Thoughts From An Autistic Individual @gildedpheonix - Tumblr Blog

Ya'll ever met a toxic person with a victim mentality?

vocaloid ponies

Executive dysfunction used to kick my ass but now I just view the first step of everything thinking about starting it and I’m like “shit I’ve already started” and go do the thing

#won’t work for everyone. but it works for me #executive function #executive dysfunction #actually autistic

ladyinsertnamehere

Those who fit the mold shouldn’t speak over those who don’t about issues regarding the mold.

autistic--rory-blog

autism is not overdiagnosed

prokopetz

The thing that gets me about most arguments against accessibility features in video games is that they’re not just grossly ableist, they’re also hypocritical as hell. Video games have always had accessibility features: we just documented them poorly and called them “cheat codes”. Indeed, having a robust library of difficulty-modifying cheats was considered a mark in a game’s favour! The only difference is that a cheat code is theoretically a secret, which allows it to be framed as elite knowledge, even though it’s functionally identical to having an “infinite lives” switch on the options screen.

Here’s a thesis for you: the Konami Code was the first well-publicised accessibility feature.

hieronymus-botch

being bad at video games is a disability now?

prokopetz

I’m going to assume you’re not being disingenuous here and take this as a serious question. In brief, very few people are generically “bad at video games”; in most cases, difficulty engaging with interactive media stems from one or more of a wide range of physiological conditions, including:

visual deficit (including colourbindness; colourblind individuals often have difficulty identifying threats in action games because they don’t stand out from the background for them)

repetitive strain injury in the hands, wrists or forearms (common for anyone who performs manual labour for a living)

arthritis and other degenerative joint conditions (both those due to age and those comorbid with many autoimmune disorders)

dyslexia (a common symptom of even mild dyslexia is the inadvertent mirroring of sensory-motor responses under pressure, e.g., moving your hand left when you meant to move it right - which is a big problem for action games!)

sensory processing disorders (delayed reaction to visual stimulus is a common symptom)

spatial processing disorders (see above)

chronic pain

propensity for motion sickness

This is, of course, only a partial list. Many of these issues are individually rare, but taken together, we’re looking a huge chunk of the population - up to 40%, by some estimates - who have at least one condition that would impact their ability to play the shooters and action-platformers that are held up as the gold standard for hardcore gaming.

hieronymus-botch

hot tip: if your disability makes you bad at a thing, maybe either put in the extra effort to get good at it or just don’t do it instead of demanding people make the thing easier?????

prokopetz

Here’s the a better question: why is it an issue for you? Accessibility features in video games are entirely transparent to those who choose not to use them. Your experience of play isn’t affected by their existence in any way whatsoever unless you deliberately turn them on. Complaining about the mere existence of such features is like claiming that your viewing experience of a movie is being ruined by the fact that the disc has a subtitle feature on it, even though you haven’t actually turned subtitles on.

(And no, don’t try to frame this as video game developers somehow being victimised by unreasonable demands. The vast majority of developers are more than happy to include accessibility features in their games - and quite sensibly, because, you know, they’re businesspeople, and they want to sell things to as wide an audience as possible. The popular backlash against accessibility features is entirely on the player side.)

satanicairpirate-deactivated201

i just want to appreciate the genius in this thread who unironically typed what amounts to “if your disability makes you bad at a thing, try being good at the thing instead”

animeengineer

That’s pretty much the common American attitude toward disability. Or poverty. Or most social ills.

legsdemandias

Friendly reminder that the reason you feel so much better is because of your meds, don’t stop taking them unless you talk to your doctor first, you really do need them, I promise.

legsdemandias

Around June I stopped taking my eye medication because I hadn’t had a problem with my eyes in months. I got really lazy about doing it; then I stopped them altogether.

Turns out, the reason I stopped having problems with my eyes was because I was religiously taking my medication. Whodathunk. Now I have to work to get back to the place I was before I decided I was “better” (I wasn’t!).

If you thought this post was just about anti-depressants or lithium, it could be! For me, this post is about eyedrops, for you it might be about antibiotics, or it might be about zoloft. Whatever it is, please consider talking to your doctor before making a sudden shift to stop taking it. It’s not bad to be on medication. It’s not bad to need it.

doomhamster

…and on a related note, do not let anyone tell you that because you start feeling worse if you don’t take your medication, that means you’re “addicted”. That is not how addiction works.

legsdemandias

Okay everyone reblog this version

cheaphalloweencostume

the line between doing some things as self care vs doing them as depressive apathy is soooo fine, like oh do i wanna sleep all day because i’m tired and i need it or because i’m depressed and trying to escape? same with not going out, canceling plans, isolating yourself, like, ANYTHING comfortable in even a little excess is liable to be one or the other... the line is thin and im a tightrope walker who just joined the circus to get away from the family farm and ive never walked a tightrope before and i am lying in the hay on the ground.

turtwig387

The reason abled body people don’t like to say the word disabled is it makes them uncomfortable.

Disabled literally means not abled. That’s how words work! Dis is a prefix meaning not. Same as “a” and “un” and “in” and “im”. Disabled means not abled.

The only people that think the word disabled doesn’t fit right is, you guessed it, ABLED BODY PEOPLE.

Disabled people generally prefer the word disabled. Say the damn word! It’s not a bad word!

Nobody wants this frecken handicapable, differently abled, diversabled bullshit. That’s just abled body people talking over us because they’re uncomfortable.

They have no problem throwing around the word cripple when they break their leg but they hear the word disabled used for a disabled person and they’re like no! Not disabled! Just different!

Stop it.

satanhaus-deactivated20220217

yo does anyone else feel CONSTANTLY guilty? like you’ve always done something wrong but you don’t know what it is?

why-am-i-even-on-here

Yes, and I’ve spoken to my therapist about it, who offered an explanation:

She says that people who from a young age were made to feel like they kept doing things wrong - people who’s parents had impossibly high standards for them, people who were bullied, people who have special needs, people who didn’t develop crushes on the “right” people, people who didn’t act like the “right” gender - basically ended up being made to feel guilty so much that guilt became their default response to everything. Guilt became the emotional response to anything which the person didn’t already have a set emotion for.

People for whom guilt is the default emotional response are also more likely to have low self-esteem, doubt their own experiences, and experience impostor syndrome. So, watch out for that too guys

frogitivity

Full offence but parents of autistic/ND kids need to stop literally insulting them to their faces

frogitivity

Context:

My 5 year old autistic brother went on a 3 day trip with my parents which was likely a stressful experience for him even tho he had a lot of fun!

When he arrived home he ran inside, gave me a hug for a few minutes, sat down to play with some number blocks (his current special interest) this was really great bc he was using a good coping strategy to de-stress rather than having a meltdown

I sat down beside him quietly and was talking to him about the blocks and he was enthusiastically engaging in conversation with me when my dad decided to comment on how “you won’t get any meaningful conversation out of him”

And it really makes me angry that this type of attitude is so common in parents of autistic kids

Growing up with your identity constantly under fire leaves you with very low self esteem so please think about what you say in front of your kids

violetstarlet

doctor: *puts stethoscope to my heart and starts to hear “oops...I did it agian” by Britney spears*

andyrogyny-deactivated20190517

Back when I was questioning my whole existence, a friend told me this, and it helped!

queen-raye

[image description: four panel comic. Each panel has a nonbinary person and their friend standing next to each other.

First panel: NB person, crying, says “what if i’m faking all of it?”

Second panel: Friend replies “you know … cis people tend to not really question their gender …”

Third panel: nonbinary person is now smiling, friend continues with “so if you’re thinking you’re nonbinary”

Fourth panel: nonbinary person has stopped crying, friend finishes sentence with “you probably are!”]

I don’t know if this description is formatted right but I hope it helps someone.

libraryspectre

Do y'all remember being a kid and trying to read in the car while it was dark outside and your parents wouldn’t let you turn on the light so you would try to grab snatches of sentences when you passed by street lights

cripdeaf

For Able-Bodied People

Repeat after me:

“If I touch a disabled person without consent, they are entitled to their anger.

If I grab a disabled person’s mobility aid without consent, they are entitled to their anger.

If I refuse to consult with a disabled person about their body, they are entitled to their anger.

If I do any of these things, regardless of if I’m trying to do the right thing, I am an asshole.”

I’m sick and bloody tired of people grabbing me, and then people glaring at me like I’m the asshole in the situation; when your spine and your mobility is at stake, we’ll fucking talk.

Able-bodied people, you should be reblogging this.

You should be calling it out when it happens.