rainii's place

often get help for making posts or use my AAC device to type especially if longer post. be warned grammar may be inconsistent!

feel free to join my discord server for people with autism and other developmental disabilities!

PMAT's High-Tech AAC Guide

@puppyaac is my aac symbol/emoji blog

(userbox by @dustbunnyaac)

list of all my comics below!

wanna show you all this its pretty awesome!

it holds my AAC in place and also makes using the eye tracker easier

used to agonize a lot over being "correct" and typing writing good because I got bullied online a LOT for misspelling and not making sense and "bad" grammar.

so tried REALLY hard to correct my typos and make sense and use good grammar. would spend hours or days just on a single message or post just rereading and googling and correcting and asking people to help me make it better. it was really bad for me. (and people were still mean to me anyways because I typed very slow)

and lately peoples in my life been encouraging me not to push myself like that cause it make me really anxious. so have been trying not to judge myself for not correcting constantly. and now can say so much more and faster too. but still feel anxious about bullying again.

and half of the time, have been using my AAC device to type instead of a keyboard cause big buttons on big screen easier than keyboard for me usually and my AAC grammar/vocabulary is more limited too. my partner set up my device recently so I can use it to make texts on the internet. so I have been doing that lots. didn't know how to before. thats also a reason why

still get help from peoples to read my posts for me and help me with editing if need to and make sure still makes OK amount of sense before posting tho. just not trying to be Perfect all of the time now

If you were fully accommodated and given patience, how many of your struggles would ”disappear”? (disappear as in mainly or fully go away)

I guess I wanna know how much is caused by society not always considering or supporting you

Sorry if it’s a confusing question

um none "disappear"! accommodations patience it helps tho just not make any thing "disappear"

.even when me was in full time Special Education and the autism program and all the therapys and every thing, me was still struggling a lot a lot a lot!! and need a lot of support.

.and for me my autism means me need a lot of help with every thing not just social. need help with taking care of me self always!

.and even with AAC me not always use it because me get overwhelmed. so sometimes just not communicate at all and yeah

.environment changes and people being patient that helps and it not so terrible I like that! but no thing “disappear“

April 11th: Do you find doctor's/dentist's/etc appointments difficult as an autistic person? Why? Do you have trouble booking appointments or managing insurance? Do you have someone that helps with this? Do you have someone come to appointments to help advocate for you?

.yes, am good at advocating for myself but some times doctors not want to hear me and think am “too disabled “ to talk for myself and know what I need. I have some body go with me to make sure I am treated like a person and talk to me like an adult. and I need help to set up appointments. but my normal doctors are really nice and understand and treat me good like a person :D

April 12th: Do you struggle with a sense of loneliness/social isolation? Has it become better, worse or about the same since you were younger? Is there anything that helps with it?

.yes but maybe not in way most people expect. I miss being in Special Education and the autism program because I got to meet so many people like me and do stuff together. I have autistic friends and my partner they are really awesome just also wish could be in a structured environment like that some times and meet new people? not many services for disabled adults to meet up :(

April 13th: Have you ever had to (or wanted to) correct someone's misconception about autism? What happened? Talk about it.

.all of the time I remember when I was little and people randomly say “I’m sorry “ to my parents because they thought autism was a really bad thing and my parents they would get really mad. say “disability not some thing to be sorry for “.

April 14th: Do you have issues with change? From small changes like a disruption to your daily routine, to big changes like a new boss at work for example. How does it affect you? Is there anything that helps with it?

.yes it is really difficult for me but I am trying my best! it helps me when some body talks to me about it and me will go chill out in my sensory tent. or I go watch Pokemon

April 15th: Talk about special interests. What is your current special interest? What do you like about it? Do you dislike anything about having special interests? Talk about past special interests.

April 6th: Do you feel that autism affects the way that you view/interact with media? In what ways? Talk about it.

.yes me have a really really difficult time getting in to new media. I like Pokemon and I like Minecraft and Warrior Cats. it has been this way since I was a little kid!

April 7th: Talk about autistic characters in media. What are your favorite canon autistic characters?

.me really really really likes Paolo from Carl the Collector. and also Carl and Lotta from Carl the Collector. make me really really happy!

April 8th: Do you think, since the time you found out you were autistic, that society's views on autism has gotten worse, better, or about the same? In what ways? 

.some ways worse some ways better. “need cure“ not as common now that is good. but feel not welcome not understood in the community a lot now a days which makes me feel sad. and feel like not seeing as many people like me around the community / given a voice (higher needs visibly autistic). we still have a long ways to go for autism awareness / acceptance

April 9th: Are you ever prevented from doing things because of sensory issues? For example, clothes you'd want to wear, places you'd like to go, etc. How does it make you feel? Talk about it.

.yes always. affects entire life! was really big issue when me was a kid especially but mostly know how to navigate now. some times still feel frustrated not able to do every thing my friends can do though!

April 10th: Are holidays/birthdays/similar social gatherings something that you find difficult in any way as an autistic person? Talk about it.

low supports needs autism :

- not always high masking

- not always able to mask at all

- not always fully verbal or verbal at all

- can be very visibly autistic

- can be diagnosed early in life

- can be in disability support services

- very common to not be employed or to not live alone or to not know how to drive, etc.

- does not mean "no support needed"

- does not mean "basically a allistic person"

low supports means low compared to other autistic people! still need a lot of support compared to a neurotypical able bodied person.

April 1st: What age did you find out you were autistic? If you have a diagnosis, what was the diagnosis process like, if you can remember it?

I was diagnosed when I was 5 years old, with "severe autism". I don't really remember alot but I know there was lots of tests n stuff. and I had to go to a different school so I could be in a specialized autism program. my parents and support people were pretty open about my disability and stuff and explained it to me so I always knew I have autism

April 2nd: Are there some things in life that you either learned much later than your neurotypical peers or not at all?

yes lots of things. basic needs, hygiene stuff, speaking, walking, motor stuff in general, education stuff, was delayed or incomplete development in all those. still at elementary school level for lots of academic subjects especially math. always felt like / was told was "falling behind" and my IEP notes say other kids treated me like a baby basically.

April 3rd: Do you feel like being autistic makes you easier to take advantage of? More gullible perhaps? Talk about a time where this happened to you.

yes but not sure I should go into detail on the internet

April 4th: Talk about online social interaction. Do you feel that being able to interact with others online, such as on social media, has been a positive or negative thing for you? Do you think its easier, harder, about the same as in person communication?

um, think it is both positive and negative. I think for me online is harder though. because it is really hard for people to know my tone and stuff and it is hard for me to type out my thoughts or using speech to text with my AAC device or having to copy paste from AAC device. and can't use gestures / make noises to communicate when texting online like I do offline. makes it hard.

April 5th: Do you often interact with other autistic people? Online or in person? Do you find it harder, easier, about the same difficulty as with neurotypical people?