Good lord, why is it SO hard to find resources, support, (good) advice etc for autistic adults trying to survive out in the real world by ourselves.
Sure it'll be hard for a kid and their parents, but at the same time WE are the ones expected to be responsible for ourselves, and don't have our parents to shelter and take care of most things for us, so why does there seem to be not one SHRED of assistance to us? It's extremely hard to navigate this stuff blindly, I can often have my whole morning/day derailed by a slamming door or an oscenely loud motorbike going by just once or twice, but bc I usually have to mask (in my opinion quite poorly) a lot around other people, they assume I "don't struggle as much"
For instance I'm simply trying to search "how to cope with sensory overload and autistic burnout in shared housing" - and Google can't even answer me in any way shape or form - instead it's the usual "kids with autism bla bla bla" "Golden Care ABA" etc. on that note, why is any search for help for autistic struggles met with a full first page of resutls from ABA therapy URLs? Yuck, piss off with that SEO bullshit, we out here STRUGGLING while you are busy abusing autistic children and withholding support
But god forbid you do manage to find an organisation offering resources, support, advice (that's not ABA or for kids or their allistic parents); you need an official diagnosis to access those things - which is already mystical and elusive to access as it is, but also costs $1200+ NZD, and is not at all funded/subsidised for adults? And with autistics being statistically more often un/under-employed, it's out of reach.
But Google and even DDG, can't even do their one job of returning even vaguely relevant results, instead isolating you even further in your struggles.
It's super frustrating
P.s. I can't seem to afford noise-cancelling headphones and hate the feeling of having things in my ears if I can help it (and earplugs scare me lol bc mine say be careful bc if you take them out wrong you could burst your eardrums?? Yikes!) - plus, I'm told I don't have a very big head, yet nearly every headband, headphones, earmuffs, etc that I've bought/worn, have felt tight/constricting and given me a headache after up to 1hr+ of usage - so a lot of waste of money having to hunt for the perfect/suitable product that doesn't just make things worse. I know maybe I'm ehining on and on but it's a real struggle and I'm sick of everyone being like "just use noise cancelling headphones" - like, I don't earn American dollar - or any dollar, for that matter, so I can't just magically buy something that's realistically gonna cost no less than $200 NZD
It's just a struggle and no allistic wants to listen to the specifics let alone help or even support your quest to solve them, yet will still have the audacity to turn around and ask you why you got so little done today (the answer is bc all these compounding issues means you had no way to block out the sounds that tormented and thus emotionally dysregulated you for a few hours at least, and then knew know other than to seek respite via means of a nap to reset)
Dw ima have that nap pretty soon actually and stop making a scene lol - just pray that no-one slams any doors or stomps too loud from here on out 🙏🤞🧚♀️🧞♀️
