I've seen "autism isn't an excuse to be a picky eater," "autism isn't an excuse to struggle with tone/misread sarcasm in a post," "autism isn't an excuse to be bad at social cues" (with the comment of "literally just go out and learn by talking to people, it's not that hard," as if autistic people don't already do that), "autism isn't an excuse to not make eye contact, that's so rude," "autism isn't an excuse to wear headphones in class or work, nobody else gets to do that," and "autism isn't an excuse to be unemployed/live with your parents/not leave the house enough" (wondering if this person has any idea HSN autistic people exist?). Some people here are like half a drink away from saying having flat affect is "literally weaponized incompetence!!!" or something. I'm starting to wonder what you people think autism even is. Because if you've found a way for autistic people to turn off the most basic symptoms (like sensory sensitivity or difficulty with social settings), that's news and you need to share your incredible findings with the world immediately.

you need include us too : you need include childish autistic person , you need include nonverbal autistic person , you need include autistic person who drool , you need include autistic people with intellectual disability , you need include autistic person with loud messy public meltdowns .

Dude. It’s fine you you don’t want to use them/tone tags aren’t useful to you. That doesn’t mean they aren’t useful to other autistic people.

me: well it makes sense doesn’t it? i was the one who requested testing. like on some level i kind of figured.

my therapist: yes, i’m personally glad we pursued it because it helps me better understand parts of your behavior and how to accommodate you. but how do you feel about it? you said before that you were in heavy denial about the possibility when you were younger.

me: well yeah, i had a preconceived idea of what autism was that i know now wasn’t true. but at the time it was distressing and i didn’t want to think about it too hard.

my therapist: how was it different then? what was your idea of autism then?

me: it was, you know, severe developmental delay. i never thought i had developed abnormally at all, so to try and match up the severity i associated with autism and the way i viewed myself, i just couldn’t.

my therapist: but you did.

me: sorry?

my therapist: you did develop abnormally. both socially and academically.

me: socially yes, but i had no problems with academics. i always especially excelled at reading comprehension, more so than anyone else in my grade. i started lagging in high school but i think that was a lot of burnout and depression and ptsd, probably. i was incredibly smart. hell, i spoke in full sentences earlier than most of my peers.

my therapist: violette, that’s still abnormal development.

me: …huh?

my therapist: developing abnormally fast is still developing abnormally.

me:

FML:

bunny, porccupine, and mouse mix! BPD tends to be very on edge and skittish, so he’s a bit spooked. When defensive, he fires quills, like some porcupines do. He also has many eyes because bpd is very hypervigilant. I called it “FML” because a lot of pwBPD kind of have that mindset ^^’

IDGF:

I made NPD a cat with a crown shaped head and a peacock-like tail because cats and peacocks care a lot about preening and looking their best. Many people think cats are assholes who don’t love their owners, and that’s absolutely bullshit. I thought that fit NPD pretty well :D I called it IDGF because NPD does in fact not give a fuck >:3

IDC:

I made ASPD a wolf because wolves are like the more feral version of a dog. Dogs are man’s best friend and are very loyal! Wolves are just the same but don’t trust as easily and are more likely to attack what threatens them, so many people fear wolves. I gave him some sharp shapes and made his eyes empty with eye bags, because let’s be real yall ASPD peeps do not sleep. I called this one IDC because the biggest thing in ASPD to me is the lack of empathy/low emotions, which everything else kind of stems off of. Chances are if you have ASPD you probably think “why should I care?” About 200 times a day lmao

TMI:

I made HPD into a swanlike creature with a feather crown to resemble a performer! They’re very graceful and regal, and get all the attention in the room. I called it “TMI” because some people find hpd to be a lot (which I think is unfair btw…) yall are larger than life and I love you for it ^^

TBH:

My take on the autism creature has darker eyes because of low empathy and a jester collar! The jester could make fun of the king and queen without consequences as they say, and people tend to underestimate asd. I also just felt like the energetic, unserious jester fit asd pretty well. I also gave him little ears to represent overstimulation/asd splitting (which is hardly ever talked about 💀)

STFU:

The c-ptsd creature feels completely fine until one small thing is just too much and for a split second they explode. I gave it a foxlike tail and neck fluff because of a fox’s cunning - but the fox is often the one looking down the barrel of a loaded gun when they believe they did nothing wrong. Because CPTSD is also hypervigilant, I gave him lots of eyes as well ^^ I called this one STFU because CPTSD gets a lot of the “get over it” comments, sometimes more so than regular ptsd, because c-ptsd is caused by multiple small, “insignificant” things that add up over time. I know for me personally this always frustrates me to no end 😭

Why are y’all so offended by the idea that some autistic people have significantly higher support needs than you do and may need a concise, easily understood way to quickly communicate those needs to others (including other autistic people who are level 1 as opposed to 2/3 and may have a hard time understanding that some other autistic people generally struggle more with autism symptoms on a regular basis than they do, which is made easier to understand by pointing out the level of comparatively higher support needs?)

Pointing out that there are other people with the same disability who are more disabled by it than you are is not necessarily minimizing your disability (depending on how and why it is pointed out, context matters of course), in some cases it’s just a neutral acknowledgement of reality that isn’t meant to downplay anyone else’s experiences, although I do understand level 1 autistic people (and for that matter other levels too, especially if they are a part of other marginalized groups- I’ve experienced this as a level 2 myself) have had their disability downplayed a lot and therefore they are hypervigilant about being treated this way.