the--anxiety-project-blog

[the--anxiety-project-blog]

Autism acceptance month.

Hello everyone and thank you for visiting our tumblr today! 

Because of the fact that it is now Autism acceptance month most of the articles we publish this month will be about autism! 

Today (April 3rd, 2020) we will be learning about what autism is, and how it affects some people who have it. 

Autism is defined as a developmental disorder of variable severity that is characterized by difficulty in social interaction and communication and by restricted or repetitive patterns of thought and behavior. 

People who have it will often have trouble in social situations, with stuff like making eye contact, and reading social cues. 

They will also engage in an action called stimming, which is when someone will engage in repetitive actions or motions, over and over again. 

Now, not everyone who fits the definition of stimming is autistic, stimming can also be attributed to ADHD, and just plain old fidgeting. 

Some examples of stimming are: 

Running hands through hair repetitively. 

Running your hands or other parts of your body over and over again on a certain texture. 

Or even clapping or flapping your hands repeatedly. 

Autism is way more common than most people think, because a great part of society thinks that autism can only be what they are portrayed as in the media. 

In the media they are often portrayed as the most extreme end of the spectrum. They have to adhere to a rigorous schedule, can only eat or study certain things, and are often painted as obnoxious. Think Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory and you’ve pretty much got it down to a t.  

In reality autism, (like anything else) is a spectrum, and so you have different levels of traits. 

While one autistic person may need to adhere to a schedule all the time, and have awful sensory processing issues, another autistic person may have less sensory issues, and not have to adhere to as strict a schedule. 

Autism isn’t the type of spectrum most people think it is, it's not a straight line, with Neurotypicals (people who don’t have ADHD autism or something of the like) on one end, and the most ‘severe’ of autistics on the other. 

In reality, it's more like hundreds of lines like that, but with stuff like “adhere to schedule” and “textural issues” on them. 

While you may be one hundred on texture issues, you may also be a zero on adhere to schedule. 

Autism is complicated, and if you think you might have it it is best to not only do some research beforehand, but also to talk to family members and friends, maybe see a therapist if you’re comfortable with it.  

Talk to people on the internet, find forums and tumblr accounts and ask them how they got their diagnosis. 

And above all, remember that there is nothing wrong with you if you are autistic, you aren’t broken, you were simply born in a society that was not built for you and there is nothing wrong with that. 

Now, take it easy guys gals and Nb pals, we’ll see you on monday with a brand new post!

[the--anxiety-project-blog]

Mental illnesses and neurodivergencies such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, and autism are heavily stigmatised in the media, and in real life.   Our goal is to reduce the stigma around these subjects so people like us can not only be more free in talking about our conditions, but so other people can learn about themselves and their friends as well.  If you ever find any error in our article, please let us know by contacting us by email (you can find it at the bottom of our home page, or my personal email Caspian.ray.rose@gmail.com) and we will review it and fix it. 

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