@ashleyspencer@autistics.life
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

ashleyspencer

@ashleyspencer@autistics.life

My name is Ashley Lauren Spencer. I'm an AuDHD entrepreneur, writer, and owner of The Autistic Innovator and the https://autistics.life mastodon instance.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

Would I be a horrible person if I shut down Autistic Bookshop? It’s costing me $1,200 to run this month and that’s money that could go towards taxes and my own bills + my rent is going up $300. It’s just such a gigantic money drain on a store that I am 100% certain will never be profitable. It will always be a money drain on The Autistic Innovator. My employee is so good at her job, but the store will never cover her wages. It’s bad business to spend $1,200 in a month at a loss.

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

It’s a good social cause, but I can’t pivot it into a nonprofit. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Every day. Like a sinking feeling in my stomach watching how much money I’m losing every month because of that store.

Giving autistic authors a place to publish their books is coming at a great cost to me, and it’s a tremendous sacrifice I’m making.

Both risking my LLC and my own well being.

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@UnCoveredMyths Would you be interested in moving your books over to The Autistic Innovator instead?

I'm thinking of moving a small collection of books to my store that were in Autistic Bookshop. It will get far more visibility. The Autistic Innovator gets like 10k sessions a month.

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

I’m still shaking my head a bit at myself because of what it took for me to realize I was excluding a whole group of people.

Despite many ADHD people asking me if they could shop at my store because it was making them feel like they couldn’t, still didn’t sink in.

Kind of sh*tty of me.

But I’m quickly righting my wrong and creating new inclusive stuff with the same love and compassion I built The Autistic Innovator with.

I’m evolving and learning.

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@Cassandra good way to look at it. Thank you. :RedHearts:

ashleyspencer, to random
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It was nice sitting at my desk today, even though it was just a couple of hours. I haven’t been able to do that in about 2 months. Guess the increased Strattera is slowly helping.

Got halfway done with a new project today. Will probably be done with it tomorrow, maybe. I’m making a second coloring book.

Came up with 3 new neurodiversity t-shirt ideas and sent them off to a graphic designer.

The Autistic Innovator will be more inclusive soon.

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@pathfinder It does seem to be. Every day it seems it works a little better. Day one felt like it didn’t do anything. Day 2 I didn’t need the energy drinks. Day 3 could sit at my desk and create stuff for 2 hours. I’m also a lot more relaxed.

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

I have enough clarity to sit at my desk and work for the first time in a few months.

Dinah has been screaming at me to go back to the couch where I always am.

I was whining at her like a little kid to their parent, "But I don't wanna go to the couch. I wanna stay in here." 😄

I'm working on a new neurodiversity product. Part of my store's expansion into becoming more inclusive.

ashleyspencer, to actuallyautistic
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

Why do they do this.


@actuallyautistic

ashleyspencer, to animals
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

Today is Nikita's adoption anniversary and birthday.

She's been with me 11 years and is now 13 years old. 😭

Our life together has been super rough and filled with stress for both of us, but now we are in the best place in life we've ever been in. She's a relaxed carefree kitty.

I gave the cats some delectables treat pouches, and gave Nikita lots of petting (and pet her while she ate).

Nikita is my kitty life partner. 😻

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@Lomaxcat Very much agree! I owe her the world for all that she has done for me. She didn’t have to take care of me in the ways that she has, but she did it all on her own. She’s the sweetest kitty.

ActuallyAutistic, to random
@ActuallyAutistic@autistics.life avatar

@ashleyspencer As i promised, I bought the Autistic AF 3XL navy colored shirt from your shop. I'm so excited :D

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@ActuallyAutistic Awesome! 🙂 :RedHearts:

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

It brings me great joy that today all those companies cold calling me heard “We’re sorry. This number has been disconnected.”

My phone didn’t ring once. So nice.

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

I updated my store's About Us page to be more inclusive of the neurodiverse communities.

My store was created and curated for autistic adults, but my customers come from all backgrounds, so I updated the about us page to reflect that. ❤️

https://shop.autisticinnovator.com/pages/about-us

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

I’m becoming more comfortable with the neurodiverse label for myself after becoming heavily disabled by ADHD.

Was always in denial despite 2 ADHD diagnosis (soon to be 3), and I like to pretend the traumatic brain injury isn’t there.

Both things make me ND and not just autistic.

I think that’s why I thought to make my store’s about us page more inclusive to neurodiversity, and share what makes me neurodivergent in the store’s bio.

I’ve come a long way.

ashleyspencer,
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My store’s previous about us page reflected my own level of self-acceptance and focused only on autism, and now that I’ve embraced both the ADHD and traumatic brain injury, I felt more comfortable updating it to reflect more inclusivity and acceptance of neurodiversity. I accept all people, I just wasn’t accepting all of myself. ❤️

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@pathfinder I’ve had people message through the store chat and ask me, “I’m not autistic, just ADHD. Can I still shop here?” It was alienating people the way it was before. So hopefully this helps more people feel seen and accepted.

I should create some products, like t-shirts, that show more inclusivity. I’ll put that on the list for whatever day my brain is functional again.

ashleyspencer, to ADHD
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

The Awkward Yeti comic.

Sounds very 😄

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

I actually did laundry today for the first time in over a month... so yay me!

Next to somehow make myself do the dishes! Those have been in the sink for way too long.

I'm a lot more alert this morning than normal. Don't know if it's the 260mg caffeine at 3am, or the new Strattera dose, or the panic attack I had this morning lol

I'm pretty high strung today, so I'm having a Red Bull so I'll calm the F down and be sedated lol

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

The person I hired and then shut down the plushie store rejected all the plushies I sent her, so they went back to the seller and I'm getting all my money back.

Very nice of her to not keep them.

JeremyMallin, to random
@JeremyMallin@autistics.life avatar

Honestly, I really thought SEO was going to be the thing to kill Internet search. I really never had pseudo AI garbage on my radar.

Also, I never really had radar.

#RandomThoughts

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@JeremyMallin I google searched “Strattera and caffeine” yesterday and every single blogger article it brought up said different things. But there was a NIH scientific study done on Strattera and caffeine and they found there is no effect on each other. Google’s featured snippet says caffeine dulls strattera’s effectiveness, like what?

JeremyMallin, to random
@JeremyMallin@autistics.life avatar

I had a dream that was a mash up of The Magicians and Mean Girls. It didn't even make sense.


ashleyspencer,
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@JeremyMallin I play FarmVille so much that one night I dreamt I was actually in the FarmVille game walking around my farm lol

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

I left a review for the 2.5 gallon fish tank I bought on Amazon. Said it has a lot of great features, its just too small for anything to live in it, and I can't return it because I've already set it up.

The seller messaged me and said they are giving me a full refund and to keep the fish tank. Very nice of them.

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

First day of the new dosages of Strattera. Don't notice a difference.

There are numerous factors that could have stopped it from working today, so process of elimination. Will try removing factors tomorrow and see if it gets any better.

Side note:
Maintenance came by to replace my bathroom light, and I hid the fish tank behind a bunch of boxes lol

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@Cassandra It’s pretty standard across the US, really. No fish tanks in rentals. People have them anyway. Saw a post on Reddit earlier today where someone had two 36 gallon tanks on stands and covered them with table cloth to hide the tanks during an apartment inspection.

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@Cassandra It’s understandable. I’m lucky that no one ever comes in here from the office or maintenance, so the risk of them finding it is very very low. Especially since the office is rarely open.

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