#LSN autism

[stardew-bajablast]

the way a lot of y’all on this site hear “autism” and automatically assume whoever is speaking means “low support needs autism” is really weird and ableist. sorry it just is

[snakeautistic]

One of the reasons I believed I couldn’t be autistic for so long was due to a fundamental misunderstanding of my social struggles. This being that I am not by any means incapable of memorizing social rules. Through observation and direction I can construct a broad framework of ‘socially acceptable or not.’ For example, I’m well aware that making physical contact with someone without consent isn’t acceptable. Or that stating blunt facts in a way that implicates someone negatively isn’t allowed. I know to avoid interrupting others if they’re already talking, to not walk away when I’m in the middle of a conversation. Crying, being unusually quiet and frowning indicates sadness. Someone smiling at laughing at what you’re saying means they probably are enjoying their time with you. An increase in speaking volume indicates excitement- either positive or negative. Sarcasm is often indicated by someone saying something absurd that you know they would never say, or you know to be factually wrong.

The fact that I had learned these broad rules made me think autism wasn’t a possibility for me. But being autistic doesn’t stop you from obtaining and applying information. (I mean that’s why so many interventions that ‘treat’ autism do result in the autistic person being able to pass as neurotypical.)

The difference comes from lacking the subconscious nuances and exceptions that come with those broader rules. For example- when is it okay to actually be honest? Some people will not be bothered by physical intimacy- but how would I know this? How can you tell if a group wants you to join in with their conversation? How to tell if this person is smiling and laughing politely or genuinely? How to tell if someone who you know very little about is being sarcastic?

There are not direct, easy to apply ‘rules’ for this, and yet clearly there are ‘right’ options. When the appropriate reaction must be determined by subtle body language or small shifts in tone of voice, ones that are near impossible to teach- I become completely lost.

That’s something I always find lacking with the general social skills advice given. It’s helpful to a point, but the truth is everyone is an individual. People express themselves differently, and react to your same actions differently due to past circumstances or temperaments. There is no one set of rules you can use for everyone, unfortunately. The majority of neurotypicals, while of course having miscommunications and the like, can rely on their subconscious to parse out any subtle changes they might need to make to their demeanor for a particular situation. My brain is much less adept at focusing down broader experience/rules into unique circumstances. (This is actually something that extends past social cues for me and I might make another post talking about it because I think it’s interesting)

Anyway rant over but yeah this was a huge mental barrier to seeking out a diagnosis for a while because at some level I ( ironically enough) took struggling to understand social cues too literally…

[swordsonnet]

lately, i've seen more people in the online autistic community acknowledging the struggles of people with higher support needs, which is of course an important development. but for some, that seems to come with the implicit assumption that low needs autistics "have it easy" or experience no stigma at all, which is just wrong??? people with low support needs are still disabled by their autism and still face discrimination because of it. sure, they are impaired to a lesser degree than those with higher support needs, but that doesn't mean you can just erase their struggles, y'know?

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

am have to late autism regression that began late adolescence, but am don’t have “regressive autism.”

regressive autism is where child look develop normally, but at usually 15-30 months old, lose social skills, language & speech, and sometimes other skills, like motor skills and adaptive skills. this where before, child vocalizing babbling talking and interacting, and suddenly or slowly, stop talking stop responding to people (so no, it not “evil ableist parents ignore autism symptom🙃”). we no know why yet. also, child with regressive autism typically more severe symptom than child with non-regressive autism. [source]

even though many people here on tumblr seem have autism regression in teenage or early adult, “autistic regression” actually more common refer to this before-age-3 regression. other names include developmental regression. —which why when talk about own regression, typically on purpose add “late” autism regression. late autism regression is actually considered rare (whether because rarely studied rarely diagnosed, or actually rare in number, don’t know).

whether have late regression or not, need all be mindful that regressive autism & autism regression before 3 exist and not ignore or drown out it. need remember those with regressive autism, most won’t be able be here on tumblr talk about it, because well, they 3, it happen at 3. even if they older now, their severity of symptom mean many not able communicate about it or use social media. because of this, many people talk about this going to be parents of child with regressive autism.

.

ICD-11 recognize both regression before 3 (what am talk about here with regressive autism) and after 3. ICD-11 diagnosis of autism have modifiers (DSM also do but a little different modifiers): comorbid disorder of intellectual development (aka intellectual disability), degree of functional language impairment, and “loss of previously acquired skills,” aka regression.

A small proportion of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder may present with a loss of previously acquired skills. This regression typically occurs during the second year of life and most often involves language use and social responsiveness. Loss of previously acquired skills is rarely observed after 3 years of age. If it occurs after age 3, it is more likely to involve loss of cognitive and adaptive skills (e.g., loss of bowel and bladder control, impaired sleep), regression of language and social abilities, as well as increasing emotional and behavioural disturbances.

.

with either regression before 3 or after 3, include late adolescents regression, important to rule out all other causes. because other reasons that make look regression may be life threatening disorders.

regression also see in child disintegrative disorder (CDD), rett syndrome, and some others. they all a little different, timing, symptoms, etc.

.

do not debate “severity” of autism language here. do not use this to self diagnose. do not use this to talk about parental trauma or debate autism parents & parents of autistics.

[autisticdreamdrop]

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

Needing to stim is NOT bad.

[chrome-barkz-aac]

so, me and my dad had a long conversation today about support needs, and how to manage them. because i only struggle with iADLs (barring the trouble with grooming that i have) i should be able to live independently, but unless i have help to do certain things (like chores or paying bills) i simply don't do them. i asked my dad how HE managed (he has ADHD and similar struggles with chores and bills, but he doesn't struggle with grooming like i do) and he said he bounced a lot of checks and his mom helped him with his laundry when he was in college. and he lived at home so he didn't have to worry about cleaning except for some chores he would help out with. what im saying is the responsibility of housekeeping for a whole apartment was off of his shoulders.

i want to go back to college in the fall but im worried that i'll struggle with those things again and my life will fall apart like it did last time (getting yelled at for not doing chores, breaking down over laundry, failing classes, meltdowns, etc).

i brought up living in a group home and said that although it would provide the support i need, i was worried that they only accepted MSN autistics. theyre also really expensive and idk if theres one thats a close distance from my university. it would be a good solution if i continue to lose skills (which i think i am, im having a harder time masking and keep losing speech even when calm)

my dad suggested living in the same city as he and my family and transferring schools but i want to go back to my lab at my current school and they have a much better biology program up in DFW than they do here. i could definitely benefit from the added support of my family though.

does ne 1 have ne ideas? or ways that they cope with iADL struggles? im trying to strategize early so that it doesnt sneak up on me.

[lesbian-honey-lemon]

Here is my problem with posts like these- the concept is sound. Autistic people *can* have all of these traits pictured. Autistic people can make eye contact, not be good at science, and understand emotions.

But all of these posts come off with the undertone that NOT having these pictured traits is the default, the standard, that autistics who don’t have these traits are talked about too much and that NOT having these traits is just stereotypical and bad. Those sentiments have been repeated far too often in the community for me to fully trust people who make posts like this one shown above. How can I know that they don’t REALLY mean to leave autistics who don’t have these traits, these “cute, good, more socially acceptable traits”, out of the conversation. How can I know they don’t think autistics who don’t fit this cutesy list are bad and stereotypical and should just shut up already so the cutesy autistics can look better to neurotypicals. Because it really does come off this way.

I didn’t read fiction at all until I was nine (I was forced to start reading it then) and didn’t enjoy it until I was twelve. I still only enjoy the few fandoms I know well and it is very hard to get into anything I’m not familiar with. My lifelong special interest is geology and has been since I was five. I have always been good at science, and although I have a vivid imagination and love art, I hate English class and can only make art for Big Hero 6 and the SCP Foundation because I know those fandoms well. I don’t make eye contact, and I have low empathy and struggle to read and understand the emotions of people I don’t know well. I have noise sensitivity so bad that I have almost given myself tinnitus playing music to cope. I couldn’t do dishes until I got myself rubber gloves, I can’t eat many “quick foods” such as instant and microwaveable foods because of texture issues.

I don’t fit most of those cutesy traits on the list. But, I barely ever see any positivity for MY traits, because the community sees me as the default, thinks I’m talked about enough and visible enough. There’s this undertone in all of these posts that us non-socially acceptable autistics are visible enough and we should just let high masking high empathy LSNs have the spotlight. And that would be fine if they didn’t also make the community completely inhospitable to us by shitting on people with low empathy, misusing the term nonverbal (which ABSOLUTELY pisses off actually nonverbal people and you’d know that if you actually listened to them), and refusing to talk about anyone who isn’t a cutesy high empathy high masking LSN. Apparently everyone else is accepted enough. Apparently people are aware of me already. If so, then where did my diagnosis run off to, huh?

[lilqu33rboi]

i will continue to say this until all of my fellow lsn autistics understand: we absolutely MUST focus on amplifying the voices of and supporting msn/hsn autistics! i will never stop following & reblogging posts from m/hsn autistics because some of us (lsn autistics) don't know how to get it together & realize that it isn't always about us! this doesn't mean i am trying to minimize our struggles or say that we don't have needs to be met because of course we do, but we also need to understand that just because we aren't in the spotlight 24/7 (which we are anyway when it comes to mainstream media but that's a topic for another day) doesn't mean that we get to overshadow m/hsn autistics who have needs that we shouldn't claim to understand because we aren't all the same. Just because we are all autistic doesn't mean that we can claim to understand the needs of someone who doesn't always share the same experiences as us.

[franchouchou]

just want to put it out there that as a low/pretty much no empathy autistic, some of yall are way too comfortable with saying nasty things about those of us who lack empathy. we exist too. there's a reason it was a stereotype in the first place.

[willtheweirdrat]

the community actually is starting to hate LSN autistics so much its destroying my hope of ever finding support and acceptance.

oh no dw about that! there is support and acceptance, and it ain't just one community, it's many. it's just up to knowing where to look. the more prevalent tumblr autism community is just made up by a larger in comparison percentage of MSN/HSN autistics, so many LSN just kinda get involved in it naturally. higher support needs autistics don't hate LSNs of course, it's just a matter of finding people you relate to. keep on looking anon!

[bluehairmisfit]

Autistic people of Tumblr, how does one know what support needs level they are?

[seillean-sys]

Disability and conflicting needs

There is no reality in which everyone’s needs are 100% accommodated 100% of the time. As much as I wish that could be the case, that possibility would require much more homogeneity than what human beings experience as a species. We are not monolithic enough for everyone to be accommodated all of the time. The range of human experience is too expansive for that.

This goes for every type of disability. As an example, an autistic person or a person who has sensory processing disorder may need an area to have low light so as to not be overstimulated. However, a blind person may need that same area to have brighter lights so that they can maneuver the space. Someone with light sensitive migraines may also need low lighting. My first thought is in a space like a sensory room. Designed for autistic folks, yes, but what of blind autistic folks? Do they not have the same right to access a space created for autistic people?

I’m writing this post because someone in a server I’m in experienced what I can only describe as lateral ableism due to a difficulty, as an autistic person, in using tone tags. Alexithymia makes it difficult to identify their own emotions and tone, unless someone asks them directly “are you angry, are you joking,” etc. And they were penalized for expressing this need. Tone tags don’t work for everyone. Can’t work for everyone. And the insistence that they are required in every online space focused around autism is showing itself to be limiting that space to low support needs autistics. It is easy enough to say “we generally require tone tags, but due to this disability you are expressing we can adjust the way that you express your tone in messages.” It’s not hard. Really what this boils down to is that to fellow LSN autistics, we need to be aware and inclusive of the MSN and HSN autistic people in our community. Don’t leave them out of autistic spaces, and don’t force them to either do something they literally can’t do or leave.

[crowpunkcognitivedecline]

it's hard realizing that i literally can't make appointments anymore. i just can't. i can't use a calendar, i can't reply to emails, i can't make a phone call unassisted.

it's not just anxiety or even executive dysfunction, though those both play a part. i just don't have the memory, i don't have the habit-forming ability, i don't have the processing, i don't have the hearing, i don't have the understanding of time.

and it's also frustratingly hard to talk about because i know no matter how much i try to explain it, someone who's LSN is going to try to tell me how much they relate or whatever because they also can't make phone calls and i don't know how to articulate the difference.

but i know there's a difference, and i know that because i was an LSN person who couldn't make phone calls, but now i'm an MSN person who needs my mom to act as a caregiver and help with almost all iADLs and it's fucking different and it SUCKS!

[currently-getting-a-diagnosis]

Being a mid support needs autistic feels like being a child of divorce.

[mace-from-outerspace]

Hold up I still got thoughts about how low support needs and high support needs autistic experiences because this topic hits a bit close to home.

Something I really want to drive home to other lsn autistics is that there's a lot of shit we take for granted in regards to day to day life that aren't always options that're available to hsn autistics. I get it, I've gone through bullshit to get workplace accommodations, I've gone thru my college's poor excuse of making a 504 plan, shit's not easy.

But how often do you have to fight for your autonomy, your personhood, to be taken seriously, to take precedent over what others may deem good for you when it's actually not? How often do you have your worth as a person called into question because you can't "give back to society" (often in the context of work but there are other contexts I'd say this applies to)? Not only that, it's not out of the ordinary for hsn autistics to be isolated, dismissed, and spoken down to by people in positions of power. You can say you listen to hsn people, but do you genuinely listen or do you use it to speak over them?

[mooniemp3]

Shout-out to autistic people who never were told they were "too mature for their age", "you're more mature than your peers" and things like that but instead they were told, or people still saying to them that they are "too inmature", "too naive" and "childish", or heard/hear things like "you are socially/emotionally/intellectually underdeveloped" and things like that.

You're awesome and you're not less than other for developing differently, with your own rhythm and way.