Autistics Being Autistics

Here’s an attempt at an ordinary language translation. It’s a bit longer because of having to unpack some of the terms

A: It’s hard for you to talk to people, understand them, and/or make them understand you. This happens consistently in different places, with different people, and over several years. In particular, you have or had all three of:

Difficulty sharing your emotions with others, which can mean gushing at strangers about interesting facts, hiding your thoughts and feelings, refusing to talk to people, or other things

Difficulty understanding things that aren’t said in words, which can mean not understanding what other people’s faces and gestures mean, not understanding what your own face or gestures might mean to others, not making faces or gestures at all, or other things

Difficulty making and keeping friends, which can mean that you don’t know how to act differently with different people, have a hard time playing pretend with others, or simply don’t care about the people around you when they’re not doing anything to you.

B: You do or think about the same specific things over and over. In particular, you have or had two of:

Doing or saying the same thing over and over, without any obvious purpose, like lining up your toys, copying what someone says, rocking, or flapping your hands.

Having to do things the exact same way, or it’s wrong and very upsetting. Changes to your stuff, your plans, or how you can do things are very stressful.

Special interests in very specific topics that take up lots of time and energy.

You notice how things feel too much, or not enough. You might not react to pain or heat or cold, or find a certain sound or texture very upsetting, or need to touch or smell or stare at anything new.

C: Some of this behaviour has to have been there since you were about five or earlier. It might not have been a problem then, or you might have learned to work around it since then, but it needs to be the same sort of behaviour.

D: These difficulties make it hard for you to socialise, hold down a job, or otherwise live your life. 

E: These difficulties aren’t just explained by the idea you might have a learning disorder or slow mental development. If you think you might have both, measure “difficulty” from where your “normal” is - for example, “difficulty understanding things that aren’t said in words” should be measured against how well you understand things that are said in words.

eokay so first of all: i have both. so of course i cannot distinguish between both, because both are “me”. so i’m making the distinction by what i read more often in ADHD or autism contexts.

the things i’m listing are not diagnostic criteria, just things that i have seen talked about often. you might not relate to all of them even if you have ADHD / autism. additionally, having one or a few traits of something does not mean you definitely have it, but if you go “yes! that’s me!” at most or all of them, you might check the thing out more thoroughly.

there’s a summary at the end

things that are more ADHD and less autism:

impulsivity. i get an idea and then i immediately drop whatever i am doing (often quite literally) and do the other thing. for example: i am preparing a sandwidch. i am in the process of putting butter on the bread. then i think: i want tea. in that same second i drop the knife, on the floor, turn around to the water boiler and switch it on. then i realize that dropping the knife was probably not such a good idea because it’s dirty now. 

getting distracted. not by anything specifically, just.. anything. for example, i opened this ask and wanted to answer. then i got distracted for 15 minutes and forgot all about it until i accidentally opened this tab again. i described this in this slightly funny post: my general idea of functioning is getting distracted often enough so that i eventually come back to the thing i was originally doing.

constantly forgetting what you were just doing or thinking. this is pretty much what leads to both being easily distracted and impulsivity. it’s more than just forgetting. it is completely forgetting about the idea of a thing possibly occurring. you’re having an intense, captivating tumblr chat with someone and then you go to the bathroom and it is gone from your brain. you go bake some cookies, read a book, cut your hair, and when you come back to the computer it’s ohhhhh shit i was having a conversation until i suddenly disappeared… 3 hours ago.

being unable to sit still ever. it is more than just stimming. it is stimming 120% of the time. it is doing multiple stims at the same time always. i CAN not sit still. it does not happen. i am unable to not stim. 

hyperfocusing randomly. like what i am doing with this post right now. i started typing and then i got completely caught up on it and now i cannot stop and i forget the time and anything else i was going to do because this post is my world now and i. must. finish.

hyperactivity. i cannot describe this better than ALALAL ALALALA KLHADFUILSDHFJKUIEF!!!!!!!!!! LKSKSHALALALAL!!!!!!!!! it’s jumping around the room. running up the walls. sitting upside-down on your chair while screaming from laughter. spamming your twitter with 200 tweets that just say “CACTUS!!!!!!!!!! MOLAR TOOTH!!! CACTUS!!!!!!!” while laughing your ass off. 

losing every object. always. misplacing objects that you were actually using just now. pencils, headphones, jewellery, coffee cup, everything. where is my phone that i was using 20 seconds ago? i have no idea. 3 hours later i find it in the laundry basket. or on some door handle. losing ridiculously large objects that you cannot possibly lose and being unable to locate them for hours. objects that i have misplaced inside a 40 square meters apartment: laundry basket, mattress, chairs, tables, small oven, computer, and many others. you get the idea.

forgetting plans and appointments and everything really. i recently learned that some people can actually keep complex plans in their heads. a fellow autistic explained me that he can remember everything he needs to do and lie it down neatly in his mind. i don’t think every autistic is as good with that as he is, but most people have some sort of idea what their next big tasks are. i don’t. i don’t even know where i wrote them down. i also forget appointments because even if i remember that i have plans for wednesday, that does not automatically mean that i realize when wednesday is happening.

addiction to distraction and entertainment. boredom is torture, and i don’t mean that as an exaggeration. sitting in a waiting room drives you up the wall, sometimes quite literally. forgetting your phone is not just irritating and means you have to read the cereal box. no. you build a tower out of the cereal boxes and jump on the table. when the party is going slow you collect all the paper flyers and fold 100 airplanes and shred the rest of the flyers to pieces. not being able to concentrate without loud music in the background. 

things that are more autism and less ADHD:

sensory hypersensitivities. not just getting distracted or annoyed by bad sensory input, but actually getting hurt and deeply uncomfortable. not being able to even sit near someone with deodorant on. starting to cry whenever you get cold. ripping your shirt off because the tag was too scratchy. 

sensory hyposensitivities. not being able to feel the pain from scratches. not being able to enjoy music unless it is ridiculously loud drumming against your ears, while not being hard of hearing. only being able to calm down when something is pressing against your ribcage so hard you can hardly breathe. enjoying bright flickering lights right against your eyeballs. 

the bliss that stimming is. it is not just “something that feels pleasant”. it is something that makes you feel whole. it is something that puts you in a place where everything is good and right and the right stim fills you up with pure bliss. you soak it up like a sponge and you feel like you’re flying and it’s the best thing. it clears your mind and soothes your soul.

the overwhelm of sensory overload. you literally cannot function in a loud, crowded area. sensory overload makes you forget how to think. you immediately shut down or meltdown. you become helpless. you can not get yourself out of this situation safely. you get lost. you are unable to figure out a way to get out of the situation. you can get in real danger because of sensory overload if you do not have help or luck. 

auditory and visual processing difficulties. needing subtitles for every movie you watch, even though you are neither Deaf nor hard of hearing. constantly going “what? say that again? HUH?? i can’t hear you over that noise!” while everyone around you is conversing easily. being unable to decipher an image quickly. being unable to read maps or flowcharts.

trouble with verbal communication. you might be nonverbal sometimes or always. you might have problems saying the right words. you might rely on scripting heavily, that means you have fixed rules of what to say in which situations. you might be unable to react if your script stops working because someone says something unexpected. you might be unable to say what you mean because you cannot find words fast enough. you might say things that you do NOT mean because you have heard them somewhere so the words are more easily found. 

trouble with nonverbal communication. not being able to read tone of voice, facial impressions and allistic body language. constantly being misinterpreted because you make the “wrong” body language or facial impressions or tone. not being able to recognize irony and jokes because you can’t take the subtle hints that people give about them. not being able to interpret emojis and emoticons. not being able to recognize the difference between “hello”, “hello!” and “hello…”. coming off across as “rude”, “weird”, “scary” or something else that you are not. 

being unable to figure out social rules and conventions. why do you always have to answer “fine” to the question “how are you?”? why does a person think that i hate them just because i do not like talking to them? why do people think i like them just because i was talking to them? which people do you call by their first name and which by their last name? why do people laugh about me just because i hugged my teacher? nobody laughs when i hug my friend.

relying on sameness, rules, schedules and rituals. no, i cannot drink tea out of the coffee cup. it Does Not Work. i cannot sleep without my squishy pillow. i cannot wear my Outside clothes inside. when i make a plan, things have to go EXACTLY as planned or i melt down. i cry when i lose my favourite stim toy. it can also mean: having to do the same things every day at the same time. getting overwhelmed by changes. not being able to function in an unfamiliar schedule. not being able to do things out of order. not being able to sleep with the Wrong sheets. not being able to eat from red dishes. and many others.

things that are both autism and ADHD:

needing to fidget or stim. being unable to concentrate or calm down without moving or specific sensory input. not being able to function properly when not allowed to stim. shutting or melting down when not being able to stim. 

special interests or hyperfixations. “special interest” is the autism term and “hyperfixation” is the ADHD term. it means fixating on a certain subject so intensely that you can hardly think about anything else. some people learn subjects very deeply in a very short time. it means getting caught up in it. it’s what you think about in every second. like being in love, only with a subject instead of a person.

living in a fantasy world. retreating into a safe space to escape from a world that is not very kind to us. hyperfixating on a story or a fantasy world or dreamworld as an interest, either as a refuge or as a special interest or both.

trouble with socializing. being ridiculed for being “weird”. being unable to function well in social situations because of your specific disabilities. having a hard time maintaining friendships and other social relationships.

appearing eccentric. dressing and behaving in unusual ways. having unconventional interests and hobbies. being unable to connect with most other people, being the “different” person in most groups. having social positions such as the “class clown” or “the outcast” - entertaining everyone else or distancing yourself from everyone else. 

appearing childlike or younger than you are. never getting rid off childlike behaviours. stimming and fidgeting because you like it or because it helps. not caring about how you look. having hobbies and interests that are seen as “childish”. impulsive actions that appear childlike. behaviour that is seen as childlike.

executive dysfunction. being unable to do things even though you really want to do them. being unable to start tasks or switch tasks. being unable to recall what you know in an unfamiliar situation. being unable to figure out the steps necessary for completing a task. 

reactions to over- and understimulations. you might start to fidget or stim. you might try to get away or get angry or cry because things are too much or because there’s not enough stimulation. you might fall asleep in class because it’s too little stimulation. you might cry in class because it’s too much stimulation.

meltdowns / shutdowns. having reactions that are stronger than is deemed appropriate to negative things like adverse sensory input, emotional stress, etc. that means breaking down crying from small things, having rage fits over small things going wrong, or on the other side completely shutting down, flopping on the floor, freezing in place etc. in case of under- or overstimulation or emotional stress.

developing anxiety or depression. social or generalized anxiety as well as depression are common in people with ADHD and autistics because we often get bullied, our disabilities are often exploited to hurt us, and we may get excluded, ridiculed and hurt on a regular basis. we might despair because we never seem to fit in. we might overcompensate and overtax ourselves in order to appear “normal”. we might burn out as a result.

creativity and unconventional thinking. getting ideas that nobody else has. making connections nobody else would even think of. being good at finding similarities, patterns, and differences. 

daydreaming and spacing out. shutting down or simply daydreaming your way through situations that you cannot function in because of your specific disabilities. forgetting what you were doing and just dreaming away. getting lost in thoughts. dissociating from adverse sensory input. escaping from the reality that is hard to bear or just getting distracted. 

getting caught up in a task. hyperfocusing on a thing that you are doing or being unable to initiate the end of an action. being unable to interrupt your train of thought or action. being unable to switch tasks. 

summary

i don’t claim completeness for this list. so.

more ADHD than autism:

impulsivity

getting distracted

constantly forgetting what you were just doing or thinking

being unable to sit still ever

hyperfocusing randomly

hyperactivity

losing every object. always

forgetting plans and appointments and everything really

addiction to distraction and entertainment

more autism than ADHD:

sensory hypersensitivities

sensory hyposensitivities

the bliss that stimming is

the overwhelm of sensory overload

auditory and visual processing difficulties

trouble with verbal communication

trouble with nonverbal communication

being unable to figure out social rules and conventions

relying on sameness, rules, schedules and rituals

both autism and ADHD:

needing to fidget or stim

special interests or hyperfixations

living in a fantasy world

trouble with socializing

appearing eccentric

appearing childlike or younger than you are

executive dysfunction

reactions to over- and understimulations

meltdowns / shutdowns

developing anxiety or depression

creativity and unconventional thinking

daydreaming and spacing out

getting caught up in a task

so that got a lot more elaborate than i was planning… anyway. i hope it answers your question, anon

eokay so first of all: i have both. so of course i cannot distinguish between both, because both are “me”. so i’m making the distinction by what i read more often in ADHD or autism contexts.

the things i’m listing are not diagnostic criteria, just things that i have seen talked about often. you might not relate to all of them even if you have ADHD / autism. additionally, having one or a few traits of something does not mean you definitely have it, but if you go “yes! that’s me!” at most or all of them, you might check the thing out more thoroughly.

there’s a summary at the end

things that are more ADHD and less autism:

impulsivity. i get an idea and then i immediately drop whatever i am doing (often quite literally) and do the other thing. for example: i am preparing a sandwidch. i am in the process of putting butter on the bread. then i think: i want tea. in that same second i drop the knife, on the floor, turn around to the water boiler and switch it on. then i realize that dropping the knife was probably not such a good idea because it’s dirty now. 

getting distracted. not by anything specifically, just.. anything. for example, i opened this ask and wanted to answer. then i got distracted for 15 minutes and forgot all about it until i accidentally opened this tab again. i described this in this slightly funny post: my general idea of functioning is getting distracted often enough so that i eventually come back to the thing i was originally doing.

constantly forgetting what you were just doing or thinking. this is pretty much what leads to both being easily distracted and impulsivity. it’s more than just forgetting. it is completely forgetting about the idea of a thing possibly occurring. you’re having an intense, captivating tumblr chat with someone and then you go to the bathroom and it is gone from your brain. you go bake some cookies, read a book, cut your hair, and when you come back to the computer it’s ohhhhh shit i was having a conversation until i suddenly disappeared… 3 hours ago.

being unable to sit still ever. it is more than just stimming. it is stimming 120% of the time. it is doing multiple stims at the same time always. i CAN not sit still. it does not happen. i am unable to not stim. 

hyperfocusing randomly. like what i am doing with this post right now. i started typing and then i got completely caught up on it and now i cannot stop and i forget the time and anything else i was going to do because this post is my world now and i. must. finish.

hyperactivity. i cannot describe this better than ALALAL ALALALA KLHADFUILSDHFJKUIEF!!!!!!!!!! LKSKSHALALALAL!!!!!!!!! it’s jumping around the room. running up the walls. sitting upside-down on your chair while screaming from laughter. spamming your twitter with 200 tweets that just say “CACTUS!!!!!!!!!! MOLAR TOOTH!!! CACTUS!!!!!!!” while laughing your ass off. 

losing every object. always. misplacing objects that you were actually using just now. pencils, headphones, jewellery, coffee cup, everything. where is my phone that i was using 20 seconds ago? i have no idea. 3 hours later i find it in the laundry basket. or on some door handle. losing ridiculously large objects that you cannot possibly lose and being unable to locate them for hours. objects that i have misplaced inside a 40 square meters apartment: laundry basket, mattress, chairs, tables, small oven, computer, and many others. you get the idea.

forgetting plans and appointments and everything really. i recently learned that some people can actually keep complex plans in their heads. a fellow autistic explained me that he can remember everything he needs to do and lie it down neatly in his mind. i don’t think every autistic is as good with that as he is, but most people have some sort of idea what their next big tasks are. i don’t. i don’t even know where i wrote them down. i also forget appointments because even if i remember that i have plans for wednesday, that does not automatically mean that i realize when wednesday is happening.

addiction to distraction and entertainment. boredom is torture, and i don’t mean that as an exaggeration. sitting in a waiting room drives you up the wall, sometimes quite literally. forgetting your phone is not just irritating and means you have to read the cereal box. no. you build a tower out of the cereal boxes and jump on the table. when the party is going slow you collect all the paper flyers and fold 100 airplanes and shred the rest of the flyers to pieces. not being able to concentrate without loud music in the background. 

things that are more autism and less ADHD:

sensory hypersensitivities. not just getting distracted or annoyed by bad sensory input, but actually getting hurt and deeply uncomfortable. not being able to even sit near someone with deodorant on. starting to cry whenever you get cold. ripping your shirt off because the tag was too scratchy. 

sensory hyposensitivities. not being able to feel the pain from scratches. not being able to enjoy music unless it is ridiculously loud drumming against your ears, while not being hard of hearing. only being able to calm down when something is pressing against your ribcage so hard you can hardly breathe. enjoying bright flickering lights right against your eyeballs. 

the bliss that stimming is. it is not just “something that feels pleasant”. it is something that makes you feel whole. it is something that puts you in a place where everything is good and right and the right stim fills you up with pure bliss. you soak it up like a sponge and you feel like you’re flying and it’s the best thing. it clears your mind and soothes your soul.

the overwhelm of sensory overload. you literally cannot function in a loud, crowded area. sensory overload makes you forget how to think. you immediately shut down or meltdown. you become helpless. you can not get yourself out of this situation safely. you get lost. you are unable to figure out a way to get out of the situation. you can get in real danger because of sensory overload if you do not have help or luck. 

auditory and visual processing difficulties. needing subtitles for every movie you watch, even though you are neither Deaf nor hard of hearing. constantly going “what? say that again? HUH?? i can’t hear you over that noise!” while everyone around you is conversing easily. being unable to decipher an image quickly. being unable to read maps or flowcharts.

trouble with verbal communication. you might be nonverbal sometimes or always. you might have problems saying the right words. you might rely on scripting heavily, that means you have fixed rules of what to say in which situations. you might be unable to react if your script stops working because someone says something unexpected. you might be unable to say what you mean because you cannot find words fast enough. you might say things that you do NOT mean because you have heard them somewhere so the words are more easily found. 

trouble with nonverbal communication. not being able to read tone of voice, facial impressions and allistic body language. constantly being misinterpreted because you make the “wrong” body language or facial impressions or tone. not being able to recognize irony and jokes because you can’t take the subtle hints that people give about them. not being able to interpret emojis and emoticons. not being able to recognize the difference between “hello”, “hello!” and “hello…”. coming off across as “rude”, “weird”, “scary” or something else that you are not. 

being unable to figure out social rules and conventions. why do you always have to answer “fine” to the question “how are you?”? why does a person think that i hate them just because i do not like talking to them? why do people think i like them just because i was talking to them? which people do you call by their first name and which by their last name? why do people laugh about me just because i hugged my teacher? nobody laughs when i hug my friend.

relying on sameness, rules, schedules and rituals. no, i cannot drink tea out of the coffee cup. it Does Not Work. i cannot sleep without my squishy pillow. i cannot wear my Outside clothes inside. when i make a plan, things have to go EXACTLY as planned or i melt down. i cry when i lose my favourite stim toy. it can also mean: having to do the same things every day at the same time. getting overwhelmed by changes. not being able to function in an unfamiliar schedule. not being able to do things out of order. not being able to sleep with the Wrong sheets. not being able to eat from red dishes. and many others.

things that are both autism and ADHD:

needing to fidget or stim. being unable to concentrate or calm down without moving or specific sensory input. not being able to function properly when not allowed to stim. shutting or melting down when not being able to stim. 

special interests or hyperfixations. “special interest” is the autism term and “hyperfixation” is the ADHD term. it means fixating on a certain subject so intensely that you can hardly think about anything else. some people learn subjects very deeply in a very short time. it means getting caught up in it. it’s what you think about in every second. like being in love, only with a subject instead of a person.

living in a fantasy world. retreating into a safe space to escape from a world that is not very kind to us. hyperfixating on a story or a fantasy world or dreamworld as an interest, either as a refuge or as a special interest or both.

trouble with socializing. being ridiculed for being “weird”. being unable to function well in social situations because of your specific disabilities. having a hard time maintaining friendships and other social relationships.

appearing eccentric. dressing and behaving in unusual ways. having unconventional interests and hobbies. being unable to connect with most other people, being the “different” person in most groups. having social positions such as the “class clown” or “the outcast” - entertaining everyone else or distancing yourself from everyone else. 

appearing childlike or younger than you are. never getting rid off childlike behaviours. stimming and fidgeting because you like it or because it helps. not caring about how you look. having hobbies and interests that are seen as “childish”. impulsive actions that appear childlike. behaviour that is seen as childlike.

executive dysfunction. being unable to do things even though you really want to do them. being unable to start tasks or switch tasks. being unable to recall what you know in an unfamiliar situation. being unable to figure out the steps necessary for completing a task. 

reactions to over- and understimulations. you might start to fidget or stim. you might try to get away or get angry or cry because things are too much or because there’s not enough stimulation. you might fall asleep in class because it’s too little stimulation. you might cry in class because it’s too much stimulation.

meltdowns / shutdowns. having reactions that are stronger than is deemed appropriate to negative things like adverse sensory input, emotional stress, etc. that means breaking down crying from small things, having rage fits over small things going wrong, or on the other side completely shutting down, flopping on the floor, freezing in place etc. in case of under- or overstimulation or emotional stress.

developing anxiety or depression. social or generalized anxiety as well as depression are common in people with ADHD and autistics because we often get bullied, our disabilities are often exploited to hurt us, and we may get excluded, ridiculed and hurt on a regular basis. we might despair because we never seem to fit in. we might overcompensate and overtax ourselves in order to appear “normal”. we might burn out as a result.

creativity and unconventional thinking. getting ideas that nobody else has. making connections nobody else would even think of. being good at finding similarities, patterns, and differences. 

daydreaming and spacing out. shutting down or simply daydreaming your way through situations that you cannot function in because of your specific disabilities. forgetting what you were doing and just dreaming away. getting lost in thoughts. dissociating from adverse sensory input. escaping from the reality that is hard to bear or just getting distracted. 

getting caught up in a task. hyperfocusing on a thing that you are doing or being unable to initiate the end of an action. being unable to interrupt your train of thought or action. being unable to switch tasks. 

summary

i don’t claim completeness for this list. so.

more ADHD than autism:

impulsivity

getting distracted

constantly forgetting what you were just doing or thinking

being unable to sit still ever

hyperfocusing randomly

hyperactivity

losing every object. always

forgetting plans and appointments and everything really

addiction to distraction and entertainment

more autism than ADHD:

sensory hypersensitivities

sensory hyposensitivities

the bliss that stimming is

the overwhelm of sensory overload

auditory and visual processing difficulties

trouble with verbal communication

trouble with nonverbal communication

being unable to figure out social rules and conventions

relying on sameness, rules, schedules and rituals

both autism and ADHD:

needing to fidget or stim

special interests or hyperfixations

living in a fantasy world

trouble with socializing

appearing eccentric

appearing childlike or younger than you are

executive dysfunction

reactions to over- and understimulations

meltdowns / shutdowns

developing anxiety or depression

creativity and unconventional thinking

daydreaming and spacing out

getting caught up in a task

so that got a lot more elaborate than i was planning… anyway. i hope it answers your question, anon

After looking at a lot of the criticisms of the proposed DSM5 criteria, I’ve been thinking about what potential criteria would look like if they were written with the perspective of someone autistic in mind–meaning looking at the underlying differences, not behavioural ones. These are what I’ve come up with so far. I would love to be able to refine and validate these/something built off of these some time in the future to replace the crap being put out in DSM5.

A. Differences in perception (at least 3)

Sensory defensiveness (ie, complaints or avoidance of any of the following: loud noises or places, bright lights, textures (food or object/clothing), tastes, smells, touch)

Sensory seeking (ie, stims or stimming behaviour such as rocking, flapping, finger flicking, hair twirling, spinning objects, etc or actively desiring any of the following: deep pressure or touch, vestibular sensation [swings, spinning in any context, etc], specific smells, tastes, or textures)

Auditory processing difficulties

Unusual, awkward, or delayed motor skills, or asymmetry between gross and fine motor skills (ie, clumsy but with strong fine motor skills, good gross motor skills with poor hand-writing or table skills)

A reduced or lack of conscious awareness and/or use of allistic (not autistic) nonverbal behaviour and communication such as facial expression, gesture, and posture.

This criterion should not exclude persons who have learnt to read or otherwise comprehend nonverbal behaviour by rote learning, particularly adults. Intentional learning to overcome an inherent difficulty in comprehension is supportive of this criterion. It should also not exclude persons who have been taught to use nonverbals to be less visibly different. In such cases, internal report of difficulty should take precedence over apparent behaviour.

B. Differences in cognition (at least 3, one of which must be 1 or 2)

Difficulty in beginning or ending (at least 1):

Perseverative thoughts or behaviours  

Needing prompts (visual, verbal, hand-over-hand, etc) to begin or finish a task

Difficulties planning complex activities

Catatonia

Difficulty switching between activities

Lack of apparent startle response

Difficulty in using language (at least 1):

Problems with pronoun use that are developmentally inappropriate

A reduced or lack of awareness of tone in self (ie, speaks in a monotone, childish, or otherwise unusual manner) and/or others (ie, does not perceive sarcasm or follow implied prompts, responds to rhetorical statements and questions in earnest)

A reduced or lack of awareness of volume (ie, speaks too loud or too quietly for the situation)

No functional language use

Echolalia

Mutism in some or all situations

At least one special interest in a topic that is unusual for any combination of intensity (ie, does not want to learn/talk about anything else, collects all information about the topic) or subject matter (ie, unusual, obscure, or not considered age appropriate). Topics may be age appropriate and/or common (such as a popular television show or book), but the intensity of interest and/or specific behaviour (such as collecting or organising information as the primary focus) should be taken into account.

Asymmetry of cognitive skills

Talents in pattern recognition, including music, mathematics, specific language structures, puzzles, and art.

A tendency to focus on details instead of the broader picture, across contexts.

On Monday, the Congressional Budget Office released their report on what would happen if the Affordable Care Act repeal bill passes - and it’s horrifying. Under the proposed plan, 14 million people will lose their health insurance by next year. Over the next 10 years, that number grows to 24 million people. The House is voting on this bill as early as THURSDAY - and we need your help to stop them. Contact your Members of Congress and tell them to vote NO on ACA repeal. You can call over the weekend and leave a message, or make plans to call during the week.

As if those numbers weren’t bad enough, the CBO report estimates that Medicaid would lose $880 billion in funding, destroying Medicaid as we know it. Meanwhile, the bill includes $883 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest 10% of Americans. Here’s what the average person with a disability would get:

An average tax cut of $0

Insurance will be harder to buy, and insurance companies will be allowed to charge more money for worse health coverage

24 million Americans will lose health insurance by 2026

Huge slashes to funding for services people with disabilities rely on every day

A plan that takes away coverage from 24 million people is not a replacement for the ACA.

There’s no time to waste. Some members of Congress are starting to express concerns about this bill after hearing from you. We need to keep the pressure up and make sure this isn’t just empty talk. You can find contact information for your members of Congress here. Call your Senators and Representative and tell them to vote NO on ACA repeal.

Script for calling your Members of Congress: My name is [your full name]. I’m a constituent of [Representative Name/Senator Name], and I live in [your town]. I’m calling to ask [the Representative/the Senator] to vote NO on repealing the Affordable Care Act. [Number of people] of your constituents rely on the insurance they got under the Affordable Care Act. This bill would take lifesaving health coverage away from your constituents, and it would destroy funding for Medicaid services that people depend on to live in the community. A bill that causes 24 million Americans to lose their health coverage isn’t a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. Please vote NO on the repeal.   

There is a lot at risk in this moment, but we really can make a difference by speaking out. We can stop this.

Onward,

Julia Bascom Executive Director Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Autism has so many traits and manifestations that aren’t commonly discussed or talked about! Frequently, doctors ignore the atypical/”uncommon” traits dismissing and not writing or educating others about them. A lot of doctors have set definitions of autism that aren’t really representative of the autistic community as a whole. Atypical traits in actuality are more common and prevalent than stereotypical ones they just often go ignored therefore less people know about them.

Also, “professionals” often create lists saying atypical traits are gender specific and use functioning disgusting labels to invalidate traits as well as experiences. Autism traits are not different for “boys” or “girls.”. There is a lot of transphobia, misogyny, intersexism, racism, ableism as well as various other forms of oppression in the psychaitric field especially in regards to autism. The sources below do contain unnecessary functioning labels and gendering. Please ignore that and know autism traits aren’t gender specific and that there is no such thing as “severe” and “mild” autism. Autism is a spectrum and every single autistic person manifests autism differently.

Additionally, some traits aren’t just specific to autism but are also traits of various other neurodivergences as well as common among neurotypicals.  

Hey so April’s coming up so I thought it’d be good to have some activities to do! I’ve seen other people do these (most notably for me @uniqueaspergirl​ had one that I did a few of last year!) and thought I’d set one up!

Under the cut is a list of the days (also listed in the picture) and descriptions of what each one is because a few words aren’t always the easiest to understand even when you wrote them.

I would like to say first though that - despite me keeping the descriptions of each day mostly positive, negative submissions and additions are absolutely accepted. Everything isn’t sunshine and daisies. Most of the things are general enough that they’ll apply to anyone, but if one doesn’t work for you feel free to treat it as a freebie!

Submit by submitting to the blog directly, tagging us ( in the @ kind of a way) or by tagging it #walkinredinstead (which I checked, it’s empty) and I’ll post and reblog as many as I can!

- Your catchphrase is “what?”

- You ask someone to repeat their question then finish processing and respond halfway through they’re finished repeating it.

- You somewhat processed what someone said but your brain won’t take it.

- You mishear what people say wildly wrong. Like, wildly wrong. Then you process it and it makes wayyyy more sense than whatever you thought someone originally said.

- “Wait, what?”

- Default face is a perplexed, confused look.

- You have to deal with rude people who refuse to repeat themselves and act exasperated at the suggestion, than proceed to get angry when you won’t respond to them and/or remember what they just said.

- You can hear a car door open down the street but you can’t hear someone talking to you in the same room.

- Talking is weird.

- You’re constantly seen as a bad listener (which, maybe isn’t that far from the truth- but they assume you’re not trying), unfocused (which I tend to be, but it’s unrelated), and so on. Nobody stops to consider that maybe you have processing issues.

- You were tested for hearing issues as a kid because you didn’t respond to people or talk much, but every test came back negative and your parents were told you have perfect hearing.

- The idea of talking to two people at once is terrifying beyond imagining.

- Responding to something someone said ages ago, even with a different conversation still going, the topic has moved on, and everyone forgot about it.

or how to keep clothes nice. Sorry if this is out of place, it helps me with executive dysfunction so I figured others might find it useful too! :D

Thank you, I’m awful about remembering laundry…

*Everyone else is Normal. You are not. What is Normal? No one can tell you. You are not Normal. You must become Normal.

*Therapy will fix you. What therapy? Don’t worry. Just tell us what feels the worst…

*Autism Speaks loves you. And tells everyone that you’re a disease that ruins marriages, destroys families, and can never be really a person. But they love you. So much. You just can’t see it because you’re autistic. They love you. Really.

*You have missed a developmental milestone. Is there a test to make up for it? No one knows…

*Your medicines are chemicals, and that is Bad. “But EVERYTHING is made up of chemicals!” You explain. Oh, you just don’t understand. Chemicals are Bad. Eat kale and you will understand.

*You can’t speak. This is willful defiance. There will be Consequences. The sacrifices must be made.

*”How will we ever understand these strange people?” Allistics ask. “Well, you could talk to us…” you offer. No one hears. “How can we understand?” Allistics keep asking.

*No one flaps. You cannot tell what they feel. “It’s on our faces!” They say. You cannot read faces. You must guess correctly, or there will be Consequences.

*”That’s for children. You must have a young mental age.” You ask when they plan to stop using spoons like children do. “That’s different!”

*The hypocrisy is summoning…something. You do not know what. You welcome its arrival and bake it a cake.

*When it arrives, it asks politely for a ritual. You complete it word-perfect, with all the lovely rocking and bowing and well-defined nuance of speech you love. It is pleased. You are pleased.

So I run the local ASAN chapter and an “”“”“"autism parent”“”“”“”“ organization wrote to our chapter email asking to partner… their Twitter banner is AUTISM in huge puzzle piece letters and awareness under that. They’re literally called a group "for effective treatment of autism” and DRUMROLL Y'ALL

THEY HAVE AN EVENT SPONSORED BY CHURCHILL DOWNS CALLED OUTRUNNING AUTISM

HOLY

SHIT

I think they might be worse,at least locally,than A$. I replied to their email eloquently but sharply that we don’t support their rhetoric. I was tempted to reply “Thanks for telling me about y'all so I can D E S T R O Y Y O U

UGH. Now I have to go make a list of businesses to call and protest.

Shout out to everyone who’s non-verbal.

Shout out to everyone who’s partially non-verbal

Shout out to everyone who finds it difficult to communicate verbally.

Shout out to everyone who communicates better/more easily using “alternative communication” methods.

Shout out to everyone who feel like there communication methods aren’t taken seriously.

I’m having a really difficult time talking today and I just wanted everyone to know that they are fantastic and valid whatever method they use to communicate but ESPECIALLY those who use “alternative” methods of communication.

Stay rad!

Stay awesome!

Keep communicating no matter how you do it!