After a lifetime of being misunderstood and gaslit, being in intentional #ActuallyAutistic spaces is a life changing thing. If you’re a late identified autistic adult and want to connect, learn, and affirm with others in a space that you can unmask and BE YOU, consider joining my new group starting next week.
I never learned, nor was I born with the ability to treat people in authority as being different to everyone else.
I just don't get it. I'll say the same stuff, except the same behaviour from them, and get extremely confused by how others react to them. How it is for me.
Some of us have been chatting about how inadequate and unhelpful the questions in the official autism screening questionnaires are. Makes me wonder, what questions would you include?
I think I would go for:
Do you REALLY LIKE ENTHUSIASTIC EARNEST UNCOOL people?
Do you ask questions because you want to know something, and then get accused of being arrogant or insubordinate?
Do you often find yourself trying not to be too earnest or too serious when you're around others?
Do people tell you that you're quite different once they get to know you than you seem at first impression?
Do you need to talk out loud (to yourself or to another person) to process difficult emotions?
When you were a child (or now) did you really want to be an animal?
Do you find it easier to understand animals than humans?
Do you prefer to visit people, rather than having them in your own space?
Do people often think you're angry when you're just neutral?
Maybe my pathological demand avoidance is just #ActuallyAutistic me, protecting myself from getting burned out because of irrational, neurotypical nonsense. @actuallyautistic
I've never been good at being catty or passive aggressive, even though people really seem to think I'm doing so. Sometimes it's an uphill battle convincing them I mean exactly what I'm saying...no more, no less 🙃
I need your opinion on something #ActuallyAutistic comrades. I hold weekly free discussion circles about a number of topics. A NT professional working with autistic people has asked me to join in order to "observe" how I work before they can refer those that they work with to my groups.
Is this a reasonable ask? Is this ableist? While I do appreciate that fact that people shouldn't recommend things that they haven't tried, I also find it problematic for someone who isn't autistic to question the style of how an autistic person works. But I'm not sure. What do you guys think?
I got my official diagnosis as autistic yesterday. :infinity_rainbow: Im happy with the diagnosis and relieved to be done with this anxiety indulcing assessment process. And (in theory) the diagnosis gives me access to some legal protections, like asking for accommodations at work, which is why I decided to get assessed in the first place.
I was also assessed for ADHD. Even though all my ADHD assessments show a high probability of having ADHD, and that the ADHD characteristics I present have a significant negative impact on my life. I was not diagnosed with ADHD as well.
According to the psychologist who did my assessment, a person with ADHD could not have accomplished the things I have accomplished. From her perspective, I was able to keep my life together enough over the years, and all the ADHD related characteristics I present are due to autism + anxiety and depression. 🤷🏻
This all seems very arbitrary and ableist to me. I know that some professionals would use those very same arguments to say that I'm not autistic.
For the past few months, even without an official diagnosis, I have had access to ADHD treatment and have been taking ritalin. The drug has had a significant positive impact on my ability to do tasks that require I focus for more than 15 minutes, like programming, studying, or practicing art. Before, even if I was really interested in those tasks, I either would not be able to do them or I would do them but be miserable all along because I would be fighting myself all the way. With ritalin, I get to do those tasks Im interested in and actually enjoy them, which bring me such joy and relief. If my access to this treatment is now cut, I'll have to seek out a second opinion.
Think about the people who discover the hashtag #ActuallyAutistic.
Yes, sometimes you'll believe that there are so many of us after all that we should live well being neurodivergent.
Just remember that, whatever our support needs, we live very significantly shorter lives than many other identities.
It's not just the pain of being or not being into the neuro-normative. [Which isn't so bad if you hate microbes].
#ActuallyAutistic#AskAnAutistic Modern medicine has failed me so spectacularly, I'm thinking of trying edibles for my anxiety. (They're legal and easily obtainable where I live.) Anything I should watch out for? I tend to be very sensitive to medication dosages and sometimes have unusual reactions.
Ideally I want something I can use during the day and for driving, because that's my largest source of anxiety.
My therapist thinks I should try ketamine therapy but I don't think any of my doctors would prescribe it. They won't prescribe ativan either, even though I used it very cautiously and still had so much left over, it all literally turned to dust before I could use it.
Doing the #ActuallyAutistic thing of going over and over interactions I've had and worrying I've said something weird, which subsequently makes me nervous.
How do you feel about speculation about whether or not a famous person is Autistic or ADHD?
There are several people whose podcasts I follow, and they make my Adar ping like crazy!
I mean, sometimes I just want to go "come on, dude. You MUST know. "
They talk about their stims, info dumping, sensory sensitivities, special interests, aphantasia or hyperphantasia, rigid habits, bafflement at how people communicate, the list goes on.
There's a part of me that just wants to go "HEY DON'T YOU THINK X IS ONE OF US!!!!!!" but I think that many people would consider that rude?
@Zumbador@actuallyautistic
It's not only rude, but also quite ignorant of all kind of possible mechanisms, both in you or the person involved.
It's not your place to call out someone. You don't know the person, there may be many reasons for someone to act or don't act.
You don't know them and they don't owe you or anyone else anything.
I'm #ActuallyAutistic myself, but i keep far from 'diagnosing' anyone. It is not my place.
I need a break from work. Like a week. Or two. I've been maxed out on accrued vacation time for 2 years, and there's no break in sight. #ActuallyAutistic#WorkBurnOut