#autism asks

Hi, thanks for the ask! Do you have an aac app or device? because I would suggest that. The one I use is called EESpeech Basic and it works great for my needs. I would recommend checking it out because it’s highly customizable and you can add in a menu category & other personalized ones.

^It looks like this. If you’re not familiar with aac, it stands for augmentative and alternative communication. Basically you can set up words/phrases/sentences and tap them to have a computerized voice speak it out loud for you. I find that waiters are generally accepting of it and it seems less rude than pointing. It may not work for everyone though!

I’ll show you some of what I have on mine!

So you can make it personalized to your needs, like at a restaurant you can type out your order and click on it when the waiter asks. I also added categories for infodumping/echolalia/jokes on mine, just for my entertainment.

im autistic, im just now finding out "reee" started out as an ablest joke towards autistics

but its been one of my vocal stims for years

can i still do it??? or would it still be ablest language to use something that started as an offensive joke as a vocal stim??

Thabk you!!

🎧- what symptom(s) of yours is the hardest for you to deal with?

Sound sensitivity, full stop, tho texture sensitivity is up there. I can deal with most of my sensory issues, but sounds very easily send me into sensory overload (one loud sneeze can put me out of commission all day) and they're unavoidable :(

☕- do you regularly consume caffiene? do you find that caffeine helps manage your symptoms or makes them worse?

Two cups of coffee and often a cup of tea every day babey ✌️ I don't think it has any effect on my symptoms besides the fact that it helps wake me up and my threshold for sensory overload is way lower when I'm tired lol

So I don’t have any resources from my head that I can think off, but I can give you my point of view and I thought it might be interesting to also read the point of view from my partner, as someone who is together with a person who has autism, so if you like you could wait after I posted this to see what my gf will add in a reblog.

So I think it’s so cute that you’re trying to learn how to deal. Also I hope your gf is doing okay with the recent diagnose, I remember being very happy and relieved about it, but I know not everyone feels that way.

the first important thing I can think of is talk about triggers, both good and bad. And overtriggering.

Each person with autism is different and each will because of that have different triggers. Some smell, light, sounds, touch...

If she has trouble with maybe giving verbal signs, talk about non verbal ones like a tapping signal.

For example I like it (mainly)dark, because my vision will not distract me too much, I like music as I don’t always like hearing certain sounds (I got extremely good hearing) and music also makes me peaceful and tune out my own thoughts more. I like being overstimulated, but that is something you either really have to discuss or if she doesn’t know yet you can find out together what the limits are. Because again each one is different and my triggers or things that help me enjoy might be completely opposite of your girlfriend

communication is SO important as people with autism often need alot of clarity. And most of us are also extremely honest so if we trust you and say we’re fine with something, we are, if we say we aren’t, we aren’t and if we say “I don’t know” we legit don’t know (yet) and you could ask then if they are open to trying and finding out or not.

Aftercare is another super important thing, but something you could again find a patern together in, or ask her if she knows things that make her feel safe or if she knows what you might like.

If she finds it hard to be vocal about certain things, I personally found it helped me alot to ask me yes or no questions about certain topics, hard no’s, ...

So alot of it will be personal, we’re all very different but a thing most of us will relate to is overtriggering, overwhelming and communication, but again if anyone else has good resources or has more tips, please feel free to add on with reblogging, send it to me in ask or put it in the comments.

I’ll let my gf reblog this with an answer of her own, Maybe it’ll help you as it will be from a person in your position basically.

1.) Why do you talk on the phone on speaker in front of everyone?

2.) Why do you listen to your vids w/ others around at full volume?

3.) Why do you talk so much in the morning when others are waking up?

2. Do you have any other autistic people in your family? Or are you the only one?

I'm the only one diagnosed, though we think my mother might have it. My sister is also neurodivergent though, as she has ADHD.

5. What do you wish more people knew about autism?

That autism comes in all different shapes and sizes. One autistic person is not going to have the same symptoms and traits as another.

9. What was your first special interest?

Thank you, pumpkin!

Dinosaur - what’s the first ever special interest you remember having?

Either space, dinosaurs or ducks. I think my ducks special interest was a little later than dinosaurs and space, but in my mind it's one of the most well defined special interests. It was also the first special interest that my mother was like 'yes this is an acceptable thing for a girl to be interested in'. Because...ducks are totally a normal thing for girls to be interested in.

Button - do you collect things? if so, what?

Thanks for the questions!

19. What kinds of things are sensory hell for you?

Things like strong smells, such as lavender; flashing lights/things in general; those sequin things that change color, I can't look nor touch them; also stuff with weird textures like marshmallows, palm heart and mushrooms.

24. Do you have meltdowns?

Unfortunately yes, I have a lot of them. Last month I started taking medication that is supposed to help me keep them under control, so let's hope it works, because my meltdowns tend to be very strong and awful.

42. Tell us something about your special interest.

My mind always goes blank when someone asks me about my special interests lmao Hmm let's see... Something that I find fun is that the mcu spiderman's birthday is one day after mine, though he was born on the same year as my sister. Also I headcannon him as autistic. He constantly misses social cues, misunderstand situations, gets overwhelmed with his senses (which of course is worsened by his enhanced senses), he has specific and intense interests, and he stims!! I've actually noticed that recently I started stimming like him lol Here's a nice gif of him stimming:

(gif credit: here)