied by sticking a box of unsorted buttons in front of him and let him sort them

like my mother thought, exactly like i do sometimes, that surely every child must just sit there and sort whatever is in front of them but no, actually, most of my non autistic peers didn't do this and thought i was a fucking weirdo for doing it

anyway i still struggle to believe that most people don't find deep enjoyment in sitting there and arbitrarily sorting shit. what do they even do if they need to do data entry? do they just suffer? weirdos.

[ka3l]

[youronlyoneofcl]

Seriously?! For real?!!

All this time whenever I use those words/phrases I meant it literally so I'm expecting the same when other people use it.

People I followed up must have been annoyed at me. T_T

Neurotypicals / non-autistics, why do you have such a complicated way of communicating? Why don't you just say whatever it is your want to say/mean?

[thatkinkyautistic]

Autism acceptance includes accepting all autistic manners of communication.

That means supporting autistic people who talk in a "very childish" way. (I do this a lot irl)

Autistic people who do "TV talking" (this means talking like a character from your favorite media,basically talking in quotes and copying their speech patterns,as far as I know)

Autistic people who use echolia.

Autistic people who are very awkward/quirky when they communicate.

Autistic people who are overly technical,or have very sophisticated and articulate speech.

Autistic people who mumble.

Autistic people who talk really fast.

Autistic people who can't control their tone of voice/inflection.

Autistic people who talk in a monotone voice.

Autistic people who use different kind of sounds,or body language to communicate.

Autistic people who talk slowly and draw out their syllables.

Autistic people who use a lot of sentance fillers.

Autistic people who use Aac devices,communication cards,etc etc.

Edit: acceptance of nonverbal autistics is also necessary. Nonverbal people deserve love,respect,acceptance,accommodation and support.

[crystalldragon]

[defectivegembrain]

I bring a sort of "can't read social cues" vibe to every social situation that I can't tell if anyone likes or not

[theconcealedweapon]

What an autistic person says: "How long is it going to take?"

What they mean: "I want to know whether to activate my short term waiting mode where I just wait and do nothing else, or activate my long term waiting mode where I occupy my mind with something else. I fully understand that both are possibilities, and I have no problem whatsoever with either one, but I want more information so I can best adapt to the situation."

What neurotypical people hear: "I am impatient and demand that everything I want happen right now. Please scold me and publicly humiliate me for it."

[cadaverkeys]

SLEEPSOMNIA!

A short comic about comorbidity rates between autism and various sleep disorders, from autistic people's own reports and accounts of their experiences.

I originally made this for #asdcomictakeover 2023, but my schedule was woeful and I didn't get it finished until many months after autistic acceptance month. But I figured I should have it somewhere on the internet before 2024 rolls around. Thanks for reading! Please understand that I'm just one person and I'm by no means a medical authority. This is not a diagnostic tool, but it does highlight the reality that many autistic people face with chronically disordered sleep patterns. I hope it can help for autistic people to seek help and feel understood if they fall into these comorbidities.

[theorahsart]

Way way back I drew a comic explaining what we really mean by ‘The Autism Spectrum’ and posted it here back when Tumblr was Huge. Then the comic really blew up!! Last year I did a remake of the comic, with some updated language, and using Mia, a character from a graphic novel I made. Figured I’d share for Autism Acceptance Month!

[aw-tysm]

"All autistics have low empathy" - This statement is wrong.

"Autistics having low empathy is a MYTH, we actually have HIGH empathy!" - This statement is ALSO wrong.

Autistics can have low empathy, they can have high empathy, they can have learned empathy. The myth would be that all autistics only experience one end of the empathy spectrum.

In spreading around misinformation that autistics actually have high empathy, you are disregarding the autistics who do have low empathy. And vice versa.