#severe autism

[one-in-a-cocomelon]

Confuse confuse confuse so much people say them nonverbal community say listen nonverbal people say not take nonverbal word but them not actual nonverbal to do posts say mostly nonverbal non speak primary nonverbal non speak can mouth talk some time do some talk words can do mouth words just more easy do aac not mouth words and not understanding doing same else people stealing nonverbal people words all that not actual nonverbal can do mouth words even hard even not all time not nonverbal

[nonspeakers-r-us]

Nobody talks about episodes of uncontrollable emotion and dangerous behaviors in severe Autism.

I apologize for the long post. This is important to me. Heavy CW for mention of knives, self-injurious behaviors, description of intense emotions, brief descriptions of restraints and police. Yes, I used the word "severe" to describe my Autism. This is because I am Nonspeaking, very High Support Needs, visibly Autistic, and have a Borderline IDD. This is how I choose to describe my Autism. Please don't attack me for this, Tumblr. Anyways. Darting out into busy streets. Repeatedly banging your head against walls. Throwing objects, sometimes even very dangerous objects such as knives. Breaking things - anything - no matter the value or durability. Unplanned, sudden violence towards self and others. Lashing out, in pure emotion, just screaming into nothing at the top of your lungs, for no obvious reason other than pure, unadulterated, terrifying emotion. This may not seem like symptoms of Autism for anyone, and they may not be caused by Autism at all. But for many young people and adults with severe Autism, this is what our families deal with regularly. "Difficult behaviors", as I've often heard them described as by social workers. There's often no clear reason for then. They just. Happen. We are almost never diagnosed with secondary conditions. It is considered a symptom of our severe/profound Autism. While in many Speaking and Low Support Needs people with Autism, they would be diagnosed with various conditions. Conduct Disorder. Bipolar. Borderline Personality Disorder. Maybe even a severe case of Intermittent Explosive Disorder. But for those of us on the more visible part of the Spectrum, nobody knows how to deal with us. It's scary and heartbreaking for our families, and deeply traumatic for us. Many times, our families and caregivers will turn to emergency services such as police or EMTs when they have no where else to turn. I don't like this option, I hate it. But in moments of extreme panic and fear, I don't always blame families for this. Nobody talks about those of us who have been restrained by our arms and ankles to hospital beds for weeks at a time. Nobody talk about those of us who turn violent on the people we love most, when we just can't control ourselves. I wish I had good advice for those of us struggling with this. I wish I could comfort you. While mood stabilizers and antipsychotic medications have helped me, it doesn't help everyone. DBT for severely Autistic individuals is another thing that greatly helped me. This is a fact of life for many individuals with severe Autism and their families. It's terrifying. But please keep trying treatment, keep advocating for yourself as much as possible, and keep going. I'm sure you don't think this means anything, but you are strong. You are brave. I see you and I want you to keep going. Nobody talks about episodes of uncontrollable emotion and dangerous behaviors in severe Autism.

[birdofmay]

There’s this “Elopement” post going around and I think the comments really show the difference between autistics who never really had a severe problem with wandering off, and those who did/still do 🤔

Autistics without this problem are like “Without permission? This is called freedom, if I don’t like it here, I will simply leave!” and “I hate it that NTs set the rules and don’t care about our sensory problems, we should have the right to leave if we’re uncomfortable!”

And autistics who really endangered themselves with sudden elopement are like “Yeah, I would always wander off, looking back I could have drowned or been hit by a car! Lucky me this didn’t happen!”

Like “elopement-prone” autistics know what this is actually about, the others don’t and jump to conclusions and think this is about forcing autistics to stay in a place that is sensory hell.

I remember a situation when I was 10 and was on a leash because this was the safest and most comfortable solution (because I had my freedom and nobody had to touch me when I was about to wander off - grabbing me would have caused a meltdown immediately), and an autistic adult who never had those problems got angry at my parents why they would treat me like a dog 🤦‍♀️

This is why it’s important to raise awareness within the autistic community about individuals who can’t be left alone, so that misconceptions like that can be avoided. So that autistics who never had a dangerous elopement problem can see an individual on a leash and think “Ah, they’re probably prone to wandering off without noticing themself, the leash is so that they don’t run into traffic!”

TL;DR:

We have to raise awareness about individuals who endanger themself when left alone, so that misconceptions can be avoided.

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

things that can & do & should coexist at same time:

not everyone have access to (autism) diagnosis because of racism ableism etc against marginalized identities such as race class sex gender etc.

having an autism diagnosis is not a blanket privilege because many are forcibly diagnosed as kid and abused specifically because of their diagnosis, disproportionately visibly disabled/autistic, high support needs, “severe”/labeled as severe, cannot mask, have intellectual disability, etc.

if have ability and choice in getting diagnosed or not. choose very carefully. because diagnosis allow you services but also open door to discrimination (take child away, not allowed immigration, harder to access HRT, seen as medically incompetent, etc) you have less chance of experiencing if you undiagnosed.

these above discrimination still disproportionately affect BIPOC, low income, queer trans, high support needs, have intellectual disability, visibly autistic ppl, etc.

but even being able to choose whether to diagnose self or not, is autonomy & advantage many people don’t have. some people don’t have choice, like cannot afford or access diagnosis, or forcibly diagnosed as kid. but also, people who not diagnosed as kid per se but as they grow up, increase disability thus need diagnoses for services (and can’t survive without them) and can no longer hide disability and autism.

[pixierainbows]

Pixie, for first time ever, is going to day programs without a caregiver, with the special Access bus .

everybody say very good Pixie be little more independent !

still need help get on and off Access bus, and caregivers on both ends, but Pixie still very impress with Pixie

( is not Pixies picture )

[stars-autism-world]

Remind that Star is nonverbal.

Star is severely autistic.

Star is severely disabled.

But star not child

[plural-autism]

am wish could use term "low functioning autism/autistic" for myself, without people try call me ableist or something. am more used to that term (and severe autism), but not want get pulled into discourse. sad

[r4incl0uds]

Something (kinda) controversial that I think that certain people in the autistic community need to hear:

Just because you're autistic does not mean you get to choose how another autistic person labels themselves.

You do not get to harass someone because they say they have mild or severe autism. You do not get to bully someone out of the autistic community because they call themselves high- or low-functioning. You do not get to say "just describe your specific needs" while you ignore the people who do not have the ability, linguistically or cognitively or otherwise, to do so.

If you're going to send me something mean for this, just remember - autism acceptance means accepting ALL autistic people, not just the autistic people who agree with you about everything.

(To be clear: I have a VERY big problem with non-autistic people forcing these labels onto us, using them to determine who does and does not deserve support, being like "you must be high-functioning, but you're so high-functioning", etc. However, I don't think there is a problem when autistic people deliberately choose those labels for themselves. You have the right to choose how you label yourself.)

[mischiefmanifold]

I have a question about the correlation between autism levels and support needs levels

I know they are not the same thing but are often grouped together within people

but question is

can one be level 2/3 autistic and have lower support needs?

specifically asking about level 2 as that is what I am but am still curious about level 3

[lifeishapy]

even if u needing help alot or all the time it dose not mean u have a waste life u can still grow up be a adult and do stuff if sombody helping you it dose not mean you are bad

[ninalovesplushies]

I am Nina, this is Nina blog. Nina is brazilian, autistic level two-three, have a lot of trouble via communication but can easily understand english.

Nina special interest: kirby, my melody, my romantic partner, cute and pink things.

Nina has a partner called Vivi, for her. He is autistic, but level one and helps Nina a lot.

Nina is 15yrs old, bday 28 of May and is very feminine, please only refer me as she/her.

Nina don't speak to strangers or random people at tumblr, but will answer anyone in the future. Nina don't like to talk.

------

Nina likes @/birdofmay a lot.

And others autistic Bloggers.

[one-in-a-cocomelon]

Tay say thing own autism people ignore ignore say wrong wrong but smart writing person say same thing all all listen share that say important words makes sad sad sad just because severe autism intellectual disability make hard understanding not mean words not important

[neurospicy]

I honestly resent the “adhd and autism are superpowers and only struggle because of capitalism” narrative, and I find it deeply flawed and lacking in nuance to the point of being harmful.

Adhd and autism both exist on a spectrum. They are each their own cluster of traits/symptoms, and those exist in varying degrees based on the individual. Are there aspects to adhd and autism that are advantageous? Absolutely, but we can’t pretend that they exist in an advantageous way in all of us. Some people do have the “right” traits, dialed up to the “right” intensity, and that might allow them to take advantage of their neurodivergence in a way that helps them succeed.

That isn’t to say that they don’t also have struggles due to living in a neurotypical world as an adhd’er or autistic, but they might be able to overcome it. Another person may have all the adhd or autistic traits dialed up to 100, to the point that it’s too debilitating for them to take advantage of any positives that might exist. There are high support needs autistics, for one example, who regardless of whether they had to work to afford to live or not, would still need help with living. Help cooking, cleaning, bathing.

I have “severe” adhd and while I don’t have an official autism diagnosis, I know I am autistic. I never related to the energetic, social, novelty-seeking picture that is painted of people who have adhd. My autistic traits cancel out the “positives” of having adhd, while my adhd traits cancel out the “positives” of being autistic. I’m too burnt out and exhausted all of the time to put forth much mental energy. I freak out when things aren’t predictable. I can’t function if the room is too cold. I can’t eat if my food is too cold, too squishy, too chewy, doesn’t have the right sauce available, doesn’t have the drink I like with that particular food, etc. My interests are very narrow so I don’t have the typical adhd love of variety. Yet I also can’t stay organized or follow a routine. I can’t recall information properly when I need to. I’m not patient. I forget things that just happened 30 seconds ago. I can’t plan to save my life.

This also ignores that some people have no comorbidities or they only have one or two. Some have several to contend with. Some of us have learning disabilities. We aren’t all former gifted kids that just can’t follow traditional structures or sit still in class or at the office. Some of us are legitimately debilitated in all aspects of life. Some of us aren’t just struggling with going to a 9-5…some of us can’t even keep a 9-5 because of our symptoms.

Does capitalism make things significantly harder? Absolutely. But if capitalism were to vanish tomorrow, I still wouldn’t have the executive functioning to keep my space clean, to make myself food, or to stay consistent on my own chosen projects. I would still struggle with arfid. I would still have a delayed circadian rhythm. I would still struggle to make appointments and make phone calls for myself. And I would still struggle to connect with others or make friends with people who might help me with these things.

[birdofmay]

I'm nonverbal and I don't like it when speaking people say nonverbal/nonspeaking to describe themselves.

Reblog if you're nonverbal/nonspeaking or minimally speaking and don't like it when speaking people say nonverbal/nonspeaking to describe themselves.

I want to show that it's a majority thing.

Tagging the first people I can think of to show them this post:

@perplexingluciddreams @five-thousand-loaves-of-bread @plural-autism @lunabrainbad @gwydion-aacblog

To speaking people: Keep in mind that many nonspeaking people aren't on any social media, so even 10 reblogs are a lot - we are a minority on here.

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

*unbolded version under the cut*

there is nothing wrong with seeing your autism as a disorder.

there’s nothing wrong with seeing your autism as a disorder AND disability AND neurodivergent AND be proud of it.

disorder is not a bad word.

saying “autism is a neurodivergence not a disorder” ignores nuance and is actively erasing level 2/3 autistics.

here is to autistics who sees their autism as a disorder.

…

unbolded:

there is nothing wrong with seeing your autism as a disorder.

there’s nothing wrong with seeing your autism as a disorder AND disability AND neurodivergent AND be proud of it.

disorder is not a bad word.

saying “autism is a neurodivergence not a disorder” ignores nuance and is actively erasing level 2/3 autistics.

here is to autistics who sees their autism as a disorder.

[pixierainbows]

Pixie really really not like when . people get told Pixie can not talk . and . them people immediately start trying to push Pixie into saying *something* with mouth words .

not know what part of "Pixie can not talk " people have hard time understanding .

it is very simple sentence .

this not about losing speech . this about Pixie being nonverbal . nonverbal mean being not able to use mouth words at all ever , all the time , with anybody .

Pixie not can say even just 1 word . no really , can not say even just hello . no not tomorrow either , never .

no, you person not special or different from everybody else what have tried same thing before .

please to stop laughing it is not funny to harass bully Pixie about mouth words .

this happen so much, Pixie really not understand at all why so many people do this .