@autistics #ActuallyAutistic this is why i post here -- the recognition has made all the difference https://neurodifferent.me/@theautisticcoach/115594484029955686
actuallyautistic
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic my phone locked up for 2 days and is now almost back to normal after two separate tech support trips…
…and honestly, it was one of the most unsettling 48 hours in a long time
"Why can't you be normal?"
Something I wish I hadn't heard many many times in my life.
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic this quote from The Blacklist seems appropriate:
Honestly, is it just me or is the human race, armed with religion, poisoned by prejudice, and absolutely frantic with hatred and fear, galloping pell—mell back to the Dark Ages? —Raymond Reddington, The Blacklist
https://universeodon.com/@memeorandum/115582563834716323
People who say "you should get out of your comfort zone sometimes" have the privilege of *having* a comfort zone. I'm so far out of my comfort zone that I forgot what it feels like to be at ease with myself!
And I need to make extra effort to create the conditions to feel welcomed and accepted!
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic so simply exist?
https://mas.to/@skeletor/115583189861282418
RE: https://mastodon.social/@filmfreak75/116144369129643065
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic insert your question of choice…
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic had no less than 3 “busy work" items come from the allistics at work today...
…and each time i wanted to scream “WTAF is the point of this?”
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic another day, another allistic fire drill waste of time…
…what happens when a bunch of ego driven allistics get into a discussion about process that they don't understand...
...the neurodivergents beneath their feet are stuck scrambling to provide answers to questions that were never asked…
…and fighting the urge to answer the actual questions for efficiency...
…but knowing doing so will lead to being in trouble for “not knowing their place”
When roles and the interview process are standardized, it forces interviewees to be, as well. This is how neurodivergent people lose out.
But trust me, the companies are losing out, too, when they fail to recognize talent, experience, and capability simply because it isn't packaged in the standard way.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/us/politics/rfk-jr-cdc-vaccines-autism-website.html
What a piece of shit.
Who cares how many people die, as long as you're "right"? /s
I have something to add to the debate: Not only do I have solid grounds for not believing that getting vaccinated caused my autism, but I DON'T CARE! I would tell my parents they did the right thing by getting me vaccinated. Autism didn't ruin my life. Dying of a preventable disease certainly would have, though!
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic one of the many reasons i need to work from home is...
...periodically throughout the day, some random thing will start me laughing my ass off for no reason…
…for example, just now i was forwarding an agreement, and it triggered a memory of this…
…but in my head it was “Lisa, you're tearing me apart”
I don't get why when people see on my social media bio that my store is for autistics, they ALWAYS assume it's for autistic children. So many people have pitched their product to me saying it helps autistic kids or targets parents of autistic kids. Why is the fact there is a store made for autistics where children cannot use 98% of what it sells so hard to grasp? Before me there was nothing for autistic adults. When we grow up into adulthood are we just supposed to stop being autistic or something? Weird people.
Edited 293d ago
RE: https://mas.to/@skeletor/115599959714637948
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic i use the word performative a lot to describe my workplace…
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic ex-husband just asked if i can add him back to my health insurance…
…the gall of this includes:
(1) he asked for the divorce just about 2 years ago
(2) at the tine i offered (since i’m a moron) to indefinitely separate instead so that he could stay on my insurance and i could avoid the divorce stigma
(3) he’s only asking since the health insurance time bomb has found him
…and how am i feeling about all of this…
…to paraphrase a Chorus Line, “I feel nothing”
A while ago I was listening to the Autistic Culture Podcast and Matt (who's since left) brought up the intense world theory of #Autism, which explains a lot about our brains.
According to studies (in link below), generally, the #Autistic brain generates 42% more information at rest, over-activates upon eye contact and reading faces, and has closer synaptic firing. No wonder we get easily overwhelmed by the world! 😵💫
Being AuDHD feels a little bit like constantly parenting yourself.
ADHD: Hungry. Sweets.
Autism: Not before the lunch which is ready in 5 minutes.
Have started the "screening for ADHD" phase of being assessed for AuDHD. So far the Autism diagnosis process has been really good. They use the "DISCO assessment instrument" which is designed for adults. The questions mostly make sense to me, which is more than I can say for about every other autism questionnaire I've encountered so far.
I can't remember the name of the ADHD screener that was used, but it's less satisfying. For example, one of the questions is "when I'm in a meeting, I have to get up and move around". And the only options for answers are "Strongly agree / agree/ neither agree or disagree / disagree / strongly disagree".
There's no answer there that captures my experience, which is "I really, really need to get up and move around but I'm able to force myself not to so I never do it."
And most of the questions are like that.
Three years ago, I hesitantly signed up on my first instance on Fedi and staggered out onto the social media stage for the first time in my life. Why I chose Mastodon for this, is more of a why not, than a why. It was during the great Twitter wave and I'd read a few things about it and it seemed like a good a place as any.
The first thing I did was search the hashtags (even I knew to do that) for my autistic brethren. From that day to this, I have not been disappointed in what I found. Either in the welcome, or the sense of community. Or even, possibly, that I've never come across a bigger bunch of weirdos, misfits and malcontents in all my life (😆) And yet you have all found a place in my heart.
I have learnt and grown so much by being here and continue to learn and broaden my understanding of not just autism, but so much else because of you all. For this and for so much more, I cannot thank you all enough. All of you who make up the Fediverse and who make this such a special place.
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic has anyone else noticed that there are some people you find it easier to do "social lubrication” with than others?
for example, there are some managers i don’t mind doing chit chat with before getting down to business and there are others who i just can’t.
It’s not even noon and I had such an intensive and inspiring day so far.
I got up at 2:30 am and called a friend who is a night owl, just to realize that I am not able to make phone calls today, he was very tired, so we decided to talk later and I switched to chatting with a friend from another time zone until he had to go bed.
The chat reminded me oft a song from the past (music by John Miles), so I started listen to it while processing the chat. Then I recorded several voice messages and started to make a playlist for another friend who spends a lot of time on the train today and “don’t wants people in her head while listening to music”, while switching to listening to “music” by John Miles in between until I was in a listening to this one song over and over again mode. All this included several pacing and dancing sessions culminating in exploring how fast in circles my office chair is able to spin.
As the chat was still open on my laptop I started to think about a good German word with a “Z”, because my friend is interested in the German language and phonology. I recorded and typed “Zufriedenheit” (satisfaction/contentment) and found it interesting that it contains the word “Frieden”, which means peace. As words have a very strong effect on me, I started to calm down a little bit, which immediately changed when I realized that it is not only 7:30 am already, but also November 24th which meant that my online-therapy session at 9 am was actually today, not tomorrow, so I started my morning routine, went for a walk with Lumi and gave him a good brush afterwards. I just had enough time left to have breakfast, listening to the song again on the balcony and feeding my crow friend.
At the beginning of my therapy session my therapist told me that I scored very high in my ADHD assessment last week, so I am officially AuDHD now. What a surprise.
She is so amazing, I will write another post about the session itself, but it ended with the word “zufrieden”.
Edited 290d ago
![Avatar for [a]mayz[ing]’s gaze](/proxy/identity_icon/507740677641041258/95a39e9135.jpeg){kind=icon}
Yesterday I got to see a former poetry slammer - now comedian, whose career I have followed for over 10 years live for the first time.
When I got the ticket in January I was overjoyed. But the closer the date got, the more apprehensive I got. I was so scared to be hyped because I know how the saying goes. “Never meet your idols, you might get very disappointed very quickly.”
In the last couple of years he disclosed his own late-diagnosed neurodivergence as an AuDHDer and made it a bigger topic in his art.
He was one of the most influential poetry slammers who inspired me to start writing my own texts. I knew several texts by heart and honestly, I still know many passages of texts even now.
The hesitant tiny bouncy flapp flapps started when we arrived at the venue and I when the program was just so fucking amazing I spent all of the break bouncing up and down outside because I was overflowing with joy.
I laughed more and harder then the last couple of month combined.
After the show he gave autogramms and I swear my brain short circuited.
No words, just a shitton of happy chemicals. Bouncing up and down in front of him, hands flapping, a completely unmasked version of me.
I got a bit self-conscious when I heard people cooing behind me afterwards and I am still unsure how I feel about it.
During his performance he made some points that to me sounded like back-references to an old text of his and I just loudly blurted out a phrase from one of his former poetry slam texts from freaking 10 years ago. He immediately got the reference and was taken aback, even though he also looked happy and shocked. When the other people applauded after the show I made a finger heart and he saw it made one back.
I cannot put into words how happy all of this made me. I will forever treasure this.
The point I originally wanted to make was, how annoying it is that not only the big sad feelings but also the big happy feelings are exhausting.
But now I’m just happy all over again, having written this.
Brain is a mess in both good and bad ways.
#AuDHD #actuallyautistic #specialinterest #autisticJoy @autistics @actuallyadhd
Edited 290d ago