hi friend, im doing a report on autistic spectrum disorders for my psych class and i need to open it by introducing the topic but i'm finding it very difficult to define because as i understand it it's a very broad condition and people experience it in a lot of different ways, would you (and maybe your followers too) mind sharing your experiences with me so i can understand it better?
The first thing I’m going to say is something you probably already know, but, this is such an important thing I’m going to say it anyway. no functioning labels!!!!
Okay great thanks! so! Autism is a neurological developmental disorder. It literally changes the way our brain is structured/how it sends and receives information. The main differences are with cognition and communication. This makes also it a lot harder for us in terms of social interaction, which is usually the most visible aspect of autism.
As you said, autism affects every single person differently. All autistics have different strengths and weaknesses, and most autistics’ skills vary greatly from one hour to the next.
Ways my autism currently makes daily things very difficult, shown through examples:
bright lights mean I have to squint to see;
noise (of carts clacking, people talking, music, intercom paging) means it’s painful if I don’t wear my earplugs;
Decision making: trying to read the information on a product, understand/process that informtaion, decide how it matches up to my needs, weighing it against other products with similar uses... all is incredibly difficult and stressful. I have to go to the store with a specific list and i buy the exact same brands ands mounts every time I go, or else there’s way too many decisions to make and I get paralyzed.
Coordination: Lots of autistic people have dyspraxia, and even if we don’t have dyspraxia, most of us still have coordination difficulties. Trying to keep the cart from running into things, keeping myself from running into things, navigating around other people and their carts...
Not to mention the checkout line and having to interact with other people. I can’t make eye contact with strangers and I have difficulty talking to people as well. Sometimes I go nonverbal (but that is usually when I am so low energy I can’t leave the house, so not a part of the grocery shopping situation)
While I would have liked to attend college, I started experiencing cognitive decline, as a part of autistic burnout, my senior year of high school. It’s been over 2 years, and I have a lot of difficulty reading anything harder than young adult fiction stories. The texts that I was able to read without too much trouble in late high school are now impossible for me to get through.
Writing is much harder than it was before as well. Not only are thoughts very difficult to form, but they are even harder to express. The biggest difficulty for me is finding the right words. Even if I have an idea of what to say, trying to come up with the language to express those thoughts is so much effort and frustration it’s not worth it.
There is a delay between when someone says something and when I understand what they say. My auditory processing is slow and not of the best quality. I often need people to repeat and rephrase the things they say.
Similar to writing, I have trouble speaking because I cannot grab onto the words I want to use. I often pause mid-sentence or fade out because I don’t have the right words to say what I need to. I am a person who likes to be very specific, so it’s hard to lack the detailed language skills I need.
I do physically seem autistic most times. I flap, hop, and often walk with my head tilted sharply to the right. I run my hand along the wall. I hum and talk to myself and recite poetry. I slap/hit myself in the head (just lightly, most of the time). I don’t make eye contact. I bounce on the balls of my feet or jump up and down. This is how I am natually made to function. It is productive, comfortable, and happy for me.
Of course, there are times when I appear completely neurotypical, too. Sometimes, I force myself to be still, to look people in the face, keep my hands in my pockets, and follow social rules. This takes a lot of energy, and I can only do it for short periods. It uncomfortable, difficult, and I really don’t like it. I’m not myself when I am forced to do this (either by others, or by my own fear).
Ahhhh I’ve probably gone way off topic and said more than you’ve asked for. This is perfect, actually, because it’s a great example of an infodump. Autistic people almost always have special interests where they know lots of info about them and love telling people as much as they can about said subject. one of my special interests happens to be autism.
I think the important thing to stress in your introduction is what you’re already stressing - everyone is different, and there is a ridiculous variation in what autism looks like from person to person.
And my brain is starting to shut off from me focusing so hard on writing all this, so this is all I’ve got! However, if you have specific questions, I’m always good to answer those! Open ended ones are a lot harder and I’m prone to misinterpreting them. Hopefully I didn’t misinterpret this one.
So. Followers! If you have the spoons/desire, add on to this!
Also, anon! Watch neurowonderful‘s youtube channel/read their blog for lots more helpful things!
