autism

A gifted autistic person pretending to be a good person.
(I do my best but I don't always succeed)

#gifted #giftedness #autism #autistic #actuallyautistic

Realised something about my autistic self earlier and wondering if other people are the same.

If you're autistic (self diagnosis is valid!), when you have a list (not necessarily written down - even a loose list in your head) of things you plan on getting done, and one of the things doesn't go as planned and you can't get it done, are you able to skip past that one and get the other things done?

(Edit: this might be ADHD, I have that too, I dunno XD)

#Autism #ActuallyAutistic

I wonder how other #autistic people feel about symbolism - in a broad sense?
The thing is, I’ve always been fascinated by it, since being a child. I love it when a seemingly innocent image has a hidden meaning, or some detail in a text that seems irrelevant at the first sight gets a deep meaning once you find the point of reference. When I write, when I draw, even when I just dress - I always have those symbols hidden there. There rarely are random details: this references to that, that points to another thing… I was kinda obsessed with flower language for a bit when I was a kid, and since then there are no random flowers when I draw. I’ve read everything in the library on popular psychology in my early teens - so all the doodles I’d make during lectures, meetings and calls have a hidden meaning to me unless I impose it there consciously.
I can’t go out of home without dressing up: all my outfits are always put up together to create some kind of a story. I’m totally conscious that that story escapes from people around - up to the point that if anyone would get all the clues I put, I’d probably be between being freaked out and amazed. But I still can’t just step out as is, I need to create the image, the visual story to tell, with all the references, all the allusions, all the associations. And when write, there’s no random words. Even when I create documentation at work or explain some task to someone - when I’m making up an example, those random names and numbers are not random, they still reference to something, they still tell a story.
In a way, it’s like one big pun every time. It may(and often will) pass unnoticed, but those who notice may be amused.
I wonder if that love for symbolism and hidden meanings is something common in autistic or generally #neurodivergent people
#autism
@autistics

(Wanted to make a separate post for this discussion to not mix it up with other topics)

For me, it’s very important to systematize most things. To find their place in the picture of the structure of the world I have in my head.

When I see a new plant - I look up its systematics: less to know the exact name(being able to name them and learn their names in different languages also matters, but it’s not the only goal) and more - to understand how it is related to others, what it is close to, where it descends from.

To be able to place a piece of knowledge I got neatly into the system, understand where it relates to, is more important to me than to remember some details. Like, I don’t care about the precise length of Megalosaurus, but I care that its closest relative is Torvosaurus

But there is a thing. That all doesn’t quite work with people. I neither want nor actually care for categorizing people. I actually really prefer not to, and would sometimes oppose the categorizing. I don’t want to shove anyone into any box. And something similar stands for the feelings towards others. I can easily describe my emotions at the moment, but don’t ask me to define a feeling towards someone. I simply can’t. And I kinda feel very averted from doing that. Like it’s something I shouldn’t do. Even when a social situation demands I do.

Does it have anything to do with #autism?
Does the specific aversion towards labeling people and feeling towards them has anything to do with being #neuroqueer?
#autistic
#neurodivergent
#AuDHD
@autistics

Hey @autistics fam, happy to find us again!😄
#AuDHD #ADHD #Autistic #Autism

My study of old #folklore gets more and more relevant to current-day affairs.

Example: All of these narratives about "Things That Cause #Autism " are basically recycled folk tales about #changelings .

Right now, we are at the: "The child is WRONG somehow - the mother must have been careless!" stage.

And it's only a very small step to: "My child is WRONG somehow! Thus, I must abuse it until I get my REAL child back - the one I always wanted!"

The context changes, but the underlying narratives stay the same.

#ableism #tylenol

I’m feeling less safe about getting an official #Autism diagnosis every day. Hell I’m just feeling less feeling less safe in this shithole of a country every day.

#autism @autistics Anyone else ever experience these short waves (pulses maybe?) of intense depression/despair? Might the change of season be something to do with it?

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/09/250927031224.htm

#science #neuroscience #autism

@autistics

Walking down the street with headphones and listening to music It allows me to stay calm and not lose my temper. I was asked today how that feels, and I explained...
The street, the people and the activity look like a scene from a very bad movie with very good music.

PS: I ran into one of the therapists who diagnosed me with autism and giftedness today on the street. The joy with which she greets me every time she sees me is very gratifying.
That's all.

#autism #autistic #actuallyautistic #neurodivergent

"I’ve never loved the “autism as superpower” narrative, and how it erases those with high-support needs and the challenges autistic people can face."

Why do people find this so hard, when it's simple: #autism can be a super-power, *AND* it is always a disability too. Both, for the lucky ones. Disability only, for the unluckier ones.

There is no "erasure"! 🙄 😠

#AuDHD

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/28/autistic-people-donald-trump-autism-us-president-rfk-jr

[Link via @Mepurfield]

This morning I experienced something, which is a good example of sensory issues not being a minor inconvenience for autistic people, but a major aspect of making autism a disability for many of us. They can have a huge impact on our everyday life, restrict our mobility and ability to work and can sometimes put us in danger.

At the end of my morning walk with Lumi, I couldn't cross the street at the pedestrian crosswalk like I usually do, because there were landscape gardeners with very loud machines working close by and they already made me feel overwhelmed and disorientated from the distance.

When I wanted to cross the street at another point of the road, while still disoriented by the noise, I stumbled and fell down at the middle of the street. I didn't hurt myself much, because I was wearing a lot of clothes and I made it to keep hold of Lumis leash, but I felt kind of shocked and couldn't move for some seconds, looking paralyzed at an SUV coming closer. Luckily the driver saw me too and stopped and I was able to get up and walk home.

#ActuallyAutistic #autism #AuDHD

https://theconversation.com/why-its-time-to-rethink-the-notion-of-an-autism-spectrum-263243. "Language will never capture every nuance, but words shape how #society treats #autistic people. Moving away from the idea of a single #spectrum could be a step towards recognising #autism in all its #diversity, & valuing autistic people as they are."

"Autism should not be seen as single condition with one cause, say scientists"

https://www.newsbeep.com/nz/54413/

#Autism
#ADHD
#AuDHD
#neurodiversity

For a while I've been looking at myself as someone who may have high-functioning #autism. I identify with so many of the symptoms. I've brought it up with a therapist and psychiatrist and both had the stance that there's not much value in pursuing an official diagnosis; if coping strategies are helpful then giving *this* a name isn't so important.

I've been reluctant to discuss it with people on social media because of the potential for a "registry" in the US (fuck it)...

1/2

#ActuallyAutistic #Autism #Autistic #AuDHD #AI #GenerativeAI #ClimateChange #Environment #GlobalWarming

ALT

I finally got a date for my adult #ASD assessment today. Roughly six weeks, and... well, I don't know what will happen or what to expect. Anyone feel like sharing their experience?

#autism

Had some outing with colleagues.
“You - autistic? No way, you’re so talkative!”

Spent first half(the one outside) of the event wandering away from the group taking photos of nature and when insisted on talking and interacting by others - repeatedly trying to show them the place with colchicums or brambleberries, or blackthorns, or pointing out a booted eagle(?) in the skies and making jokes over its name.

Spend the second half(the one in a tavern) talking to everyone more or less willing to interact, almost not shutting up, ending up oversharing(and instantly regretting that A LOT) and letting go a few tears because of not being able to fully control the emotions.

Now at home fully exhausted, drained out, feeling physically bad, not wanting to see people for a week, horrified by a sheer thought of the need to go to work on Monday and regretting agreeing to go on that outing and promising myself to never go at any event again and not interact with people again

That’s what #AuDHD is like.

#autism
#neurodivergent
@autistics

I find the language in this whole piece disturbing. Describing #ADHD and #Autism as ‘problems’ and ‘disorders’ feels very much like othering and dismissing a clinical diagnosis….which has often been a long time coming with a lack of understanding all around up to that point.

Proscribing ‘interventions’ over ‘accommodations’ implies breaking and rebuilding rather than supporting.

The implication is that children with a diagnosis are somehow cheating the system.

https://archive.ph/G5YSW

#AskingAutistics

Do you think you've suffered any trauma simply due to being autistic?

(trauma being pain that stays with you)

If so, what are the experiences you've suffered most trauma from? Are they sensory ones? Social ones? Or something else?

More info truly welcome - comment below

I've put my own response in the first post below ⬇️

#Autism #ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent #Trauma #Bullying #Neurodiversity #SensoryIssues

Is autistic self-identification valid?

I just completed a quantitative research paper comparing autism traits in medically diagnosed autistic people with the same traits in self-identifying autistic people and I can definitively say with more stats behind it than I care to ever think about again, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!

#autistic #neurodiversity #neurodivergence #autism

https://www.autisticculturepodcast.com/p/is-autistic-self-identification-valid

After reading this review of #Apple Liquid Glass' usability (god-awful), I will avoid upgrading my #iPad as long as possible. I'll never ever buy another Apple product. Apple, when people have #autism, your candy-ass user interface is like fingernails scratching on a chalkboard - only it's their brains, not their eardrums. May you go bankrupt as swiftly as possible, and then all the museums spitefully bury their exhibits of your old hardware in a forlorn, forgotten corner of a wasteland. #ActuallyAutistic
@autistics