#autistic communication

[beinganautismgirl]

this

This.

THIS.

THIS.

THIS.

This!!!!!!

(also, to everyone getting on my case about not reblogging or reposting, I actually tried to find this Tumblr after I found the post on Pinterest and it doesn't exist anymore, so shut up and get off my back 🙃)

[visgrapplinghooks]

I've noticed this thing with autistic people where people never know where our attention is. If I'm looking directly at you, I probably didn't mean to!

I'm not staring at you, I just thought the spot on the wall next to you looked interesting or my neck happened to turn that way.

If I am looking to your side but my ear is facing you then I AM LISTENING AND PAYING ATTENTION! I'm angling my ear to process what you're saying better.

Many allistics seem to think eye contact is the sole or most important determining factor of attention in conversations. Not everyone can pay attention in the same ways, though!

This is why I'm so against the demand for eye contact by society and other people. You're asking me to sacrifice my ability to actually pay attention to you so you can have the outward aesthetic of feeling like someone is paying attention to you.

I mean this leads to a broader discussion on how neurotypical social norms are built around aesthetics of function over true function, but that's a topic for another day lol.

[themaskedlady]

[snakeautistic]

Recently have gotten the opportunity to talk to an autistic acquaintance of mine

It kind of was crazy how instantly I clicked with him- we were able to get into super interesting discussions both about autism and the diagnostic process as well as a really good political discussion.

Even though in many ways our lives are vastly different we had so many shared experiences and perspectives. I felt like I could just share stuff without reservations or feeling like I have to over explain

So yeah here’s my rendition of autism to autism communication

[autismcultureis]

Autism culture is communicating with little sounds with your autistic friends :D

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[witchy-fennec]

So, I don’t really fit the term semiverbal, but I definitely don’t fit as a fully verbal autistic either. Because of this, I’ve been thinking of what a good term would be for sorta verbal (aka can reliably talk a decent amount of the time, but also has plenty of verbal shutdowns, and a little trouble speaking in a way that’s usually not all that hindering when able to speak) autistic. I decided on demi-verbal and think this sums up my experiences pretty well. I’ve never seen demi-verbal anywhere and searching for it brought up nothing.

Demi-verbal:

Can reliably speak most of the day for most days of the week

Verbal shutdowns happen anywhere from a few times a week to a few times a month, possibly for no apparent reason

May experience some level of difficulty with mouth words, anywhere between slight difficulty only a little of the time to half the time

Please respect nonverbal/non-speaking and semiverbal/semi-speaking autistics and listen when they tell you not to use (and thus misuse) a word/words that was coined specifically for nonverbal/non-speaking and/or semiverbal/semi-speaking autistics. Those words/terms were coined for a reason.

[projectbatman193]

Autistic communication at it's best 💪🏼🦇😜

[spectrumgarden]

So I know a lot of words. Very complex words. My grammar is pretty close to perfect. I can spell well in my native language (english is a bit harder to be honest, but nonetheless I'm pretty fluent in a second language). All that points to me having no communication problems, because after all, I know all the words and understand them. But this doesnt take into account the reality of how complex using speech really is (using speech to mean all word based communication including sign and forms of AAC that use words).

For me, my thoughts often aren't in the form of words. The best I can describe it is I think in vague concepts. I have to match those to the right word. Very hard for complex topics, emotional topics. Then you have to order your words in the right way. When thinking I might jump from point C to A to B. To make someone understand what I mean, I cant start at point C or B. Then I have to sort. What really belongs to each category? How do these points build on each other in a logical way? Also things like assessing what your conversational partner already knows / doesnt know. What they need to know. So in conversations I often find myself unable to say something, or say it in a way that the person understands what I need them to, because I fail at any of these steps, despite theoretically knowing the words necessary to say it and having the opinions and thoughts necessary to want to reply. one of my most used AAC button is "i dont know". I'm sure I'm forgetting things that can cause problems too. What I want to say is:

TLDR: communication is complex and you cant boil it down to just. knows the words and definitions and then that person cant have communication difficulties.

[autistics4disclosure]

Complex teasing /negative

When most people think of bullying or teasing they think of plain insults or physical harm. These can be hard to interpret independently, but what about fake-kindness? If you've ever had somebody you've never talked to (or who has been mean to you in the past) come up to you and start being abnormally nice to you, you could have experienced this. To clarify, this would be a situation where somebody is kind to mock you. Like it would be funny if somebody would enjoy your company.

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

Being autistic does not mean what people think it means. It’s so exhausting having to explain that all the time

[beinganautismgirl]

[luckygrlsyndrome]

hi guys, i've never coined anything so lmk if i do anything wrong !

i wanted to coin a new term related to nonscribal and verbalflux because i haven't seen a term that describes some of my own and my friend's experiences

SCRIBALFLUX: a term for when your ability to produce written or typed language fluctuates between different states, such as having no, some, or full ability to produce written language

[bobafett51]

I just want to share a big area of self-improvement for me that is filling me with a lot of happiness and pride right now! It’s easy to forget how every part of us and every aspect of our lives are interconnected. Improving in one area of your life helps you improve in another! For me, being able to get in touch with my emotions and identifying them has made me so much better at expressing how I feel towards people. Especially when it comes to expressing my love and affection. One of the manifestations of this improvement is that I have become a much better gift giver. After all, what is gift giving if not an expression of love and affection?

Last week I went to a flower shop because I recently discovered that I love flower shops because they smell AMAZING. They’re a delight for my senses and I can’t help but happy stim when I’m in one. But I digress, while in this shop I started chatting with the owner (starting conversations with strangers is another area I’ve improved greatly in recently). We talked about how beautiful the shop smells, how nice it is sensory wise (from an autistic person’s perspective), and more. Eventually we talk about a beautiful bouquet that I knew my mom would love and I bring that up (because I’ve improved in my communication skills, too). After talking a little more she offers me the bouquet at a discount I couldn’t refuse since it was for my mom.

When I brought the bouquet home seeing the look on my mom’s face was priceless, seeing my mom light up as she told her friends about the bouquet was priceless, seeing my mom smile everytime she walks past the bouquet is priceless. It fills me with so much joy. The takeaway I got is that improving one aspect of yourself creates a positive feedback loop in all aspects of your life. I’ve always had a basic understanding what kinds of gifts would make those I’m close to happy but because I’m more in touch with my emotions I’m better able to understand what kinds of gifts would make the people I’m close to happy and act on that knowledge. In the past I’d have a harder time understanding if they’d like it and I’d over analyze it until I’d talk myself out of getting the gift. But most the time, gift giving is about emotion, the vibes, the aura that an object gives off. When the vibes and aura match the person you care about, that’s when you get it. It’s as if the Holy Spirit is calling you to act to show your love and affection. My self-improvement is positively impacting the people I care about. Nothing can make me happier and nothing could make me prouder and I just wanted to share that :).

[belpheg0r-luna]

I know this is the autism speaking but why must everyone lie all the time?!? Why does every single person insist on being this difficult?? Is it too much to ask of at least one person to be honest for a minute so i can breath freely???!!!?!