asperguides

[autistictiger]

Me: alright let’s focus on this important task

Brain: okay but get this. what if we just daydreamed about our special interest for five hours straight

Me:

Me: okay I’m sold

[flyingpurplepizzaeater]

some autistic people need more flexibility not more strict routine 

some autistic people need b o t h

[autie-j]

Autistic culture is discovering a new (perhaps really stimmy) song you love and then listening to almost nothing else but that song for weeks (or more).

[etherealpanacea]

Question to other autistic people/people with sensory-related food sensitivities:

Do you tend to overload your food with what is in some people’s eyes is “an absolutely preposterous amount of salt oh my god how have both of your kidneys not failed”?

Furthermore, do you eat salt just straight? Like. On nothing. Straight from the box/shaker.

[questingqueer]

[I’m officially diagnosed and supportive of self-diagnosis]

[mercury-blogging-deactivated202]

@ top result : what the F**K

[asperguides]

[overexplainingautistic]

Hi what are raptor hands? I see people talk about this in #actuallyautistic, and I'm not 100% what kind of hands it refers to. (I love your detailed and thorough answers to everything, btw.)

Hi, I’m glad you appreciate how many words I need to answer even the most basic questions! (half joke)

Interestingly enough, my icon here is a drawing of myself with raptor hands. 

Raptor hands (also called raptor arms, meerkat hands, and many other things of this format) are a way of holding one’s hands/arms at rest. It’s when a person has their arms in a resting position where their elbows are bent. 

A common way that this can look is that the hands are right at chest level, and loosely hanging down. The hands don’t need to be as high though for me to still consider it raptor hands. Elbows at a right angle such that the hands are hanging down from around the waist still strike me as being a bit raptorish in this sense.

The reason this is talked about in the actuallyautistic tag is because autistic people tend to be the ones who do this naturally. I’m not sure what causes it, but a lot of us find it much more comfortable than having our arms hang down to our sides. I have a friend who tries to hold her arms down to her sides, but because having them bent is so much more natural feeling, her elbows are still a bit bent, and so when she walks you can see her arms bending away from her a bit. It’s actually how I first thought to ask if she’s autistic too (she is). 

Here’s the original drawing I did that I turned into my icon, since I think it’s a good example. (Copic markers and a pigma micron for the line art)

[asperguides]

me: what's something constructive i can do before our next session?

psych: think of ways you can reduce your stress.

me: i'm glad i paid nearly $200 for that life changing advice.

[sweetandsavageautistic]

Dafuq?

I have enough self-esteem problems. I DON’T need this. I don’t need to be questioning whether I look masculine or feminine.

This has to be bullshit. Bullshit to perpetuate the idea that autism is a male disorder and shame girls who are autistic but don’t “look” autistic.

I wouldn’t be surprised if A$ supported this theory.

[asperguides]

anyone else get anxiety and actual bone-deep depression on sunday night because they have to put on the mask and go to work/school the next day? 

[asdmemory]

I didnt talk until I was 4 and didnt respond to people either.Mom had my hearing tested because she thought I was deaf. When I was young I used to throw myself against hard surfaces like walls & fall down laughing.I squeezed myself in tight spaces & would sing to the trees and wind when ever I swung on the swings.Ive always hated hugs and soft touches (still do). My SI was whales (still is). I carried around a big book about half my size everywhere I went for a year, and I drew them everywhere.

[evelesbian]

[Caption]: Please take the time to read the quote, and understand why the #ActuallyAutistic community is calling for a #BoycottToSiri

[Quote]: The author writes about her son: “I am still deeply worried about the idea that he could get someone pregnant and yet he could never be a real father -which is why I still insist on having medical power of attorney, so that I will be able to make the decision about a vasectomy for him after he turns 18.” Please share and join the #BoycottToSiri

[toomanyas]

there’s neurotypicals and then there’s NEUROTYPICALS 

my new coworker costs me so much energy. It’s like I constantly have to watch what i’m saying because she scrutinizes everything and I feel like I’m in constant competition with her. 

Why can’t I just work from home?

[stormdoesecholalia]

Me: *is on Spotify* Let’s try something new, for once.

Brain: you know this is a bad idea…

Me: Oh! Top charts, okay, let’s see what the rest of the world likes…

brain: alright, here we go

Me: *listens* 

Brain: 3.. 2.. 1..

Me: OH GOD HOW DO PEOPLE-

Me: *flaps*

Me: - LISTEN TO THIS, nope, nope, nope, nope *Goes back to comfortable music that I’m used to*

Brain: And this is why we don’t “try something new”

[ihavegonemissing-deactivated202]

languages.

i’m autistic. i have severe social phobia. i never know what to say. i fumble over words and struggle to arrange sentences. i often make mistakes, such as improper word order and odd collocations. i have to go back and edit almost every sentence that i write. writing isn’t easy, and speaking is hell.

you get it, languages/communication isn’t my strongest area. yet i somehow managed to teach myself fluent english as my 2nd language at a young age (7-9). which i thought is surprising given how many difficulties i’ve had because of my neurological differences. i’m not complaining though? but after this grand feat, everything changed. i somehow became unable to learn any new languages??

when i began studying russian in school at age 12, i struggled so much it was unreal. it just wouldn’t get into my head. i studied it for a total of 7 years, and still i can’t communicate more than a few very basic sentences (which sucks balls because 95% of the workplaces where i live require average/fluent knowledge of russian, rip me lmao).

additionally, i tried teaching myself swedish at 17, but that was just as futile as my attempts at learning russian.

why is it that i could teach myself english, but couldn’t learn other new languages even if my life depended on it? even more - how come i could learn english which is completely different from my 1st language, yet i struggle with russian which is similar to my 1st language in many fundamental ways? initially i assumed - it’s because of the age at which i started picking up each language. my peers didn’t seem to have any problem however. and i worked hard to learn, so i doubt it’s lack of effort is to blame either.

maybe other autistic people can relate? (feel free to share.) even if you can’t, this has been my experience, thanks for reading !!

[asperguides]

My aunt is a polyglot and taught me basic French and German as a kid, but in a very natural way. She'd just speak to me in these languages and I'd sort of... understand? Then I got to high school (because that's where foreign language study was compulsory), all geared up to learn, and just... no. It was all grammar tables and rote learned vocab and uggggghhhh. I did okay, but I was coasting on the knowledge I'd gained when I was 4 or 5. When I started learning languages on my own as an adult, in a more 'natural', immersion-style way (lots of TV and music, some comics, SRS flashcards, and a few language learning sites like Duolingo and Memrise), whaddayaknow? I was picking things up with almost no trouble. YMMV, but for me, it was a case of (a) being interested in the language and culture... like, special-interest-level interested; (b) enjoying the sound of the language and the way it feels coming out of my mouth, in a sensory/stimmy way; and (c) being allowed to learn what I want, how I want, when I want.

[autismandyou]

I’m petitioning to change ‘socially inept’ or ‘socially incapacitated’ or any variation of ‘I can’t socialize period’ when describing an autistic individual, to ‘social block’.

Like, you get creative blocks right? Where you can’t think of anything creative to do. Why not say, ‘I can’t think of how to respond to this specific situation’? Hence ‘Social Block’.

[asperguides]

society: be yourself.

me, an autistic: ahhh, what a relief.

society: your behaviour makes me uncomfortable, i'm going to avoid you now.

me: no, wait!

society: wtf, are you a sociopath?!