@actuallyautistic @autistics #ActuallyAutistic
actuallyautistic
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic How universities can become neuro-inclusive — and what can help autistic students thrive | Megan Ames, Associate Professor, Psychology, University of Victoria; Carly McMorris, Associate Professor of Education, University of Calgar for The Conversation Canada (@ConversationCA)
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic i was effectively ex communicated from the disability advocacy group at work for having this sort of energy
https://mas.to/@skeletor/115186329935014072
@actuallyautistic @autistics #ActuallyAutistic running (mostly) the board summer retreat presentation and already:
(1) found major agenda/time screw up as we started
(2) having trouble focusing since there is A LOT of new people i do not know and needing to stay on camera
(3) adjusted the schedule to accomodate the error from (1)
really hope i can keep it together for the next 3-4 hours and am able to keep talking without stumbling on my words
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic there's a fog warning for Seattle until 11am and while most are cheering the 11am hour, i am dreading it, since i like the fog and gray
@actuallyautistic @autistics #ActuallyAutistic this is so perfect for a recent Teams discussion going on at work today...
…unfortunately, i could never get away with posting this to the conversation
https://mas.to/@skeletor/115033668134709437
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic and this is what those in power rely on to keep us down…
"I'm tired,
I'm tired of being tired."
All too often I can't help thinking that this should be our motto, or legend written on our flag, were we ever to raise one over a land of our own. And it's hardly surprising really, given how exhausting just being autistic is in the human world.
We are constantly having to try and understand and translate what allistics are saying and trying to communicate, whether that be through speech or the written word, or ads, or everything really, into something that we can at least vaguely understand. But that, to say the least, is always an uphill and somewhat fruitless endeavour. Their speech is filled with so many allusions and stuff "we should just know and understand", givens and common understandings, that only really work if you actually ever fucking understood them in the first place. With meanings that are meant to be perceived, or invoke an emotive response, or show the important things, at least to them, of their existence and relationship to you, like status and position, power and authority. All the things that are so often lost on us, because it's not the way we see, or think about the world and yet without which make their words lack the meaning or substance that can actually make them useful. And then, of course, we are in the wrong, or just wilful, or just rude when we ask for an explanation, or fail to understand.
And then there is the sensory hell of the world they live in. All the noise and lights and smells that they just take for granted and seem to consider normal. So normal, in fact, that complaining or trying to protect yourself from them, is also often considered rude, or weird and certainly nothing you can explain to them with any hope of them really understanding. In fact trying to explain pretty much anything to them, or trying to get them to understand your needs and experiences, the way you need people to communicate with you for it to work, or the environment that you can live in, is so often a fruitless enterprise, or, at worst, the sort of encounter that ends up making you want to bash your head repeatedly against a brick wall until something, literally fucking anything, no matter how small, can make sense. Because rarely what we try to communicate to them, normally because of bitter experience, is that difficult or demands that much effort and yet still it still seems to be beyond them.
All too often, to a lesser or greater extent, this is the story of our lives. Masking can help, but that is its own energy drain. Being able to surround ourselves with the right people can help more, as can stubbornly looking after your own needs. But the wider world is always there, like an opinionated black hole, always ready to drain so much away. Getting older doesn't help with all this, as the natural wear and tear and the struggle of the years begin to gang up on us. As the energy reservoirs become less and less what they used to be, or fill back up with anything like the vigour of our youth. Everything becomes its own kind of harder. So perhaps is it any wonder that burnout dogs our ageing footsteps like an over eager puppy just waiting for the chance to trip us up and slobber all over us. In fact, you could almost argue that it is an inevitability, especially for those of us who expanded so much masking and uncertain and not realising that we were autistic for so long and didn't know all the things we could do to help ourselves, as little as they can sometimes be.
So perhaps it is no wonder that tiredness is so often our default state. We live in a world that all too often makes little or no sense, that can be hateful and harmful and care not a wit for us, or our needs. Why we spend so much time trying to understand how many spoons, or spell spots, or however we like to think about it, things will cost us and how much we can afford to spend. How we can be like paupers counting their small change, over and over again, in the vague hope that we can afford the simplest things that we desire.
So yes, all this and more is why I'm tired and tired of being tired, but then that just means I'm alive and still going. That I am still struggling and fighting and paying the price to just live in this world and if you think about it, that is no small thing.
@actuallyautistic @autistics #ActuallyAutistic a spanking choice from @cottonbureau…
@autistics
Since realizing that I'm autistic and working on accepting myself as I am, I'm finding it WAY more difficult to deal with people misunderstanding me, especially friends.
Like a friend telling me that it's great that I'm volunteering at the SPCA so that I can interact with people more...um NOPE it's the DOGS come on, is that really so weird?
They mean well, they're a great person, but it hit a sensitive place I didn't know I had!
Honestly I'm probably just really annoyed with myself for responding "Yes the staff are great" rather than "Uh, nope, not gonna lie, it's all about the doggos!"
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic former manager (now unit head) is trying to drag me into a “check-in” under the guise of “I’m due”
he does this performative crap with others in the unit and up until now has left me alone
in no way comfortable with this even if i can get approval for a second person there to be a witness
asked my neurotypical friend for advice (he knows the history) and all i get is “Sorry to hear that you are potentially experiencing this unnecessary meeting”
fucking typical
My "freudian"(without having read anything from freud, maybe he already had a theory like this) hypothesis is, that the average person conflates power and authority with parental properties.
They don't just have a "father state" or "father/mother land", they also feel like governments, big corporations and even people perceived as powerful, like rich people and celebrities have a (semi) parental relationship to them and care about their wellbeing.
1/
@actuallyautistic @autistics #ActuallyAutistic if made a drinking game of saying the below to people during the day (when appropriate), i'd have alcohol poisoning:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. —Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
Diary of an AuDHD Squirrel. Day 851 , Wednesday 25/02/2026
Wednesday started at around 7am.
Breakfast was soon followed by chores & then, as it was a nice sunny day I managed to get some suff done.
Moved the Virgin Media modem downstairs out of the box room. A job which was complicated by the fact I had to move the big bookcase we have in the corner of the lounge.
Always a fun job - its about 7 foot tall & one has to take all the books out & empty the cupboard at the bottom to move the sucker!
Still all sorted in the end & everything was back up & working within a couple of hours.
Also did a bit more prep work in the box room while I was in there.
Made some definite progress with my bookshelf re-org too which was good!
The new ear cushions for my SteelSeries headphones came this afternoon, soon fitted & they are just as comfy as the originals if very slightly bigger.
Finished the afternoon with a couple of hours in medieval Bohemia
Final Thoughts.
Not a bad day at all, my brain was still a bit all over the place though. I seem to be significantly more clumsy at the moment!
Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖
@autistics
#TimsASDjourney #ActuallyAutistic #Neurospicy #TheMammutMoves
I recently read about the autistic tendency of not being able to start working on something when something else hasn't been done. This week, we had a research group meeting where each of us planned tasks for the coming term. Now, being a senior researcher, I have plenty of projects I'm in. Therefore, I only focused on tasks related to this particular group. However, this meeting inspired me to think about the other projects I know I need to work on in the coming months. I updated my post-it system for each of them, tweaking the system a bit, as I usually do when a new term begins. I wasn't prepared to what happened.
Yesterday, I picked on one project that's been on hold for some weeks. I managed to get my work done and sent the manuscript to my coauthor. In the afternoon, I started working on another project that's been on hold. I never work on two manuscripts on the same day but now I did! Not only that, neither gave me the dread they often do! Somehow planning the fall in advance for ALL ongoing projects freed bandwidth to work on the most acute ones without stress.
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic you don't owe anyone a justification for your life
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic it's newsletter day again...
…and as always, i've been left a steaming pile of inaccurate and misleading bullshit world salad…
…and since i think words actually matter...
…i get to waste several hours of my weekend to reformulate this into coherence and value to our constituents…
…but yes, fellow outgoing board member, i am over extended, can’t imagine why
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic i thought everyone did this by default?
https://mas.to/@skeletor/115191915942392873
@autistics we cut the tag off one of our shirts today and holy shit we feel so much better, why didn't we do this sooner 😅
@actuallyautistic @autistics #ActuallyAutistic
https://mas.to/@skeletor/115061807037965531
@actuallyautistic @autistics #ActuallyAutistic i've been watching the Mad About you 2019 revival season and the attached quote had some serious resonance…
…and it was by far one of the most uncomfortable 4 minutes i've ever watched
Diary of an AuDHD Squirrel. Day 768 , Thursday 04/12/2025
Thursday started stupidly early, Mrs S got up around 06:30 & despite the fact that I had had almost no sleep last night I got up to make her breakfast.
It’s been a busy day, I volunteered to let relatives know about our sad news while Mrs S went to her mums house to start tracking down the important documents we will need in the near future.
I’ve also been trying to get source an engineer to come & sort out our boiler - I have failed royally on that mission.
Our go to plumber did break cover just before 1pm with a text to say he would call us later but he hasn’t.
So tomorrow, nearly a week after the I found the fault, I have to start looking for a replacement plumber - I shall try the neighbours & try & get a recommendation in the morning. Friday is a pro day for this but needs must.
There is an emergency option, apparently Vaillant will come out & repair an out of warranty boiler - for a not insubstantial fee, but we may have to go down that route.
Final Thoughts.
I’m so tired, & anxiety levels are off the graph … I need to make some progress with this flipping boiler tomorrow or I will be hiding under the chair this time tomorrow!
Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖
@autistics
#TimsASDjourney #ActuallyAutistic #Neurospicy #TheMammutMoves
@actuallyautistic @autistics #ActuallyAutistic another meeting, another “retreat" planning discussion, another “othering” by the mob...
… at least 3 people in said meeting are aware i have an accommodation that impacts in-person participation in said “retreat" and yet…
…the mantra is all in-person, in-person, in-person…
…because as usual, only the feelings of the neurotypicals count
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic always remember and never forget…
@actuallyautistic @autistics #ActuallyAutistic in a Zoom meeting and had to go off camera since i am not having a good day executive function-wise…
…struggling with sharing screen as i’m the admin support