Behold - my cats and autism graphics!
How we are similar to our feline companions.
a thread... 1/3
actuallyautistic
"The #Autism Social Rule Book": https://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=131296
Contains nuggs of wisdom like: "NTs voice their opinions to feel heard and validated. That is why it is rude to debate with or correct them in most situations."
🇨🇦Anyone else a fan of the movie/tv show Limitless? Watching them for maybe the 4th or 5th time now. The starting position of these two people resonates really hard, especially Eddie since he's a writer like me. Probably it's the ADHD side, but could be the autistic side; not sure since I'm both. Definitely an executive function issue. The appeal isn't of being smarter (although that's cool too), it's that being able to engage hyperfocus at will. If I could just look at (one of) my to-do list(s), and hyperfocus each item off of it, *that* would be amazing.
Realized at 63, I've developed the autism equivalent of gaydar.
I see autism in all the people I instantly get along with.
More importantly, I now see autism in all the people who are instantly aloof or those that irk me. I know an entire family who are comically exaggeratedly loud even in this era.
I've never wanted to be seen. Often for me, my internal cringe goes off and I want to shout "hide don't be seen", but also "please be more unmaskedly seen".
People often say that autistics are clumsy but clearly they haven't watched high level men's tennis in the last 10 years. No, not that person, the other ones.
Take a closer look at all those mostly individual sports that require immense hours of steadfast dedication dedication. Diving anyone ?
In team sports, look at the largely unnoticed perennial "team players" who are consistently good but never really stand out.
Ah yes. This. My son didn't seem in the least bit "different," to me 😂
#Autism #ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent #Diagnosis
Credit to ADHD Explained on FB
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic feels like this community to me…
https://mas.to/@skeletor/115231786107775381
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic filtering unpleasant interactions through these #RandomMovieTVQuotes:
I have to be like this ;cause this is what I'm like. —the Doctor, Doctor Who
…what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. —Bryan Mills, Taken (2008)
No one else will ever have to live like this! No one else will ever have to feel this pain! Not on my watch! —the Doctor, Doctor Who
Something that came onto my feed earlier. Nothing particularly surprising to me. It seems obvious, actually, but it's nice to see that it's finally being admitted. Also shows clearly how the hunt of the brain-worm king, RFK, is just a massive hate search.
1/2
Edited 1y ago
Someone wrote about this piece: "I'm not sure if I've been a fly on the wall listening to your family, or if you've been the fly at mine."
That recognition hits deep.
This is "sneaking my mother's creepy g-d on high" - a cinematic spoken word piece about winter 1997, family dinners, and what happens when you finally stop performing neurotypical.
Religious expectations. Neurodivergent reality. The price we pay for authenticity in families that were never built for minds like ours.
Heavy content warning: family trauma, substance use, religious themes, cult references.
How many of us recognize that battlefield of family gatherings where our honesty threatens everyone's comfort?
#ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent #SpokenWord #WritingCommunity #MentalHealth #DisabilityPoetry
Discussions of alcoholism, involuntary commitment, and suicide
@autistics so just another day being #ActuallyAutistic...
Pixy's Journey 
I saw someone sharing this link, and even though I don't doubt my autism diagnosis, I was curious to how I would do with this test...
https://psychology-tools.com/test/autism-spectrum-quotient
Well, my result doesn't come as any surprise 
Still, wanted to share with you, also because the link might interest some who are curious as well. 
Edit: it came to my attention that the creators of this test/site aren't all good in some ways. Sorry for sharing this without a heads up. I really didn't know. 😔 I will leave the Toot up, but with this little bit of new knowledge added to it. Thanks to @cobalt123 for informing me. 
Edited 355d ago
Introducing: prepped.to
A service for and by #ActuallyAutistic people.
Ever wanted to know what a new place will be like before going? Noise levels, lighting, sensory stimulation?
Now we can help each other find our way and be prepared too!
![A six panel comic.
Headline: prepped.to - how it came to be.
Panel 1: A mother and a small child. The child is holding her hands to her ears in distress.
Text: Little Rey needed preparation. Rey's mother realized Rey needed preparation before going somewhere new, otherwise everything was surprising and overwhelming.
Panel 2: hands writing in a little booklet with drawings on it.
Text: Rey's mother created little booklets to help Rey prep. Before going to a new place or activity, she created a little children's book to explain to Rey what would happen at the new place.
Panel 3: mother and child reading a book together.
Text: Before an outing, they'd read the book together. They went over details such as lighting, noise, human load, and how to get the service they came for, and prepped in advance with ear and eye protection, stim toys and scripting.
Panel 4: An adult human. They are wearing sunglasses and headphones.
Text: Rey is an adult now, but still needs preparation. Autistic kids grow up to be autistic adults. We go places on our own, but still get overwhelmed by surprising conditions and the uncertainty about how to get service.
Panels 5 and 6: Two adult humans in conversation. One is showing the other something in a smartphone. They are smiling.
Text: with prepped.to autistic people share and use information to prepare before going to new places.
Users upload sensory descriptions, images, video and sound samples, and explain how to find the place and [...]](/proxy/post_attachment/917182/cd7f962790.jpeg "A six panel comic.
Headline: prepped.to - how it came to be.
Panel 1: A mother and a small child. The child is holding her hands to her ears in distress.
Text: Little Rey needed preparation. Rey's mother realized Rey needed preparation before going somewhere new, otherwise everything was surprising and overwhelming.
Panel 2: hands writing in a little booklet with drawings on it.
Text: Rey's mother created little booklets to help Rey prep. Before going to a new place or activity, she created a little children's book to explain to Rey what would happen at the new place.
Panel 3: mother and child reading a book together.
Text: Before an outing, they'd read the book together. They went over details such as lighting, noise, human load, and how to get the service they came for, and prepped in advance with ear and eye protection, stim toys and scripting.
Panel 4: An adult human. They are wearing sunglasses and headphones.
Text: Rey is an adult now, but still needs preparation. Autistic kids grow up to be autistic adults. We go places on our own, but still get overwhelmed by surprising conditions and the uncertainty about how to get service.
Panels 5 and 6: Two adult humans in conversation. One is showing the other something in a smartphone. They are smiling.
Text: with prepped.to autistic people share and use information to prepare before going to new places.
Users upload sensory descriptions, images, video and sound samples, and explain how to find the place and [...]")
Edited 284d ago
Hello Neurospicy* friends. Are you someone who finds you need calming sounds/music to help with overwhelm?
I recommend BBC Radio 3 Unwind. 24 hours a day of the calmer, relaxed classical music. Available on BBC Sounds from almost any device.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live/bbc_radio_three_unwind
If you're in the UK, you can also access a massive number of old programmes from BBC Radio 3 Unwind.
Listeners outside the UK can only listen to the live broadcast.
For #autistic people everywhere 💓
Credit to Taylor Sanders on Neurodivergent Memes, FB.
I relate to this.
Anyone else out there 'hardworking and quiet'?
And.. yes:
"Why don't we just start using words to communicate so I can stop tracking everyone's eyebrow twitches, that would be great."
Edited 354d ago
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic me during my work accommodation approval process last year
https://mas.to/@skeletor/115243773785069846
So a follow up on my post about the upcoming autistic employment 'mixer' event*. I had a meeting with the guy that does my employment coaching and was able to get more details about it.
So they are definitely trying to design the event with autistic accommodations in mind. Firstly, they are trying not to make it big and hectic like similar events for NTs, more low key. They will have people on hand for support of any kind, including help with making introductions and such. There will be quiet rooms set aside. They are going to try to gamify the event a little with something like bingo cards, with things like 'hand out X business cards' or something, and then use those to win prizes. I think that the point of that is to provide a little bit of structure, so you're not having to completely make it up as you go along, and maybe focus too, which makes sense, but also to provide external incentives, which I personally have mixed feelings about, and I imagine will affect people differently as well. He also mentioned there being some short talks, and an award given to the most neuroinclusive employer or something like that.
He also told me about some of the employers that they have invited. I told him about how I felt about having as much information ahead of time as possible, and he said that they just haven't gone into much detail yet because of how they are still working out details, and that more information is coming. So that seemed to cover basically all the bases I think.
Still feeling reticent about the whole affair, but less so than before. I do feel more supported and that they are trying their best, and given that this is their first try at such a thing, it'll be a kind of pilot project. So I get that. So I'll be considering it, and looking forward to any more information they send out about it.
* Here's the old post if you want to see it: https://autistics.life/@murdoc/115215021453931443
In case people forget that autistics saw this coming. This was a little something that I wrote back when this was announced. Many others wrote stuff that was very similar and in some cases even more prophetic. We have been canaries, not so much singing warning songs, as screaming into the bloody darkness hoping that someone will listen.
I think we've probably all heard of Mr brain-worm's desire to look into the link between autism and vaccination, and thought nothing good of it. This, despite the fact that even the remotest possibilities of such a link have already been vigorously kicked to death and stomped deeply into the earth of, "not a fucking chance", by countless existing and extremely reputable studies. But, this latest announcement, that they will find the cause of autism itself, to my mind, seems to cast all of this into an even darker light.
By establishing such a ridiculously short time frame to be able to a come to a "guaranteed" conclusion, in partnership with nebulous "worldwide" sources, and within a framework that clearly indicates that they have already decided that it will be some sort of "artificial" cause, this smacks of a clear stitch up. In fact, the sort of stitch up that will make the Cass report* look like the most scholarly, balanced study known to mankind. In fact, the only thing that really seems to be in question, is what cause for it they have already decided to put forward.
If whatever it is, is just to be the silver bullet they wish to use to kill off vaccinations in general, then that will be bad, and obviously ridiculous, enough. But, if it is going to be something else, that fits in even more neatly into Mr Brain-worm's hatred of not only vaccination, but it would seem anything even remotely dealing with modern medicine, and in fact modern life, then it could be truly devastating. Given the wrecking ball they are already taking to the entirety of the medical and academic authorities and institutions, I can't help feeling that the way this could go, could be extremely dark indeed. Indeed, it could be the stepping stone they intend to use to eliminate so many of the safety nets of health and mental care, that so many rely on and that are in many respects the cornerstones of citizen welfare.
I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but, this would be inline with so much of what this government seems to be aiming for. The reduction of people into worker units, who are trapped by the necessities of a lack of education and options, into doing so for minimal return, especially in terms of any real pay and continued health. Those simply being the carrots that are forever dangled before them, to keep them working on. A new class of indentured servitude, if you will, just like the good old days they seem to love.
As I said, I could be wrong. In fact, I really, really, hope I am.
* Cass report - For those who don't know, a British study presented to the former government and still supported by the current one, on Trans issues and used by them to further their transphobic policy decisions. It has been widely debunked by many other studies and a vast number of medical organisations, for its lack of representation and the way it ignored and cherry-picked the information within it, to create a highly one-sided and misleading conclusion.
@autistics #ActuallyAutistic my personal choice would be the old, very hard to break glass Snapple bottles…
"Speaking on Monday, Squire commented: “I was just going to ask you if you could order a fresh batch of branded pens. Why are you holding a can of lighter fluid and a box of matches?””
Boss who scheduled unspecified chat better actually be firing you after all this | The Daily Tism
https://thedailytism.com/boss-who-scheduled-unspecified-chat-better-actually-be-firing-you-after-all-this/
Edited 353d ago
Diary of an AuDHD Squirrel. Day 866 , Thursday 12/03/2026
Thursday started around 07:15, I managed to get a decent nights sleep by the simple trick of putting ear plugs in!
It’s been a wet & windy day, punctuated by numerous short but annoying power cuts!
In the face of this I decided to tackle the mutant paperwork pile on my desk - progress has been made but there is still a way to go!
We had a fried chicken takeaway for tea - it has to be said that I think I am going off them, it was ok but I didn’t especially enjoy it.
Final Thoughts.
I’ve moved back to using my Logitech K780 keyboard with my iPad, the Apple Magic Keyboard I was using having gone back into service with the Mac Mini. I had forgotten what a nice keyboard this is!
Given the dreary state of the weather I am quite pleased with what I managed to get done today!
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
Omg, trump is talking right now about his ideas to cure autism. Why did I let myself watch any of it?!?
#ActuallyAutistic @autistics
#AltText4Me
How to develop self-esteem so low, that it is able to out limbo dance an earthworm. Or at least in my case.
Be born neurodivergent.
Not know about it for all of your childhood and most of your adulthood.
Realise from your earliest years that virtually everything about you is wrong, at least in terms of how others see it. The way you sit, stand, walk, talk, look, act and think.
Learn to hide and compensate for this as much as you can. If for no other reason that to stop people picking on you and perhaps to feel some sense of belonging. In other words, mask.
Be praised and celebrated for the way your mask looks, knowing full well that it is a lie. That so many of your successes are for things that you see no real value in. That the things you really value are never seen.
Fail repeatedly to see yourself reflected in the world around you. In the actions and attitudes of others. In the ways you are being expected to behave and in the dreams and goals that you are supposed to have. In the books and films and TV and the ways others want to support and push you.
Realise finally that there is only one logical reason for this and that is because you are wrong, broken, incapable of justifying yourself, or being justified.
Seek justification instead in all the ways and down all the paths that the world says it's found. Work hard, be selfless, put all the effort in to try and finally belong, finally be accepted and feel justified. And yet still fail, because no matter how successful you are in work, or relationships, it is never enough. You are just too broken to ever feel it, to ever see yourself in the world, let alone be seen.
Spend your days kicking yourself when you are down. Fawning, people pleasing, struggling always to do better, to find the key that will let you belong and failing, giving always giving and rarely receiving.
This post has been brought to you, by me realising just how deeply ingrained this is in my life. How, even now that I have finally found my answer and clan, the sense of belonging and yes, justification, I always sought, it wants to pull me back down. In part because I used it, whether I realised it or not, as a kind of safety net, a safeguard against being too brave, too open and the pain that was the inevitable result. But mostly, because it was and is a horrible habit of thought and expectation that fuels my Imposter syndrome and doubts. But then, after a lifetime of being nurtured, I suppose it is not as if it is going to go without a fight, or that dealing with it isn't still a work in progress.
Edited 353d ago