Autism

I used to be a picky eater, then as an adult i realized its not the ingredients themselves but a mix of all kinds of sensory input.

There are a lot of tastes that are nice in small amounts but i cant have em full on.

Onions went from hated to favorite after i learned this.

If you have foods you never liked, give em a chance in a completely different format and amount

For a period of three hours, it featured no loud noises nor rapid flashing lights so that people living with a variety of mental well-being disabilities, such as anxiety, could also enjoy the event.

I see this as a very welcome thing for this community!

Where do you draw the line on divergence?

Hey there! Tell us what you like! Share your interests, you might find some other buddies who share interests with you. Either way, think of this as sort of a show and tell. Share as much as you'd like. Feel free to show/link some examples if you'd like. Let's have fun with it =)!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.autism.place/post/206166

As you may know we have launched our own community space dedicated to providing a safe and welcoming environment for autistic individuals. After a long journey of searching for a place to truly belong, I believe we have the opportunity to create something special together. Let's work towards building a community that is as inclusive and horizontally organized as possible, but we can't do it without your support.

Share your skills and ideas in the comments below, and if they align with our community values, we'll invite you to join our collaboration chat to discuss how you can contribute further. You can also help by staying active, spreading the word, and donating to keep our server running smoothly. Together, we can build a space where autistic people feel welcome and valued!

I'm trying to get my diagnosis. Due to my parents not accepting me receiving mental healthcare, I had to do everything in secret.

It made my life so much easier when I finally got Prozac. I could finally sleep. Little to no obsessions or intrusive thoughts. I also stopped having pica.

But I can't get a diagnosis in most places without involving my parents. Until I found someone who could give me one.

Thing is, if I miss tomorrow's appointment, I can no longer have another chance at it. The health system is clogged and all.

I had everything planned out. Told them I was going out and all. But now, I can't, because our basement got flooded and I have to stay in order to help them.

I know this is what I get for wanting the best of two worlds: my parents' support and getting behind their backs. But I just didn't want to keep suffering anymore. I just want it all to stop.

Just had to out this somewhere and this is probably the most safe space for it.

I am an ultra left anarchist so i support any progress shift in us political polls and i do get it.

I dont and wont ask people to stop using effective political memes. But whenever i see a top comment labeled these bad people as weird, i feel like i too would not be accepted, even if i know thats not what its about.

Sorry.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.autism.place/post/187191

Best autism experience (what I call reality) video/interactive simulation I've ever seen. Especially ~2:50 with that lady calling you weird and the silverware dropsztztzt🫨😵‍💫😫. I was already giving a fake smile when that happened. Whoever made this knows!

We talked stuff that works you up, how about things that you do to calm down? What techniques, activities, mantras, stims, etc. do you do to keep yourself comfortable and safe? Feel free to share what you'd like - and something kinda cool is that you might end up helping someone else down the line.

Example: I hear that I'm 'High-Functioning' according to my parents but I've been diagnosed as 'Autistic disorder' by my doctor and I've previously thought that I had 'Asperger syndrome' to name a few terms.

I've been starting to open my mind to changing my ideas about masking. A lot of them come from my sister who struggled very heavily with wanting to appear like everyone else and not stand out, so I'm biased based on experience.

At the same time, I recognize that forcing or pressuring people into masking when they don't understand why would be traumatic to them and ultimately do the opposite of what is intended.

I feel like unmasking should be done in private or around people who will understand it. Unmasking could in theory be done all the time, but not everyone would understand it.

What's your position on it? Do you mask in public but not in private or around only people who understand it?

I want to work on being more accepting and I have feelings in both directions.

I have been doing a lot of research about ASD and ADHD, and I would like to contribute by sharing information with other people. So, I was wondering if there is a wiki for that purpose.

To those of you with sensory issues (I believe this is pretty common, right?) have you noticed them changing as you grow older? Have they gotten easier to handle, harder, or stayed the same? In fact, if you feel like "going there" and sharing - please feel free to even express what they feel like.

No need to share what they are, if you don't feel like it. Share what you'd like.

Cross-posted from [email protected]

Cishet male. In no way do I mean offense or have I tried to take advantage of lower functioning individuals, that's just sick. Best I can figure, I'm a typical. Maybe I'm a little crazy; but who isn't.

During a discussion about my son's neurodivergency, I realized I have a 'type' of woman. (Son is technically stepson, but he's my boy.) I tend to be attracted to high functioning women that are on the spectrum.

I've been in four relationships with divergent women, three serious and two extended friends with benefits. I've been in two serious relationships with typical women. Many flings with typical women. Figure that's pretty statistically unlikely.

In my experience, divergent women tend to have a refreshing openness in communication. Painfully honest. Direct. They have some weird stuff that can be alternately cute and irritating. When sleeping they either don't like to snuggle or like being an octopus. (My preference is octopus but my wife only tolerates some side contact.) They like to discuss instead of argue. Sexually adventurous and willing to work for satisfaction. They prefer precision in statements. I find myself writing in an extended way that I don't engage in with other people and try and pay attention to grammar and punctuation. Pretty sure this doesn't apply to all women on the spectrum, just my 'type'.

I dunno, just a strange realization, especially at this stage of life. It's not a fetish, just something that has occurred.

In my 30's and only within the last few years have I been able to really introspect my life, and realize behaviors that I've "created" or "fake" in social interactions. I struggled a lot in middle/high school, and even through my 20's. I've essentially "found" myself to some degree in my 30's, but I'm actually not sure how much of it is me and how much of it is masking.

I recognize the signs when I'm being fake in interactions that would benefit from being more genuine. It's automatic, and I've noticed others take notice when it's the wrong mask at the wrong time. Which just means I get better at it, which is nice and all, but it would be cool if it wasn't such an automatic reaction.

So my question to all of you is how do you reduce masking behavior in situations or relationships where it may be beneficial or necessary to not do so?

Awkwardly I guess you could answer this with "You get better at it with time", which is true of most things. However, I'm looking for some emotionally intelligent advice or anecdotes.

Anyone else get anxiety when waiting for communication on anything soft-planned? Spiraling and all that.

Especially if the person involved is late or didn't respond. Ofc the reaction is to check in, that's what I'd want someone else to do for me if I indicated I'd do something or message someone. However, that can be interpreted as being needy or clingy when really I just want to know the plan and not be left hanging.

Life happens ofc, people gotta cancel plans. But what really rubs things wrong is being left without information, that's when the anxiety shoots. Do you wait for them, or go do something else? If you go do something else, what happens when they're suddenly available? That's not respecting my time, so it's rude, but do you convey that??

Gah.

I guess /rant really.

I'm wondering what other people experiences were like.

I called a number of psychiatrists who specialized in ASD when I started to have questions, but none of them were focused on adult diagnosis or therapy. The first psychologist I saw didn't think she was qualified to make a diagnosis in adults, and referred me to another who I had to pay out of pocket because he didn't accept my insurance. It left a bad taste for me because it felt like there is a scarcity of resources available for adults.

Hi everyone! It's my first post here in an attempt to make this community a bit more active.

I've been recently diagnosed at 26 so it's all pretty new to me. However, I really appreciate the fact that now I have a new vocabulary to talk about the stuff I experience and communities like this which might be helpful in understanding myself better.

I'm a Software Engineer and I love everything related to programming / Linux / Computer Science. It's been quite literally the most important part of my life since I was like 15. Usually it's great but sometimes when I get a new idea I tend to hyperfixate pretty hard on it to the point where it becomes quite tiring. It could be an idea for a new project, a new technology to learn or to configure something in my Linux setup. Right now it's moving my entire computer setup to NixOS.

When I fixate on something like this I usually spend pretty much all of my free time on it. Moreover, my sleep usually is hurt as well because I often can't fall asleep thinking about the stuff I'm currently working on. I will literally lie in bed trying to fall asleep and my brain tries to solve problems or plans and designs stuff. I will spend most of my weekends in front of the computer, even though I love spending time outside, especially in the nice summer weather. But I just can't seem to stop. I force myself to go for walks and runs but it's not really relaxing because, you guessed it, I'm thinking about my project all the time. If I try to distract myself with a podcast I will often notice 15 minutes in that I stopped listening after the first minute or so.

I need some way to balance this computer stuff with other things in my life. I just need to chill out sometimes. To play some games, watch some youtube or read a book lying in a hammock without thinking about programming literally every minute I'm awake.

The best solution I found so far is weed. It's not 100% effective but in general getting high and going outside tends to help me relax at least a bit. Well, travelling or meeting with people is usually effective in breaking my train of thoughts too. But obviously it comes with its own set of challenges and it's not something I'm willing to do often.

So, fellow autists, do you experience something similar? How do you deal with it? Please share advice, experience, or anything related.

Tomorrow morning is part 2 (of 2) of my diagnosis. I am 42 now. I am pretty sure myself that I am autistic, I have not found a better explanation for my life being the "shape" that it is.

I would be gutted if a professional decided that I do not belong here though. Fingers crossed that I have guessed right, and that the doc see me as I am, not just my mask.

It's not a serious hording issue or anything like that, but there's way more stuff then I want and we let things go since the pandemic. We've always been good about making sure that actual trash eventually gets thrown away.

There's also a huge problem downstairs because I rent out the rooms down there and the 'beards never take care of the house and actively try to cause as much trouble as they can it seems like. I've had to ban food in rooms and eating in rooms and mandate disposable plates and utensils because they don't get washed otherwise, even though it's wasteful.

If I wasn't going downstairs to clean up after the 'beards, it would become an unsanitary hoarding situation.

I know that cleaning isn't always fun but eventually the situation will get away from you.

I've loved this book for decades. Read it multiple times. Thinking about it a bit, and I believe the Mc is autism coded.

Anyone else read this and agree?

Anyone have examples of this in other areas?