#Autistic Girls Network (Facebook)

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Welp… 😐

Here’s a blank if you want to participate!

Autistic Girls Network

[sideblogforquery-argh]

People are not using pronouns, using wrong words, but I don’t remind anyone verbally. TW: Su1cide, s3lf h4rm, anorex1a mentions.

TLDR at bottom, I appreciate if anyone reads this or has any advice. Other key points in bold.

I’m sorry this is so long, and I promise this is about nonbinary stuff, but there are Complications, if you will:

1. Autistic doormat. (Professionally diagnosed)

2. Anxious and hates confrontation of any kind.

3. Chronic pain that stops me from going places and doing things.

4. Long history of depression, anxiety, s3lf h4rm, su1cide attempts.

5. Speak in a high pitched voice (not natural, forced again by anxiety of being viewed as competent and mature and not having my limitations taken seriously)

6. Have feminine mannerisms.

7. Have a very slight build and feminine features.

8. I have not had IRL friends for ten years, or online friends for about six.

9. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

10. Underweight, low key restrictive eating disorder (I will gladly maintain current weight, but comment on my body, eating habits or try to feed me more and the anorex1a says Hello. Also maintaining low weight to avoid “filling out” as much as possible in breast area.)

I’m 25 and nonbinary. I’ve known I was nonbinary since 2014/2015. I had come out verbally to my mom many years ago, maybe around 2017. Came out to brother via a written sign on my door and then a short verbal confirmation in late spring last year. At my high school graduation last year (age 24) I had my write up read aloud by the principal include “I look forward to being my authentic enby self” and I wore a pronoun pin and necklace. My grandparents were also at the ceremony. I reactivated my Facebook account and posted an artistic image and write up explaining my pronouns, name, etc. I have a variety of pride and pronoun items, pins on my backpack, a They/Them pronoun necklace, a keychain. I usually have some sort of sign declaring my pronouns and sometimes my name on my door. I even attended my local Pride parade and festival last August with my mom. Also since coming out I have explored neopronouns and I like to use Ae/Aer for myself.

Now, as mentioned at the very top, I am a doormat. I hate being bother, I have had huge mental and physical health challenges. I always want to help, to do things, I’ve been trapped at home with no pain free or easy way to go into town. I’ve been alone for a very long time, not attending school, and then trying to do it by myself online. I am also AFAB and I generally don’t present in a “gender non-conforming” matter. (Put in quotes because I am not a girl) Just the other night, there was a talking head on the news who’s name was Tiana* and my mom gleefully exclaimed “her name is Tiana*, she has the same name as you! You almost never hear anyone with the name Tiana*!”

ANYWAYS, to the point, I can never manage to bring myself to verbally remind anyone to use my pronouns. I can’t discuss my dysphoria with anyone, including my counsellor, which has really increased in the last few months. My counsellor had to be told what gender dysphoria is, and he’s trying but I don’t feel comfortable talking to him about it. My PMDD is also not only making my mental health in general really mad, but increasing my gender dysphoria. I have tried birth control for this, and it resulted in a suicide attempt.

I came out a year ago now to the wider family network / world, but it feels like everyone has completely ignored that fact. I came out of the closet, but a new, iron maiden style one has been built around me by anyone and everyone who perceives “me.”

I put “me” is quotation marks because it’s not actually me that anyone is seeing or talking to, it’s the mirage of a past person. I just feel so weak and pathetic, I don’t speak up for myself, I just let it happen. I don’t exist, not according to how I am referred to my people the vast majority of the time. They/them does get used at home frequently, but more often it’s my birth name. I’ve gone through waves of uncomfortable indifference to just feeling really shitty, having an abuse of use of that name, where now I am starting to not feel neutral but dislike it. It’s always, “Tiana* this”, and “it’s in Tiana’s* room,” “I think Tiana* has it, don’t you?”

I just feel hopeless. I don’t see myself ever being able to exist as actually myself. If I can’t remind my family in my safe home to use my pronouns; or that I want to use a different name, OR that (body pain permitting) I’d probably like to have my breasts and nipples removed; how am I supposed to reminded anyone else? The massage therapist, the doctor, the other pain specialist, the orthopaedic surgeon, the counsellor, the psychiatrist, the osteopath, anyone and everyone who I’ve ever met before who just, “she/her’s” and “Tiana*’s” me.

*Tiana is not actually my name, it is used for example purposes only.

TLDR: I have a variety of visual objects and signs that describe my pronouns and nonbinary-ness, but I have almost never reminded anyone verbally to use my pronouns and that I am not a girl. The most I can do is squeak out “they” quietly. How can I actually be brave and speak up for myself for once?

[drfirsnogayny]

Introduction

Some important information that is not written in the picture above:

I don't like it when people say "they/them" about me.

I don't indicate my political and civic position, including I do not reblog on this topic.

I am a mentally ill person, although I do not have a diagnosis (my friend suggested that I am autistic), health problems can affect my behavior and mood.

I allow interaction to everyone except sex spambots, however, I forbid you to show any chauvinism towards me, my friends, strangers, or fictional characters (heterophobia and cisphobia are also prohibited).

I am a reserved person, so my gratitude consists of two or three words. Don't expect enthusiastic speeches from me, I can't do this.

My sona looks like this, not like in the picture.

My works

Cleavers cult

Byron Kagita is an evil, harsh, domineering and depraved military man who returned to the city of His childhood to rethink His life. Cleavers Cult is basically His project to help random people figure out their problems. His best friend Howard, who volunteered to help, needs protection, because he is an escaped mutant. Andro is trying to save his wife from the hands of maniacs who constantly call him, while Vincent and Tinj are under pressure from their superiors. In addition, Byron will have to improve relations with His family, which harbored a grudge against Him.

Tags page

Depressive school

Girl Nancy enters the school where her aunt works as head teacher to help her. Her new classmates don't like her, because it's in Nancy's interests to report on her classmates and participate in their punishment… or torture? The girl Myrtle is one of the few who is friendly to Nancy: she wants to use her help in finding Bunny, a maniac boy. And perhaps not only him.

Tags page

Biolitary school

Just Kindergarten 3 AU. The main characters enter a new school with a biological and sports bias with very arrogant local children who perform some of the functions of the staff. Can be deleted or changed.

In connection with the announcement Kindergarten 3, it will be changed.

Tags page

Broadcast Revolution

Restarting an old version of AU. 20 years have passed since the events of Kindergarten. The city is ruled by the Mayor, who can control your consciousness through TVs. Lily and Billy have recently returned to this town, and they intend to stop the Mayor. With the help of their longtime acquaintance, The Guy, they intend to unite everyone they know in this city — their former classmates.

Tag

My social networks

Discord: dr.firsnogayny

Art Fight: Dr.FirsNogayny

I also have Twitter, DeviantArt, Facebook, Amino and VK, but please don't

Tags and TWs:

(May not work correctly)

General

🖌️ Artist on Tumblr vs Not my art & Reblog (Talking reblog & Answer reblog)

Ask blog

Art trade & Gift art & Collab art & Art request

Not my OC & Not my AU & Not my sona

Repost

Redraw

Sketch

Delete later (If you find posts with this tag, you are lucky)

DRFND

Events

🛡️ Art Fight (2023 ● 2024)

Funguary (2024)

My sonas

🐦‍⬛ Raven

🕊️ Zephyr

My universe and AUs

🌻 Biolitary school

🔪 Cleavers cult

🩸 Depressive school

🎤 Hilsod

✉️ Penitent (no one post yet)

Fandoms

📼 Amanda the Adventurer

🐱 Castle Cats & 🐶 Dungeon Dogs

🍎 Kindergarten 1 & 2

😭 The Binding of Isaac = TBoI

🎭 The Phantom of the Opera

Trigger warning

If you don't like seeing content on these topics, block #tw 'tag name' (for example, #tw blood)

The full list of tags is here

Ships

Block this tag (for example, #anna x bob) if you don't like this ship.

The full list of tags is here.

[drrogerjou]

CASY Cultural Autism Studies at Yale (the ethnography project led by Dr. Dawn Prince-Hughes) is delighted to welcome Samantha Chipman, MA on Friday, November 15, 3-4 p.m. EST (12-1 p.m. PST). There is no cost to attend, and international participants are welcome. RSVP online though our borderless Meetup group https://tinyurl.com/245u475u

DESCRIPTION: A Brief Introduction to Autism Narratives + what I wish I knew before I was diagnosed. A term that means differently in varying contexts, Autism is inflected by medical definitions, narratives, personal experiences, and other aspects of society, culture, medicine, and healthcare. In this dialogue, I will discuss how to integrate Autism narratives to provide healthcare for Autists. As one of many women with a late Autism diagnosis, I will also share some of my reflections on my Autism journey in order to open an interactive discussion on alternate models of engagement that de-centers a deficit-only view of Autism.

BRIEF BIO (provided by the speaker): A disability advocate and Chinese adoptee, Samantha Chipman focuses on cognitive approaches to literature, autism and neurodiversity, disability studies, and the health humanities. She has a passion for mobilizing the interconnections between literature, bioethics, and archival research to advance disability justice and health equity in educational and healthcare environments. An English PhD student and Bioethics certificate candidate at Emory University, she has written and presented about various topics including epistemic injustices experienced by women and girls with autism, decolonizing autism, the AI ethics of autism diagnosis, restorative justice in healthcare settings, and narrative ethics. Samantha is also co-founder of Intersecting Minds: A NeuroHumanities & Consciousness Collective, a collaborative, welcoming, and inclusive space for individuals interested in the neurohumanities and consciousness studies.

About CASY Cultural Autism Studies at Yale (the ethnography project led by Dr. Dawn Prince-Hughes). An 'ethnography' is an exploration of how a group of people express themselves in a cultural way. Autistic people have a growing kind of culture, and each autistic experience is a vital part of it. Dr. Dawn Prince-Hughes is an anthropologist, ethnographer, primatologist, and author who is autistic. Join her for an exploration of the importance of autistic self-expression and the culture that grows from it. Those who wish to share their content are free to do so on our private Facebook group (see below), organically contributing to a growing autistic culture.

Links to online events will also be shared on these private Facebook groups: SOCIAL CONNECTIVITY FOR AUTISM (http://tinyurl.com/mrxnxmnc) or CASY Cultural Autism Studies at Yale (http://tinyurl.com/4ckbyut7).

CREDITS: The preparation of this material was financed under an agreement with the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities (CTCDD). CASY Sparks membership, activities and events are free. CASY Sparks is sponsored in part by The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Adult Autism Research Fund, and a generous gift from the Rosen family, and the research of Dr. Roger Jou, including Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research (SPARK) Clinical Site Network - Yale University (https://www.SPARKforAutism.org/Yale).

[mmmthornton]

Your post about having the opposite reaction of what men expect is so true! There was this guy in high school who would go around pestering all the girls the same way and then claim he was just joking! and I, an autistic highschooler, believed him that it was a funny joke that was not meant to offend so I did it back at him and when I tell you he was FURIOUS

Omg that's a great reversal; this kid sounds like a tool. Good for you even inadvertently for messing with his schtick by turning it back on him!

Yeah i figured it out when i was working as a journalist at an event and when i was charging my phone in the press room one of the other men there covering it tried to creep me out, telling me he'd looked up my name on my business cards (a press room is just as much about networking as it is the event itself and everyone left business cards in the room for that reason), and that he'd stalked my Facebook page. In front of one of the press coordinators. Idk why exactly - maybe it was the fight I'd had with a friend that morning, maybe it was a lack of caffeine, whatever - but i realized something looking at the smirk on his face. He WANTED to put on a show of defending himself from creepy behavior accusations, maybe in front of people. He wanted to make the one woman in the room feel uncomfortable and insecure, and he probably already had some "lines" memorized about how he was a nice guy and all and i "shouldn't take it so seriously!" I looked at him and saw a long line of men who used apparent befuddlement at the reaction to their "simple" gaffes as a barrier for other, worse accusations, smirking while they did it.

And i didn't want a part of it.

"Oh i don't put my Facebook on my card for a reason. I just use it to talk to family members. If you wanna connect online I have my Twitter handle written out; that has more of my professional activity. I don't use it much socially but y'know, it's become the norm of social media in the industry and all."

Here i saw him falter a little. "Uhhhh...well i searched your name and found your profile! You have a lot of stuff public and. Uh. I was looking at it."

"Yeah my older relatives don't really know how to use Facebook too well. My Twitter has more of my writing activities. You should follow me there."

He seemed really confused more than anything about my reaction and kept trying to double down on how he'd looked me up and he"didn't want to make me uncomfortable". Bullshit lol.

Eventually he left and turned to the organizer in the room - who i think had tuned the entire conversation out - and told him to make sure that guy wasn't invited back or they'd absolutely have some kind of incident of harassment worse than that. When i explained to him that the guy was LOOKING for a particular emotional response - in this case disgust - it sort of snapped to me that this is really how A LOT of men operate.

[indelibleevidence]

I wish parents would give their kids some basic respect, in this era of social media. :/

Full disclosure: I don't have kids. But I was raised before social media, and thank god I was, because I bet my mother would have been one of the parents I'm talking about.

I have a friend on Facebook - more of a friend-of-a-friend, we occasionally used to be at the same social gatherings because we knew a few of the same people. Her daughter is now thirteen, and she's somewhere on the autistic spectrum, which gives her a lot of everyday struggles with meltdowns, picky eating, anxiety, etc. But this woman just posts all of it to her Facebook timeline - like, she has NO filter. I've only met her kid two or three times, back when she was much, much younger, but I know more about this girl's behaviour than I do my own family's.

Imagine being thirteen, which is a really self-conscious age, and discovering that your mother has posted every detail of your last meltdown on Facebook, for every one of the people on her friends list to potentially read and weigh in on. I felt bad enough when I was that age, when I overheard my mother discussing me with ONE of her friends. An entire crowd of people, including strangers, would have been way too much for me.

I get it - being a parent is tough, especially if you have a neurodivergent child, and you need a support network around you. But it makes me so uncomfortable on the behalf of the kids. It's not like when you have a pet peeing on the rug, and you ask the internet what's the best approach to stop them from doing it. Kids and teenagers deserve more privacy and respect than that. Talk about it with a few trusted friends on WhatsApp or something, or in person, or by email or private message. Don't just blast it for everyone you've ever met to hear. :/

[mongoose232323]

Apparently After Finding Out That 16-Yr Old Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Was Nominated For The Nobel Peace Prize, Whiny-Ass Bitch Donald Trump Went On A Tirade About How The Award Was Rigged Against Him, And He Has Done So Much To Deserve It. I Guess That Includes Saying Joe Biden And His Son Deserve The Electric Chair For Joe’s Son Working In The Ukraine While Joe Was VP, Oh And Never Mind That Ivanka Trump, His Daughter While Representing The US Is Partnering Deals With China For Her Tariff-Free Clothing Line.

Well, Fox News Went Into Full Attack Mode Defending Donald Trump Against The 16-Yr Old Climate Activist By Calling Her Mentally Ill, Laura Ingraham Said Greta Was A Child From The Corn, Trump Sycophant And Felon, Dinesh D’Souza Compared Greta Thunberg To Young People Featured In Nazi Propaganda, By Sharing A Photo Of Greta Alongside An Illustration Of A Caucasian Girl Sporting Braided Hair And Holding A Nazi flag.

THESE ARE GROWN-ASS PEOPLE ATTACKING A 16-YR OLD GIRL!!

And Of Course Trump Went On To Mock Her Last Night On His Nightly Twitter Rants..

From The Article

Michael Knowles had just finished discussing why he believes meatless diets may be worse for the environment during a Fox News segment about climate change on Monday night when he suddenly pivoted to one of the day’s biggest stories.

“None of that matters because the climate hysteria movement is not about science,” said the conservative pundit and Daily Wire podcast host. “If it were about science, it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left.”

Knowles, much to the dismay of many viewers and his fellow Fox News guest, was referring to teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, who just hours earlier made headlines for delivering an impassioned message to global leaders at the United Nations. The 16-year-old has been open about being diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, embracing it as her “superpower.”

Amid the intense blowback over Knowles’s remarks Monday night after a clip of the show went viral, Fox News apologized to Thunberg.

“The comment made by Michael Knowles who was a guest on The Story tonight was disgraceful — we apologize to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers,” a spokesperson for the network told The Washington Post in a statement.

Fox News also said it has “no plans” to book Knowles.

Knowles did not respond to a request for comment late Monday but defended himself on Twitter, writing: “There is nothing shameful about living with mental disorders. What is shameful is exploiting a child — particularly a child with mental disorders — to advance your political agenda.”

Thunberg has called the condition a “gift” and credited it with sparking her activism.

“Some people mock me for my diagnosis. But Asperger is not a disease, it’s a gift. People also say that since I have Asperger I couldn’t possibly have put myself in this position. But that’s exactly why I did this,” she wrote on Facebook in February. “Because if I would have been ‘normal’ and social I would have organized myself in an organisation, or started an organisation by myself. But since I am not that good at socializing I did this instead. I was so frustrated that nothing was being done about the climate crisis and I felt like I had to do something, anything.”

The network’s apology comes as conservatives have ramped up their broadsides against Thunberg, who traveled to the United States earlier this month on a solar-powered sailboat and has since been chastising powerful politicians about their inaction on climate change. In a widely reviled tweet over the weekend, conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza compared Thunberg to young people featured in Nazi propaganda, sharing a photo of the Swedish teen alongside an illustration of a Caucasian girl sporting braided hair and holding a Nazi flag. On Monday, Sebastian Gorka, the former Breitbart editor and White House aide, labeled Thunberg as an “autist child.”

Even President Trump weighed in late Monday with a tweet that many took as sarcastic.

“She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future,” Trump tweeted shortly after 11:30 p.m., sharing a video of Thunberg delivering her fiery address at the U.N. climate summit. “So nice to see!”

Knowles made his statements about Thunberg while appearing on the “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” and his description of the teenager instantly sparked a rebuke from liberal radio host Christopher Hahn, who had also been invited on as a guest.

“How dare you?” Hahn could be heard interjecting.

When Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, who was filling in for MacCallum, gave Hahn the floor, he tore into Knowles.

You’re a grown man and you’re attacking a child,” Hahn said. “Shame on you.”

The pair then began talking over each other as Knowles insisted he wasn’t going after Thunberg, but rather “attacking the left for exploiting a mentally ill child.”

“Now, relax, skinny boy,” Hahn barked, eliciting a noise of surprise from Faulkner and a chuckle from Knowles. “Have some couth when you’re on television. Maybe on your podcast you get away and say whatever you want because nobody’s listening. You’re on national television. Be a grown-up when you’re talking about children.”

Hahn later added: “You are despicable for talking about her like that. You should apologize on national television right now.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/24/fox-news-greta-thunberg-mentally-ill-michael-knowles/?outputType=amp

[cassolotl]

Autistic Survey: Results

As you may be aware due to my splashing this all over my social network presence, I’ve been running a survey of autistic people for 11 days, since January 19th 2017.

There were 1340 usable responses at closing time. This is after I removed one duplicate, removed two or three abusive responses, and removed one at the request of the participant. I promoted on Tumblr, Twitter and Reddit, and I’m aware that others promoted on Facebook on my behalf. There’s a more detailed breakdown of where everyone came from further down.

This survey was ultimately pretty aimless and led by my own curiosity. I wanted to know how we as autistic people tend to think of ourselves, how we identify and describe ourselves, and whether/how we are diagnosed. I wanted to test a few stereotypes that I’ve picked up over the years. I also threw in a couple of questions for my own personal wossname, like monogamy/non-monogamy, and how people feel about Autism Speaks, etc.

I like to do this kind of stuff for fun, and am in no way professionally or academically educated/experienced. Because it’s on the internet, self-selecting, and mostly promoted on a small number of social networks, the results are hella biased and can’t really be held as representative of any group except autistic users of Tumblr, Twitter and Reddit. Still, with over 1,300 responses, I think the results are pretty interesting.

You can see the results in full on Google Sheets here. Beware, it is huge and unwieldy. Feel free to make a copy of the sheet and mess about with the stats however you want; if you publish anything using them I’d appreciate a link back to this blog post. :)

Read on for wild and amateurish speculation!

~

IN RELATION TO THE AUTISM SPECTRUM

I’ve seen people refer to themselves in so many different ways, and with varying capitalisations, so I was curious to see what was most common.

Generally, people preferred not to capitalise autistic, aspie, or autie. People preferred “autism spectrum” over “autistic spectrum”. Aside from that, people overwhelmingly preferred identity-first language - “I am autistic” rather than “I have autism”. The fourth most popular was Asperger’s Syndrome, which I thought was interesting, because my understanding was that it’s slowly being phased out.

The top 5 ways for us to describe ourselves were:

I'm autistic - 66.3%

I'm on the [autism] spectrum - 40.8%

I'm Autistic - 30.9%

I have Asperger's Syndrome - 29.9%

I have an ASD (autism spectrum disorder or autistic spectrum disorder) - 23.1%

It’s also worth noting that this question let you choose more than one answer, and lots of people chose both capitalisations. By this I mean that it was not uncommon for one person to choose both “I am autistic” and “I am Autistic”.

~

DIAGNOSIS

For this question, participants could again select as many as applied. I wanted to allow people to, for example, tell us that they had been formally diagnosed in childhood and self-diagnosed later - or that they had been formally diagnosed as a result of self-diagnosing and then being later diagnosed by a specialist.

While the survey was ongoing, I had a conversation with someone who was opposed to self-diagnosis and felt that it shouldn’t have been an option on the form. I didn’t feel I could remove it so late in the game, and anyway I knew that if it hadn’t been an option I would’ve had to process hundreds of people’s manual write-in “i’m self-diagnosed” submissions, so I left that option there.

But I also wanted to acknowledge that self-diagnosis is very context-dependent. The best I could think of doing that wouldn’t take an enormous amount of work was to split the results by all self-diagnosed people (including people who are formally or informally professionally diagnosed) and people who are only self-diagnosed.

Here’s the numbers. Only two people didn’t answer this question.

Formal/professional/medical diagnosis - 49.0%

Self-diagnosis (all) - 45.8%

Self-diagnosis (where only this was selected) - 32.5%

Informal professional diagnosis - 22.5%

Formally diagnosed but not told about it at the time - 11.3%

~

PRE-DIAGNOSIS

I was curious about this because I know a few people who self-diagnosed before they were professionally diagnosed.

This question was single-choice-only, and there was no “other” box. About a third of participants didn’t answer at all - which matches the ~33% who are only self-diagnosed in the last question.

If I had more spoons I might look into whether age plays a part here. A friend of mine suggested that unless you have parents and/or teachers who’re very on-the-ball, you might have to work out what’s going on on your own, and that means that a lot of people might conclude that they’re autistic in their teens - around when a lot of kids are working out, for example, that they’re not straight.

~

AGE

Many graphs! Here’s the ages of all participants:

I feel I should very remind you here that this statistic shows how biased this survey is. This age graph is more representative of the ages of people who use Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook than it is of autism in the general population by age.

This next graph is a bit more fun though:

Age of diagnosis (red) is relatively spread out, because a lot of folks were diagnosed in childhood - presumably before they could work out they were autistic on their own, and instigated by parents who are a bit sensible and pay attention to how their kids are generally in life. The youngest age of diagnosis was 1, and the oldest 55.

You can also see how around the early teens people started to work out that something was up (blue), and there’s a corresponding bump in the red diagnosis line a few years later as those suspicions turn into formal diagnosis for a chunk of people - 22% of people in an earlier question knew that they were autistic before they were formally diagnosed.

Overall the yellow and blue lines suggest that most people worked out they were autistic, like, 3 years ago - in their early teens. And the red line suggests that a bunch of those people got a formal diagnosis soon after. There are a lot of people, about a third, who haven’t got a formal diagnosis, but perhaps this is not surprising - most participants were only in their late teens to early twenties when they took the survey. Since services and support for autistic people are so bad perhaps there’s not much advantage to getting diagnosed, especially if you’ve made it this far maybe not even knowing you’re autistic.

~

GENDER

My fave!

I’m sure a lot of you are aware of the anecdotal overlap between the trans/nonbinary and autistic communities. My gender identity clinic doctor, at the oldest gender identity clinic in the world, says that they see about ten times as many autistic people as are in the general population. And for a long time it was believed that autistic people were more likely to be gay - but now that being gay is more socially acceptable, the numbers are starting to converge. (I don’t have a source for this but I’d love one! If you’ve got it, throw it at me.) I’m curious to know whether there’s anything to suggest a similarity between the autistic-and-queer thing and the autistic-and-trans/nonbinary thing.

Again, this survey is very biased. It’s biased by age group and by the places participants came from, and the fact that it was a self-selecting sample on the internet. It would not be reasonable to extrapolate these figures to the general autistic population. On that note, here we go.

This is as many as I could fit onto the chart and still have all the gender labels showing. Here’s the percentages of the top 10:

nonbinary - 34.1%

woman (or girl if younger) - 33.7%

trans - 24.3%

man (or boy if younger) - 23.3%

transgender - 19.8%

agender - 15.9%

genderqueer - 15.8%

cisgender - 15.2%

fluid gender/genderfluid - 12.5%

enby - 11.8%

The low number of people identifying as cisgender is not as indicative as I first thought. It occurred to me that a lot of cisgender people wouldn’t describe themselves as such, and might not even know what it means. A lot of people whose genders differ from the ones they were assigned at birth also don’t relate to the trans/cis labels either.

The list of genders was taken from the annual survey of nonbinary people, which includes man and woman. I also added the three autism-related genders that I’ve ever heard of. There were a few comments in the feedback box by people who were annoyed by having to search through the long list for their gender; I’d guess around 5? But only two people skipped the question, so I’d guess the vast majority of people had no practical problems with it, even if a significant number of people may have disliked it. The wording of the question itself was taken from the results of a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who found the following to be most inclusive: “Which of the following describes how you think of yourself?”

I was nosy about biases based on social networks, so I split the top 10 gender identities by social network:

Reddit is notably less diverse, with a significantly smaller percentage than Twitter and Tumblr for every gender identity except cisgender and man/boy. The only reason I can’t say the same for Reddit vs. Facebook is because Facebook respondents were slightly more likely to say they were cisgender.

It’s worth noting that for Twitter there are only 141 responses, so the respondents here are likely only a few degrees of separation from me - and I am aware that my Twitter followership is mostly queer nonbinary people! (They’re only 10% of respondents though.)

I’ve run a few surveys of subreddit memberships in the past, and the percentage of nonbinary people is usually around 6-7% for the subreddits I tend to spend time in. (/r/bulletjournal, for example, and I ran one for /r/polyamory years ago but I have no hope of finding the URL of the results.) So it’s interesting to me that the autistic people of Reddit are just as likely to be nonbinary than the general population of Reddit.

The subreddits I promoted in were /r/autism, /r/samplesize and /r/neurodiversity.

~

SEXUAL AND ROMANTIC ORIENTATION

People could pick as many as they felt they identified with for both of these questions, and plenty picked more than one. For example, lots of people feel that terms like bisexual and asexual fit under the queer umbrella and could truthfully check queer and another term for one question.

The top five sexual orientations were:

asexual - 31.2%

queer - 30.3%

bisexual - 23.3%

pansexual - 18.4%

heterosexual - 16.8%

The top 5 romantic orientations were:

queer - 27.3%

panromantic - 25.1%

biromantic - 17.2%

heteroromantic - 15.2%

I don't know - 15.2%

This one I messed up a little. I regret not including “gay” and “lesbian” as checkbox options from the start; I added them at around 100 respondents, though earlier responses containing those words will still be counted in the stats. I also didn’t include “straight” at any point.

I only picked up on “gay” and “lesbian” because someone specifically said that they’re gay and they find the word homosexual to be really unpleasant, so they would have liked for gay to be added to the list. No one asked for “straight” to be included in the list, but a few people did write it in the “other” box.

A few people mentioned in the “other” box that I had missed demisexual and demiromantic off the list. If more than one person mentions a particular label I tend to assume that there’s a lot more who would check the box if it was there, so if I do this kind of survey again I will include them.

~

RELATIONSHIP PREFERENCES

I have no idea how this compares to the general population or the Tumblr-Reddit-Twitter-Facebook population. But hey, it’s pretty cool, huh? Here it is in number form.

It started out being super non-monogamous, because I am non-monogamous and so a lot of my online circles are too. I could tell when the survey was making it out of my immediate circle, because at around the 300 participants mark it started to get a lot more monogamous.

~

LIVING SITUATION

I asked about current living situation and ideal living situation, and I’m thinking these figures are mostly representative of the fact that 85% of participants are between 11 and 30 years of age? I’m thinking as people get older they’re more likely to attain independence and an ideal living situation. But I’m not really sure!

56% of people live with the family that raised them, and only 8% of them want to.

30% of participants want to live alone, but only 13% are doing so.

A little over a third of people would ideally like to live with friends, which I think is lovely and a very underrated and under-represented lifestyle choice!

And 20% of us live with partners, whereas 65% of us would prefer that. I wonder how many people living with partners would rather be alone, but it would be too much work for me to find out so there we are. Forever a mystery.

~

PERSON-FIRST vs. IDENTITY FIRST LANGUAGE

Identity-first language, as in “I’m autistic”. It acknowledges one’s autism as an inseparable part of one’s personality and sense of self.

Person-first language, as in “person with autism”. This seeks to define a person by their humanity rather than by their diagnosis.

I remembered that a while back the National Autistic Society in the UK did a survey and found that autistic people tend to prefer identity-first language. I was curious to see if my results would fit this, and they did - the majority of participants sometimes or always used identity-first language to describe their autism.

This was another question where you could select more than one answer, and there was an “other” box - but it’s very difficult for me to count those. Google Forms tells me 30 people selected “other”, but it doesn’t take into account the fact that some submissions were removed. If this number is accurate, then for perspective it’s less than half of the number who chose “I don’t know”.

~

DISABLED?

This question asked whether participants would describe themselves as disabled, in whole or in part due to their autism diagnosis.

It seems that 83% of participants sometimes or always describe themselves as disabled due to their autism.

~

DESCRIBING OUR ASD-NESS

This one was a make-it-up-as-I-go question; for about 100 responses I’d put “disorder” and “condition”, because those were the only terms I could think of. After a few people had entered “neurotype” I added it to the list, and around that time I noticed a few people had put “difference” so I added that too. That means, I think, that over 1,000 people had all four options available to choose from.

Neurotype took the lead pretty fast despite being added after the start, and stayed ahead.

I can kinda imagine how this happened. Disorder is pretty negative, difference is a little condescending for a lot of people, and condition is a very medical-subtext word. They could all, depending on context, carry a less than implication. Neurotype, on the other hand, is a very neutral word. Autism is one of multiple neurotypes, alongside non-autistic, and probably other neurotypes. It puts autistic people on the same level as non-autistic people in terms of power and social status and mental health. It’s interesting, and I can see the appeal.

Again, this was a question that let you choose multiple answers and it’s very difficult for me to count the “other” answers, but Google Forms tells me it’s 146, around 11%. These included words like “disability” and “impairment”, and also terms like “my brain” and “a way of thinking”.

~

WHERE DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THIS SURVEY?

Again, a question that lets you choose more than one answer, and the “other” answers are hard to count, but Google Forms tells me it may be around 33, or 2.5%.

I feel like I’ve covered the stuff about diversity and bias regarding the social networks in sections above, so I don’t really have much to say here!

~

FEELINGS ABOUT AUTISM SPEAKS

This question was just thrown in there because it’s something I’ve always wondered. A lot of people are very angry-shouty about Autism Speaks. Is this the prevalent opinion, or does it just seem that way because of the aforementioned angry-shoutiness?

That’s a yes, most people did not feel good about Autism Speaks. And it’s worth noting that I listed the “other” answers in the spreadsheet because wow.

People skipped having their vote counted as merely “bad” in order to vent some pretty visceral feelings here.

~

OVERALL SUMMARY, THOUGHTS ETC.

Well, erm, I don’t really know what to say here. We are autistic and we use social networks, I guess? This was a lot of fun for me, and I hope the results are interesting for you too!

I threw this form together hastily, and that probably shows; I think I would be more thoughtful about the wording next time. I also used Google Forms, which is great and accessible and freeeeee but it does have some limitations - mainly in counting the “other” entries and not adjusting its Forms-associated summary graphs when I delete troll or duplicate entries. This is fine, it just takes more time and energy to get the blog post graphs and numbers to be helpful.

So yeah! Thank you for taking part, if you took part! And if you’d like to be notified of a future autistic survey that I may or may not run, please feel free to put your email address here. :)

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Masking

Which you you all do often? I was surprised how many I got. Here a blank version. I’m curious to see what you all get.

Autistic Girls Network

Sorry I forgot to add this!

[oceanspray5]

Multi-Fandom Help Call

Hey ! So I’m gonna go ahead and ask for a little inter-fandom solidarity between all us fans who love different things and places, but understand what that feels like.

Recently Girl Meets World, the spin off of the popular 90′s show Boy Meets World got cancelled for apparently no reason. It aired on Disney Channel and had its highest ratings. It was nominated for Emmy awards multiple times and the first week of 2017 isn’t out and it has been nominated for another two more. Since it’s cancellation multiple mainstream media resources have reported that it was too soon including Bustle, Seventeen and Vogue.

This show has greatly inspired the younger generation. It is different and has a lot of life lessons worth teaching this era of kids, teens and even adults. It hasn’t been given its proper chance to grow thus far and now it has been cancelled.

Even with its restrictions, Girl Meets World has dealt with racism, cyber-bullying. It introduced an Autistic main character as well as a Black main character. It also dealt with religion and hopelessness. This show has touched so many people.

So here’s a desperate plea from a fellow fan, Please help us get @netflix and @hulu on board with saving it :

The GMW fans are running a campaign to get the show picked up by Netflix or Hulu to continue production. The basics are below.

NETFLIX :

Netflix has been very supportive. Every single agent who has fans have talked to reported that it is currently the most requested show and that it has chances to be picked up.

HULU :

Is partly owned by Disney. Currently support is more for Netflix but Hulu has the better chance at this game if they’re interested. We need to get them interested.

WHAT YOU CAN DO :

1) Sign The Petitions :

This one is a request to other networks (Netflix and Hulu specifically) to pick up the show :

https://www.change.org/p/netflix-continue-girl-meets-world-on-another-network?source_location=minibar

This one is a request to Disney to give up the rights to the show :

https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-petition-for-disney-channel-to-release-girl-meets-world-to-another-network

Both are important. Without Disney relinquishing rights, the show can’t be saved. If you can only sign one then that is quite alright. Even a small bit of help is greatly appreciated.

2) Request On Netflix (Account Not Needed) :

https://help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest

There are three slots for title requests so please type in :

i) Girl Meets World Season 4 ii) Girl Meets World iii) Netflix Original : Girl Meets World

3) Social Media :

i) Twitter :

If you have a twitter, please use the following hashtags :

#NetflixSaveGMW

#HuluSaveGMW

#DisneyGiveUpGMW

and tag @netflix, @hulu and @disneychannel. Additionally you can also tag CEO of Netflix @reedhastings on his twitter.

ii) Facebook :

If you prefer Facebook, please shoot Netflix and Hulu’s offical pages a message or simply tag them in a #SaveGMW post. If nothing else, please comment the tag in the comment section in any of the posts on the pages.

iii) Instagram :.

Same rules apply. Use the #SaveGMW tag in the comments.

4) Reblog :

Reblog this so it gets notes across all fandoms. Our fandom isn’t giving up. Please help us save something we love.

If you need anything or have any questions then please feel free to ask. 

Thank You All So Very Much,

Iffah Asif Mughal,

GMW Fan.

:D

@bmwwritinggmw @theowldetective @bmgmw

[socialattractionuk]

The complicated art of sliding into your crush’s DMs

The person you have a crush on is leaving fire emojis on your Instagram selfies, they like all your tweets, and they comment on your Snapchat Stories.

There is only one thing to do now: Slide into their inbox.

When you want to turn a boy into a boyfriend or that flirtationship into a relationship, the inbox is the sacred place for the transition.

Unlike dating apps, social media pivots us towards those with similar interests without the expectation and pressures of sex as the end goal.

We’re all online now so it makes sense that just as we chat and form connections on the internet, we flirt there, too. After all, it’s much easier to drop someone a line on Facebook than it is to walk up to them in a bar.

Online, the fear of rejection is muted and the saturation of choices make it easier to simply move on.

We’ve heard horror stories of direct messages (DMs) going wrong but also success stories of people who have slid into someone’s inbox and ended up in a relationship.

So, what sets a good DM apart from a bad one? When is a good time to make the move?

This could be you (Picture: Andrew Stanifer)

There are upsides to sticking to an inbox: it’s always available, rejections are less awkward and you can hit up multiple suitors.

Andrew, from South Carolina, met his now-fiancee Kate when she slid into his DMs.

He tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Four years ago, my fiancée (as of yesterday) DMed me after we had gone back and forth liking each other’s photos.

‘It took three messages for me to know that I had to take her out on a date, so we set up a coffee date. After that day, there was never any doubt in our minds that we were made for each other.

It all started with a DM (Picture: Andrew Stanifer)

‘In the next years, we had an on again and off again relationship. But we always found our way back to each other.

‘This past week I took her to the beach with our families and proposed to her on the sand. She is and always has been my best friend, and we joke around all the time how it started with a DM.’

Andrew explains that inbox entry doesn’t have to start with a corny pick-up line. For him, Kate’s simple ‘hey there’ did the trick.

And she said yes (Picture: Andrew Stanifer)

For Dominic and Gabriel, from Indiana, one little inbox bridged the distance between them.

Dominic tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Gabriel lived two hours away from me and we both followed each other on Instagram.

‘I liked so many of his pictures and he returned the favour. I waited for him to slide in my DMs but he didn’t so I waited a few days then slid into his.

‘We hit it off right away. Within two weeks he was driving two hours to see me every weekend. Then after three months, he moved down to where I stay and we got our first apartment together. We’ve been together since then.’

More: TV

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Cami, from Miami, tells us the Twitter inbox was a convenient medium, but she would have approached her now-girlfriend Nicole without it, too.

‘Nicole was a friend of a friend and I knew of her but we had never met,’ says Cami, ‘she was in a relationship for a while.

‘So one day I realised all her stuff with her ex was deleted and she didn’t seem to still be in a relationship.

‘I followed her on twitter and I DMed her, and from there we kept talking. We went on a date and have been together ever since.

‘For me DMs are not necessarily easier because if I saw Nicole in person I would’ve gone up to her the same way.

‘But it is definitely easier in the sense that I don’t need to rely on running into her someday somehow. It’s less complicated and quicker.’

Nicole (left) and Cami started chatting on Twitter first (Picture: camisarriaa/Twitter)

Though there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that inbox flirting leads to finding ‘someone to be silly with’, there are horror stories, too.

Cole tells us how his attempt to effortlessly strike up a conversation went wrong.

‘I once DMed a girl who I had been crushing on for months, the convo started well until she said I should send in my account details,’ he says.

‘I asked her for what and she said so she can send me money to transport myself out of her DMs. My heart is shattered.’

More: Dating

Could micro-dating be the relationship saver time-poor parents need?

Woman gets brutal messages from man she went on one Tinder date with six months ago

Woman asks if she's being unreasonable for not wanting custom ring made for partner's ex

As heartbreaking as it is to send messages and be rejected, it can also be annoying to receive them.

Melanie was left with a lot of questions after a guy entered her messages to offer to take her around the world.

She tells us: ‘He asked me where I was from and I said I was a citizen of the planet, to which he responded that he thought I was an alien because I’m too beautiful for this world.

‘The thing that baffles me the most is how did this guy find me? And does that kind of thing really work? And what did he really want? Was he trying to get money, or was he just a troll?’

How to perfectly slide into DMs

Relationship expert and vice president of Dating.com Maria Sullivan says: ‘Depending on the way you start off the conversation, DMing can be seen as a creepy turnoff. Make sure you take the time to think about the flirtatious message you want to send.

‘Don’t go too far or you might send the wrong signals.’

‘Though we’re more reluctant to approach people face to face, there are advantages to our old-fashioned ways.’

‘An emoji or a few words are not capable of showcasing your style, personality or tone of voice.

‘Approaching someone in real life lets the person automatically determine if the spark is there or not. Engaging with someone online is never a sure fire way to tell if you will mesh well with them in reality.’

Maria Sullivan explains why we receive and send so many DMs, telling us: ‘People are fearless in attempting to court a potential partner when they are protected behind a screen. Being left on read is much less devastating than verbal rejection. For this reason, flirtatious and unwarranted direct messages on social platforms are frequent.

‘Nick Jonas even DMed his now wife upon first communication!’

But why is the inbox slide often so successful?

Maria explains: ‘Just as being rejected behind a screen is less intimidating than being turned away in person, initiating flirtatious conversation online has less repercussion and is easier to navigate.

‘You can think about your response before sending it and decide to move forward with meeting up if you please. This is why online dating is extremely popular today.’

More: Property

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Of course, the DM slide does have its limitations. Not all networking site inboxes are for romantic connection. Definitely not the LinkedIn inbox, for example. Never the LinkedIn inbox.

Despite the unpleasant interactions with strangers from all corners of the world, the DM is still sacred, a unique space that can foster relationships without any expectations.

So for those of us afraid of walking up to a perfect stranger to chat them up or ever confronting our crushes, the inbox will always be a safe space.

And if the DM goes wrong, you can always ignore, delete, block and forget it ever happened. Sadly you can’t do that in real life.

If your DMs are as closed off as your heart, it might be time to open up.

MORE: Can sliding into the DMs ever lead to a relationship? These sliders insist it can

MORE: There is no escaping men sliding into your inbox, not even on LinkedIn

MORE: Meet the man who orgasms from sliding metal rods into his urethra

[booksbroadwaybbc]

Everything that used to trigger me via /r/selfimprovement

Everything that used to trigger me

gap year clean up operation

by topic 1) family 2) internet 3) habits 4) education 5) music 6) relationships 7) sex 8) ambitions 9a) people being triggered by me 9b) people liking me (both + takeaways) 10) exam failure from 'narcissism' 11) my happiness 12) happiness in relationships 13) self sabotage/not reaching full potential 14) peak culture 15) mania/bipolar 16) attitudes against mainstream/dissatisfaction 17) trolling 18) lack of pride in myself or friends 19) being an alpha male 😈 20) dysfunctional behaviour 21) fake false flags to reinforce a victim mentality

1) family trigger points . My mum plays jazz fm loudly in the kitchen. shes insensitive to my desire to practice the piano in peace in an environment that facilitates my development. My dad hates me. My brother hates me. I had a sexual relationship with a boy who was the son of a family friend at 14 and his mum found out by walking in and told my mum. She loves me yet as Christians she's appaled as is my father who is a priest. I feel too ashamed of my sexuality and having sex which negatively impacts my life. My mother is a lovely personality but is stressed and anxious. My father ditto, I find him ignorant, he can't communicate or manage interpersonal relationships. His disjointed mannerisms derive from social anxiety. In my mothers view, the family is ruined because of my younger brother. He'd always run around the house disinhibited, and come onto my mother, strangers, etc (he's autistic so doesn't understand). Obviously the family is fucked beyond repair. My parents only mission in life is posting shit on Facebook as would be activists for a free Russia or some bs. Most of their friends are online, they have low functioning lifestyles, don't understand love and see the world through a 100% academic worldview. None of my acheivements were ever good enough for them, etc

2) im an addict more or less. my desire to use twitter originated in pay per click advertising. i was broke i got followers etc also i was mad at 'clout' people then i went to some events in canary wharf reinvented the operation as real estate based in the city from a virtual adress it functioned perfectly got retreats from battersea city council, other quite well respected accounts found it fascinating how it was taken seriously went a bit far starting using the medium to solely communicate with a network and reason with them while triggering everyone else with no immunity. the inspiration was my inner child whom by all accounts was quite egotistical then use ig for girls and friends i guess ig would trigger me because the clout is fake linkedin for visualisation tbh i got caught up and it started accumulating power etc used fb for piano tuition fucking triggered by fb, useless imo . 3) habits awful bad diet, water, no gym, sports no piano no part time job no relationships not seeing anyone just addicted to online . 4) triggered by being educated as it was outside my model bathed in ignorance disputed with maths and french and music and piano . 5) i want the coolest most developed chords i dont even care for the expression spontaneity creativity i just want the most edgy/advanced chords i don't even reason out part writing or experience inherent joy from it . 6) dysfunctional anxiety ridden ignorant non sexual not transparent no social events no shared values no mutuals . 7) ashamed as said im gay? perhaps pansexual no clue im not attracted to girls it feels forced im gay i admit it logistically hard parents might cut off if they found out . 8) ridiculously huge delusional not funded by enough money weak networking . 9a) Yasmin girls all classes sixth form exam boards teachers . 9b) yomi sees potential and feels contrived sympsthy for me same with mutazz both dont truly know me but love for them etc ditto w al dhillon knows nothing about me no friends know anything about me, I'm a loner by choice to protect myself . 10) couldn't deal with being in the same room as people i thought were less then me was angry took out on exams lol . 11) no clue how to be happy love? . 12) non existent no clue

13) im gay so thats a start haha self sabotage my public portrayal amongst close friends Sabotage my own education bipolar/mania lol Sabotage my musical expression Sabotage my popularity (for being woke?) lol annoyed at fake insta clout annoyed at how friends like sam saw me as an outsider instead of the other way round lol eh nah take that back different cliques much love . 14) i listen to crap instead of 'high culture' such as Beethoven symphonies idk my piano repetoire

15) legit manic episodes bipolar i consultation indefinitely . 16) im a legend in terms of my perception yet im embarrassed I'm not confident i dont follow through a gap year basically failure to aaa probably Warwick mfl when i could have been Oxbridge (with hard sincere work) eh . but then again It is all about me the self styled maverick Benedict gets the mission a shit uni would be a troll gp shit/aaa/ Russell g/ucl i mean it would look better but interpersonal perception and communication are so manipulated i could probably make an Oxford degree on ms Paint and pass it off or be the bossman of rcm or Warwick mfl/adjustment I guess lol like e corp guy im the most powerful guy in the room but i fucked it bc hussey has superior expertise and i kinda need to be subservient to the exam boards loool whoops . * Im too strong willed pass off as bipolar a*aa hope for the best through adjustment keep interpersonal communication doctrine calm af . 17) i have trolled before it was nasty but im past that perhaps some light sarcasm thats all kindness love . be honest about my mischief it can't be made up so will get away with it . 18) not good have pride in al yomi mutazz everyone so far in my life endless relationships andthe future . 19) loool i don't buy that shit . i believe were the sum of our choices nothing is definitive only the present moment defines us in my opinion so failure in the past generally speaking is irrelevant never judge

20) not working etc doing the work for a*aa bc the perfectly valid reasoning was being rejected by me as it fell outside my model . 21) yeah i make excuses not to be accepted and respected as expected (flourish) because i like being the victim .

Submitted September 18, 2018 at 12:57AM by dopamineway via reddit https://ift.tt/2pdkCYu

[fifa1613]

Emails suggest company which supplied combustible cladding knew panels would be used on Grenfell Tower 🔥 exterior lining exterior cladding Εξωτερικά πλαίσια επένδυσης Εξωτερικά πλαίσια επένδυσης exterior cladding panels 🔥 Grenfell Tower fire: 600 buildings with exterior cladding undergoing urgent safety checks in UK UPDATED FRI AT 2:03AM PHOTO  Protestors have expressed anger at the government response to the Grenfell disaster. 👉exterior cladding panels👈 The British Government is urgently conducting safety checks on an estimated 600 high-rise buildings in England which have exterior cladding panels after at least 79 people died when fire consumed a London tower block last week. 😆at least 79 people died😆 Key points: Tests show at least 11 tower blocks have combustible panels like Grenfell Tower. Οι δοκιμές δείχνουν ότι τουλάχιστον 11 μπλοκ πύργου έχουν καύσιμα πλαίσια όπως ο πύργος Grenfell. ⚠ The UK Government is not identifying the buildings until landlords advise residentsKensington and Chelsea council CEO resigns Cladding, added during a refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, may have played a part in the June 14 disaster when flames sped through the 24-storey residential building, trapping people inside, residents have said. On Wednesday, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, revealed that at least 11 other towers throughout England had been clad in combustible material similar to that installed at Grenfell Tower, local media reported. In a letter to the Government, Mr Javid reportedly told MPs that the Grenfell disaster had changed his understanding of what it meant to be a cabinet minister. The blaze in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Britain's worst since World War II, has heaped pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May, already fighting for her political survival after her party lost its parliamentary majority in a snap election. Earlier, Ms May had said that local authorities were being warned about the building clad in combustible materials. "The relevant local authorities and local fire services have been informed, and, as I speak, they are taking all possible steps to ensure buildings are safe and to inform affected residents," Ms May said. Ms May encouraged the owners, both public and private, of tower blocks around the country to quickly forward samples of any similar material for testing. The Government will work with local authorities to make sure any dangerous material is removed and residents are safe, she said. The Department for Communities and Local Government said it would not identify the buildings with combustible panels until landlords have had the opportunity to inform tenants. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn called for urgent checks on around 4,000 buildings as Britain comes to grips with the potential ramifications of the disaster. Thousands need urgent assurances about their own safety, he said. "At least 79 people are dead — it is both a tragedy and an outrage because every single one of those deaths could and should have been avoided," Mr Corbyn said. Kensington and Chelsea council CEO resigns Nicholas Holgate, chief executive of the Kensington and Chelsea council where the Grenfell Tower is, had come under intense pressure following last week's blaze. Now he has resigned, saying he was forced out by Ms May's Government.  PHOTO Former CEO Nicholas Holgate said Sajid Javid (pictured) pressured council officials to seek his resignation. REUTERS: HANNAH MCKAY Mr Holgate said in a statement that Communities Minister Sajid Javid had pressured other council officials to seek his resignation. "Despite my wish to have continued, in very challenging circumstances, to lead on the executive responsibilities of the council, I have decided that it is better to step down from my role, once an appropriate successor has been appointed," he said. Ms May said support for families in the initial hours after the fire was not good enough. "That was a failure of the state, local and national, to help people when they needed it most," she told Parliament. "As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure and as Prime Minister, I've taken responsibility for doing what we can to put things right." ABC/Wires From other news sites: Expand POSTED THU AT 1:15PM SHARE Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp RELATED Theresa May apologises for deadly tower blaze 'failure' Video reveals disbelief of London firefighters heading into 'Towering Inferno' Number of dead, missing in London fire rises to 79, police say MORE STORIES Families of Bali bombing victims hope for justice after 'architect' charged Homeless evicted from Sydney CBD called 'public nuisance' 'Spontaneous combustion' starts fire in historic hotel Victoria's entire speed camera network to be reviewed over software virus Mafioso who lived in Australia arrested in Rome over alleged drug ring Italy nearly pulls off stunning Brisbane upset against Wallabies 141 people feared buried after landslide engulfs village in China Social Services Minister is 'enemy of the state', WA Premier says My eccentric uncle: Likely autistic, a brilliant man who was shunned by family and died alone I want to pick my kids up, says injured Thurston MORE FROM ABC NEWS HomeJust InTrump's AmericaAustraliaWorldAnalysis & OpinionBusinessSportScienceArtsLive StreamsVideoPhotosEntertainmentUploadSubscribeRuralMore >Top of pageChange to standard viewABC NewsJust InAustraliaWorldBusinessEntertainmentSportAnalysis & OpinionWeatherTopicsArchiveCorrections & ClarificationsTerms of UsePrivacy PolicyContact Us© 2017 ABC 💟 Main Menu The New York Times Search SUBSCRIBE LOG IN Europe Nearly 4,000 Residents Evacuated in London Because of Fire Hazards 28  Residents of Taplow Tower in London were evacuated on Friday as a precautionary measure amid concerns over the type of cladding used on the building. HANNAH MCKAY / REUTERS By CEYLAN YEGINSU and ILIANA MAGRA JUNE 23, 2017 LONDON — The municipal authorities ordered hundreds of families to urgently evacuate apartments in five London high-rise buildings on Friday evening after fire inspectors warned that the safety of the residents could not be guaranteed. The order caused a chaotic scramble of confused residents clutching suitcases and children in the middle of the night — many with no idea where they would stay — from the five buildings in northwest London. All have exterior cladding and insulation similar to that used on Grenfell Tower, a London high rise where at least 79 people are known to have died in a fire last week. The police said on Friday that the cladding material had failed safety tests conducted by investigators following the Grenfell disaster, London’s worst building fire in decades. An estimated 4,000 residents of more than 800 apartments in the five high rises were being relocated while the problems are addressed, said the Camden Council, the local assembly for that area. It was encouraging residents to stay with friends and family but promised to provide temporary accommodations for those without other options. Repairs could take up to four weeks, it said. “I’ve made the really difficult decision of moving the people living there into temporary accommodation,” said Georgia Gould, head of the council. “I know it’s going to be difficult, but Grenfell changes everything. I just don’t believe that we can take any risks with our residents’ safety, and I just have to put them first.” Justin Fuller, a resident of one of the buildings ordered evacuated, said he had been out having a drink with friends in a pub when he saw the news of the relocations on television. “This feels like a sick joke,” said Mr. Fuller, who was reached by phone. “They are playing with our minds. Yesterday they were telling us our building was safe. Now we have to pack up all our things and our small kids in the middle of the night in a state of emergency?” Mr. Fuller said his wife had been informed of the evacuation by the fire department and was told to pack a bag for at least four weeks. “She hasn’t been told where we are staying tonight,” he said. Salma Derecho, 36, who lived on the 18th floor of Taplow Tower, one of the buildings ordered emptied, said officials knocked on her door at 9:30 p.m. with directions to pack enough for two to four weeks. Ms. Derecho said her girls, aged 6 and 10, were crying as the family left home and asking her: “Is the building going to fall?” In the same building, Rechelle Atienza was carrying small suitcases and a few bags down the stairs. Her 6-year-old-son, Mike, was holding an inhaler to his mouth with one hand and clutching a stuffed dog with his other. “I’m panicking, I’m shaking right now,” said Ms. Atienza, who verged on tears. “I just feel really sorry for my son, he doesn’t understand what’s happening, I hold his hand and it’s cold. I touch his heart and it’s beating fast. He was crying before, he can’t understand what’s happening.” Many displaced residents congregated outside the Swiss Cottage recreation center, a nearby recreational facility hastily reconfigured as a temporary sleeping place with mattresses lining the floor and the air heavy with a chlorine smell wafting from the center’s pool. Camden Council officials were asking residents if they had anywhere else to stay before allowing them inside, where displaced neighbors could be seen hugging one another. Some other residents appeared to be refusing to leave their apartments. The council said in a statement that the cladding material would be removed from the five high rises, located on the Chalcots housing estate. Camden Council had ordered noncombustible cladding and only later found out that combustible cladding had been used instead.  Unburned lower floors with cladding panels still in place at Grenfell Tower in West London. NIKLAS HALLE'N / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES Officials confirmed on Friday that the Grenfell blaze began with a faulty refrigerator and that it was not started intentionally. But the high death toll at the 24-story Grenfell Tower in West London has prompted the authorities to consider charges of manslaughter, along with other criminal offenses, said Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack, who is overseeing the investigation. Detective Superintendent McCormack did not indicate who might face manslaughter charges. A police spokeswoman declined to provide any additional details as investigators sought to learn more about how and why the fire spread so quickly. Much of the early focus has been on cladding and insulation that are thought to have allowed the blaze to race up the sides of the building, leaving many people with no way to escape. “Preliminary tests on the insulation samples from Grenfell Tower show that they combusted soon after the test started,” Detective Superintendent McCormack said in a televised statement. Cladding tiles had also failed initial tests, she said. At least 11 buildings in Britain use combustible cladding material similar to that used on Grenfell Tower, officials said on Thursday, and safety checks are being carried out on cladding from at least 600 high-rise buildings across the country. After the police statement on Friday about Grenfell Tower, Tony Rice, a shareholder of Omnis Exteriors, which manufactured materials for Grenfell’s cladding system, stepped down from the board of trustees of Shelter, a charity that has been providing advice and support to the victims of the fire. Derek Myers, who was the chief executive of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in 2013, when Grenfell Tower was renovated, also resigned from the board. Local activists in North Kensington, who for years had warned the authorities of fire risks at Grenfell Tower, reacted with outrage to the initial details emerging from the investigation. “It’s obvious that the contractors took it upon themselves to use cheaper cladding and material, and I’m sure that’s the case in hundreds of other towers,” said Tony Glockner, a local activist and resident who lives in public housing owned by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. “None of this surprises me at all,” he added. “Social housing residents in North Kensington have been crying out about fire hazards and poor housing conditions for years, but they have been ignored.” The appliance that started the fire was a Hotpoint FF175BP refrigerator and freezer, Detective Superintendent McCormack said. She said that the model had never been subject to a recall, and that tests were being carried out to determine if it now should be. In a statement posted online, Hotpoint said it was aware of a “possible incident” involving one of its products, and it asked its customers to check if they had bought models FF175BP or FF175BG made from March 2006 to July 2009. Those who had were asked to contact the company. Nine victims of the fire have now been formally identified, the authorities said, but the number of presumed dead remains at 79. The police said that every complete body had been recovered, but that the authorities were still working to identify remains. “Such is that devastation down at the scene, this may take at least until the end of the year,” Detective Superintendent McCormack said, adding, “There is the terrible reality that we may not find or identify all those that died during the fire.” Follow Ceylan Yeginsu on Twitter @CeylanWrites. Follow Iliana Magra on Twitter @Magraki Michael Wolgelenter contributed reporting. 28COMMENTS RELATED COVERAGE After London Fire, 11 MoreHigh-Rises Found With Combustible Material JUN 22, 2017Some London Fire Survivors Will Be Housed in a Luxury ComplexJUN 21, 201758 Presumed Dead in London Tower Blaze, Police Say JUN 17, 2017Families of Grenfell Tower Residents Wait for Answers JUN 15, 2017Questions Mount After Fire at Grenfell Tower in London Kills at Least 12 JUN 13, 2017 More In World Bombings in Pakistan Kill Dozens, Putting Country on Edge The attacks, before an important Muslim holiday, raised concerns about the growing challenges facing Pakistan’s security forces. INTERACTIVEINTERACTIVE FEATURE Escaping the Inferno Britain’s deadliest fire in more than a century raced from floor to floor, forcing residents to decide: Wait for rescuers or try to escape? Landslide in China Is Feared to Have Buried Over 100 People In a village in Sichuan Province, an avalanche of mud and rocks buried as many as 40 homes in a village, officials said. Back to top HomeWorldU.S.PoliticsThe UpshotNew YorkBusiness DayTechnologySportsOpinionScienceHealthArtsPhotosStyleVideoMost Emailed More Sections Settings Download the NYTimes app HelpSubscribeFeedbackTerms of ServicePrivacy © 2017 The New York Times Company Εξωτερικά πλαίσια επένδυσης 🔥

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Misophonia

Strong emotional or physiological reactions to everyday sounds.

Plug sockets

Water dripping

Chewing

Light switches

Birdsong

Pen clicking

Loud breathing

Wrappers rustling

Tapping fingers

Boiling kettle

Typing

Ticking clocks

Snoring

Fluorescent lights

Autistic Girls Network

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Alexithymia

Autistic Girls Network

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Do you know of any online autistic women's spaces? I just got banned from my favorite women's autistic space on Reddit (because they assumed I was a man based on my post history) and now I'm looking for other spaces.

Hi there,

I’m not good with finding new places, but I found these:

That’s all I can find. Others were Reddit posts asking for safe spaces.

Thank you for the inbox. I hope you have a wonderful day/night. ♥️