If you are neurodivergent (including all psychological conditions, neurological conditions, and developmental conditions) I have a question for you and pls elaborate in the tags if you feel comfortable

Further to my poll, in which many people expressed confusion over arm swinging when walking, I'd like to introduce the concept of the Autistic Gait.

Many (not all) Autistics struggle with movements all their life. This can go into adulthood and can include:

And many more.

i dont know if theres science to back this up but im pretty sure this applies to my driving too

i had an issue for the longest time where i always looked at the road at the base of my hood instead of looking DOWN the road. i remember at my drivers ed the instructor said “driving is like walking; you look down the hall when you walk” and i was like no............................... i dont............i look at my feet....

it took me forever to understand what “looking 15 seconds down the road” meant (or whatever the number) because i just.... always look down. i only recently started looking ahead but i still only do it about 50% of the time when walking

the autistic urge to burst into tears and sob when you don't understand sth

Anyone else (esp any other autistic ppl) struggle to rate pain because the effects don’t directly and consistently line up with the amount of pain you have?

Like I have a headache rn, it was a 3.5 earlier, and even though it doesn’t look like it here it immediately made my cognition harder, critical thinking harder, complex problem solving, made me irritable and focus shot, sensory processing down the drain, the whole thing …but it’s only a 3 so I shouldn’t be complaining, right? (sarcasm)

Or nosebleeds, I get those a lot and I hate them because clamping a tissue around my nose for the ~20 minutes it takes them to (maybe) clot is sensorily horrible for me. The pain from that is maybe a 2, but with the sensory aspect it gets real close to my threshold real quick

Anyone else relate? And if so, what are your thoughts?

One thing that makes small talk or just light conversation more difficult when you’re autistic, is that you likely don’t have all the “standard” experiences the non-autistic people around you have.

School, work, relationships, travelling are all topics we typically have a very different perspective of. Lots of us never went to a regular school, never had a (classic) job, never had certain types of relationships (for some, that includes even superficial platonic ones), or the ability to travel (frequently). And it makes a lot of conversations awkward for all the people involved.

For me personally, it’s not just that I have a harder time reading and interpreting social cues (though that IS a pretty big issue), but that I dread all the typical questions people ask you to be polite. While I find that being blunt is often better than being vague when it comes to this, a lot of people will absolutely judge you. Even if they are aware of your diagnosis.

For autistics who struggle with speech loss episodes:

Do you experience severe verbal shutdowns in public settings, and you get very frustrated when your peers/relatives/supervisors don’t know how to help you? Do you wish you could send them an automated message without conveying orally that you are struggling with a speech loss episode?

Look no further! I created a template for you to send to anyone who is accompanying you during a verbal shutdown. For example, if you are a student and you have a verbal shutdown during class, you can copy and paste the following message in an email to your teacher about your situation. This way, you do not waste any more spoons having to type out a long message and trigger your shutdown further. Click under the cut to see the template!

May I recommend a sentence to explain you understand verbal communication (to avoid infantilising)?

But I really hope this helps people. This is useful.

I think I’ll leave others to decide whether or not they want to add an extra sentence about how their language comprehension is mostly unaffected during a verbal shutdown. Because for me, this doesn’t happen— if my verbal shutdown is severe enough, my auditory + language processing will weaken and I won’t be able to register others’ speech. (I was thinking about whether or not I should add this to my template, but I didn’t want to make my message sound more complicated than it needs to be, you know?)

Like I said in my tags, this template is not perfect. People can fix or reword some things on here however they want! Verbal shutdowns can be experienced in various ways.

Thank you for explaining! 💖

Not "I always knew I was different", not "I thought it was normal", but a secret third thing: it never occurred to me to think about whether it was normal until I was forced to, usually in a cruel way

One thing I absolutely despise about my autism that I rarely see other autistics mention is how inconsistent it can sometimes be.

Most of the time, I hate having my hair touched. Sensory hell, going to get a haircut is a nightmare. On the worst days, I can give myself sensory overload from touching my OWN hair.

The other day, I craved it. This isn't a hair exclusive thing, it happens to various sensory issues I have. I'm never sure when, and I'm rarely sure why. Sometimes, I wish my symptoms were more consistent even if they were worse, because that'd be easier to manage.

When I'm having a good sensory day, sometimes I start to doubt if I'm being overdramatic about my issues the rest of the time. I'm not, but thats how much it can vary.

I worry that if I ask the people close to me about that I want stuff I dislike most of the time, they'll accuse me of faking.

pros of spinning in circles as a stim: haha spinny :)

cons of spinning in circles as a stim: too much spinny, now i'm dizzy and don't feel good :(

@forest-goblin-king well-researched self-diagnosis what you need to aim for! Most self-diagnosed autistics have been researching it all for years. And the AQ is used in clinical settings, but as @autisticmabel said, it's based off of old data.

Also, many things can look like autism. Co-occuring traits can be at play, and misdiagnosing yourself is always at risk.

That said, if you gain benefits from being treated autistic and treating yourself autistic, you're welcome here. 💖

a great addition :3!! esp the last bit! if it works, it works and youre valid

I think it needs to become common knowledge that "inability to read social cues" can show up as overcompensating.

You don't know how much misbehaviour is allowed, so you become the perfect child who never tests rules.

You don't know if someone is irritated with you, so you'll be extra generous and self-effacing.

You don't know how much is expected of you at work so you'll kill yourself in a minimum-wage job and not notice that nobody else is working like this.

"Hardworking and quiet" should be as much of an autism red flag as "ignores rules and doesn't know when to stop talking". Or why don't we just start using words to communicate so i can stop tracking everybody's eyebrow twitches, that would be great.

Something that bothers me when it comes to discussions about Autism is the idea that being diagnosed = getting support and vice versa.

When I first got diagnosed, all the therapy I got that was geared towards my autistic traits didn't help me. Not even once. My psychologist just kept trying to make me more social and extroverted. In other words, she was trying to make me neurotypical.

When I went to therapy, the professionals saw me as a walking diagnosis, not as a person. They assumed I had problems I didn't have, and ignored the problems I had; all because they didn't fit the idea they had of what an autistic person could experience.

Did I struggle with school? No, you need more challenges. Did I want to be alone? No, you need to learn social skills. Was I too apathetic? No, you are hiding all of your emotions.

The best therapies I got were the ones where they didn't diagnose me as autistic. They simply saw me as a human being with issues that weren't dictated by a DSM diagnosis.

The stereotyping, the ableism, the way they tried to turn me into a neurotypical person... it's just harmful. I prefer for to be misdiagnosed or being told I'm unique or whatever, than letting them diagnose me and pathologize my own neurodivergent traits.