lizard lover

🌎🦎🛹🎨🧠 I’m Jess and this is my autism/adhd blog! ♡ please check out my blog info & FAQs before sending asks :) ————————————————————— she/her, 23 years old. dxed with adhd at 18 and autism at 22. special interests: reptiles, linguistics, autism, skateboarding. side blog for my beardie: @lizard-pancakes

[autiebiographical]

REBLOG. DO NOT REPOST

April 2nd is Autism Awareness Day. People are aware of autism now, some of them even accept it, but how many actually appreciate it? So many people see autism appreciation as “this science/acting/musical genius has added so much to society! We must appreciate them!” Okay, but what about those of us whose talents aren’t as easily seen, or marketable? Those who aren’t in the spotlight?

We should appreciate the autistic people we know in our day to day life. Every autistic person is awesome, and it’s not in spite of our autism, but because of our autism. It’s because I’m autistic that I am who I am. If someone appreciates me I would want them to also appreciate my autism because it’s part of what makes me me.

To reach autism appreciation it’s going to be a fight. We’re going to have to keep climbing. There are so many who want to drag us down. They see us as different and in need of fixing. They see having an autistic child as something to be mourned instead of celebrated. We need to celebrate. We need to drown out their cries of sadness with our cheers of joy.

We are autistic, and we will never stop climbing!

[autistic-reptile]

THE BEST THING EVER JUST HAPPENED ON TWITTER

not only did Twitter add the neurodiversity symbol to the autism hashtag for this month, they even changed it from the awareness hashtag to the acceptance hashtag after @autistictic reached out to them!!!!

I am SO HAPPY that i’m already seeing so much more acceptance and listening this April, this might seem like a small step but it’s a step in the right direction for once!!!!!!!!

[tom-spanks]

remember when u were like 11 and the only thing u wanted was a lava lamp

[scumfuckus]

[yiffpunk]

[heatseekingbehavior]

[nonbinarybeartrade]

[aspergersissues]

[coyotepack-official]

[so1987-deactivated20230102]

who’s gonna tell tumblr that executive dysfunction is more than Not Doing Things?

[so1987-deactivated20230102]

okay

these are the executive functions. impairment of these functions is executive dysfunction

[dailypattondoodles]

Oh.

OH

[autistic-reptile]

sorry for another profile picture change cause ik that’s confusing but I made a fun pic for my twitter profile that I wanna use on here too :)

I can’t draw very well so I traced a bunch of different pics of my bitmoji together to make this pic of me holding Pancake:

and it’s so cute I love how it turned out!!! I was able to add in my septum piercing and a neurodiversity bracelet too :) I was worried about coloring in Pancake but I did a ton of layers and airbrushing and I think he looks pretty realistic so I’m super proud!!!

[autistic-reptile]

HELLO FRIENDS I’VE MISSED TUMBLR & OUR COMMUNITY SO MUCH

I finished up my winter quarter finals last week and basically took another whole week to sleep and recover. but I’m starting spring quarter now which will be 100% remote so I’m hoping I’ll have more free time and I’ll be able to stay active on here again :)

I turned off my asks for now so I can take some time to work through the ones I have in there without getting behind again, but I’ll be sure to turn them back on once I’m all caught up!!

(I also saw @autistickeely just recently came back to tumblr which is so awesome!!!!! (at least I think it was somewhat recent but I’ve been gone too 🥴))

[autistic-reptile]

okay so I just wanted to share this kinda weird thing that I did recently, because it felt dumb at first but I’m so happy I decided to ignore the stigma and do it anyway 💕

background info: so ever since I was a baby I’ve had this security blanket/stuffed animal that I called Lamby. she had a satin bow on her neck that I would rub in between my fingers constantly. it was definitely my first stim, along with sucking my thumb. Lamby’s bow had to get resewn often because I pulled on it so much. at some point, when I was a teenager, Lamby’s bow got lost in my basement while it was waiting to get resewn by my mom. I still ask her every time I see her if she’s come across it, but it seems like it’s lost forever.

lately, I’ve been pretty stressed and I’ve been having a lot of trouble controlling my stimming. some of my stims involved rubbing my skin and I’m leaving red bumps and callouses from all my stimming. I realized that many of my stims involve stimulation between my fingers, and that having something like Lamby’s bow would allow me to keep stimming this way without rubbing my skin together and hurting myself more.

SO, after doing some searching online, I found Lamby’s brand and found some original ones being sold on ebay. MEET NEW LAMBY!!!

her bow is exactly the same as my original one and I couldn’t be happier (it doesn’t have that “worn” feel yet but it’ll get there). it’s exactly what I wanted!!!! new Lamby has blue accents instead of pink, as well as a sewn nose, but she’s otherwise identical. here’s a comparison picture with the old Lamby:

basically I just wanted to share that I, a 23 year old woman, spent money on an infant’s stuffed animal, AND IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT. I encourage everyone to embrace their “childish” wants and just do what makes you feel good 💜💜💜💜

[total-biscuit-deactivated202309]

This is my octopus that I bought at age 26 because I like the feeling of the tentacles wrapped around my arm. 10/10 would do again.

[autistic-reptile]

okay so I just wanted to share this kinda weird thing that I did recently, because it felt dumb at first but I’m so happy I decided to ignore the stigma and do it anyway 💕

background info: so ever since I was a baby I’ve had this security blanket/stuffed animal that I called Lamby. she had a satin bow on her neck that I would rub in between my fingers constantly. it was definitely my first stim, along with sucking my thumb. Lamby’s bow had to get resewn often because I pulled on it so much. at some point, when I was a teenager, Lamby’s bow got lost in my basement while it was waiting to get resewn by my mom. I still ask her every time I see her if she’s come across it, but it seems like it’s lost forever.

lately, I’ve been pretty stressed and I’ve been having a lot of trouble controlling my stimming. some of my stims involved rubbing my skin and I’m leaving red bumps and callouses from all my stimming. I realized that many of my stims involve stimulation between my fingers, and that having something like Lamby’s bow would allow me to keep stimming this way without rubbing my skin together and hurting myself more.

SO, after doing some searching online, I found Lamby’s brand and found some original ones being sold on ebay. MEET NEW LAMBY!!!

her bow is exactly the same as my original one and I couldn’t be happier (it doesn’t have that “worn” feel yet but it’ll get there). it’s exactly what I wanted!!!! new Lamby has blue accents instead of pink, as well as a sewn nose, but she’s otherwise identical. here’s a comparison picture with the old Lamby:

basically I just wanted to share that I, a 23 year old woman, spent money on an infant’s stuffed animal, AND IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT. I encourage everyone to embrace their “childish” wants and just do what makes you feel good 💜💜💜💜

[autistic-reptile]

hey y’all, sorry I’ve been super MIA on here recently. things have been kind of crazy here, I’m at the end of winter quarter and the last few weeks of the quarter are always so stressful. I also recently lost my main source of income so it’s been a little rough. on top of everything, I live in washington state right in the middle of the coronavirus breakout, so the entire city has been a little hectic.

just wanted to give an update if anyone was wondering where I’ve been. I’m still here, just dealing with a lot (and I tend to get big tunnel vision when I’m stressed so fun things like tumblr just completely fall off my radar)

[tailsandco]

what could possibly be up there

[spen-still-spinning]

@autistic-reptile

[youkai93]

The clover has finally grown enough for her to munch on again

[teethwreath]

absolute decadence

[metradell-vyorei-deactivated202]

Imagine a kindly giant of unknown species and origin just picking you up and carefully placing you in a pile of chicken nuggets

[imadhatt3r]

Lost in the sauce

[autistic-reptile]

so, question

if anxiety is playing a part in an autistic person not speaking in a situation, is that still going non/semi verbal? or is that now strictly a social anxiety thing?

basically, I almost never speak in class. after ~6 years of college, I have contributed to class discussion probably less than 5 times total.

I’m currently in a research seminar with literally 4 other people. I still don’t talk. I haven’t said one thing about a paper we’ve discussed.

I’m scared to talk, and I can’t when I try to. it’s embarrassing when I can feel people’s eyes on me, waiting for me to share my thoughts. but nothing comes out. if someone doesn’t directly ask me to speak, I never ever will.

putting my thoughts into words, on the spot, is the hardest task for me. add my crippling social anxiety in, and it becomes an impossible task.

[autistic-reptile]

been thinking about going for my PhD in human-centered design & engineering.................... idk tho.

I want to do research in accessibility and designing for disabled people (with a focus on autism most likely). I think I’d be more passionate about that than any other job. I want more actually autistic researchers in the space.

what do you guys think, too ambitious?

[thedoctorisadhd]

What are the symptoms of ADHD besides hyperactivity? All I've been exposed to is stereotypes of what it's like to have ADHD and I want to learn more!

well here’s what it’s like for me

feeling like you need to Do Shit All The Time

like, literally every second

if you aren’t stimulated for even a second you’re incredibly bored

boredom is literally painful

it’s worse than death

worse than e v e r y t h i n g

feelin that sweet Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria™ any time you get teased or insulted

when you’re listening to music you always tune it out eventually

not picking up on social cues At All

actually, what are social cues?

can’t regulate attention

not interesting = not worth paying attention to

hyperfocus for hours

“wAIT ITS 4 PM WHAT THE F U C K”

did i forget to eat again

The Thoughts go from point a to point g in less than one (1) fuckin sentence

*someone says a thing* what *person repeats thing* what *person repeats thing again and you still don’t hear them but dont ask what again in case they think ur weird*

or, alternatively

*someone says a thing* what *person starts to repeat said thing; you reply less than a second after they start*

using subtitles all the time so you don’t have to go back twenty times to determine What The Fuck someone said

“sorry i tuned you out for that entire sentence can you repeat that”

needing e x t r e m e l y s p e c i f i c d i r e c t i o n s

EXTREMELY POOR VOLUME CONTROL TBH

tfw that thing u were working on falls apart and u cant redo it bc u already did it and that would be boring

long blocks of text are Extremely Hard to Read

ur fuckin brain works 12 times as fast as everyone elses. for every ADHD person it’s somethin different. for me it’s puns. ill choke on my own laughter at a pun an Entire Second before anyone else even gets it

RAMBLING

The Leg Bounce™

Disassociation

that ADHD feel when you

^^ that one is a True Marker of an ADHD person. only ADHD people understand.

[abcsofadhd]

ADHD makes me incredibly jumpy. 

I could hear someone coming but will still jump when I see them. 

It’s not being scared though, its like getting a jumpscare. 

My ADHD mind just isn’t very aware of my surroundings so when I see them, its like they randomly popped into existence or teleported.