I've been feeling a little tired and overstimulated over the last few days and I've been trying to find a way to decompress. It's quietly hilarious to me that simply sitting on the couch with a blanket over my head seems to be quite effective.
Being overstimulated makes me appreciate the things I have to mitigate it. I'm happy with my earplugs, stimming stuff, and even my sunglasses.
There was a time when I didn't have that kind of stuff, or didn't feel like I was allowed to use it. Now it's a great feeling to put on my sensory gear and take on the world. 😁
"Value autistic traits. My son doesn’t lie, he’s never sly or manipulative, and it would not occur to him to put anyone down, unlike his neurotypical peers."
This is a really good article. Read it. Spread it around (RT).
I finally upgraded my #autism level and ordered a weighted blanket. I'm very curious to see what it does for me. I've been feeling quite tense lately, so I hope it can help with some of that.
@onisillos because #Autistic is mostly used by people talking about autistic people, not by autistic people themselves. That used to be a big issue on Twitter. That's why the autistic community started using #ActuallyAutistic to communicate among themselves (doesn't matter if self-diagnosed etc, it was in contrast to people who talked over us). Recently though this has been seen as possibly unintentionally excluding and tags like #AutisticMe and #AllAutistics are sometimes used in a similar manner to not suggest exclusion.
The most important thing (as you mention) is to be welcoming to the newly (self or formally) diagnosed and the enquirers. As long as some people are following each of the above groups and hashtags and can respond to those people, I don't necessarily think the duplication matters that much.
It will probably (again as you said) shake out over time.
Reposting this with hashtags and groups. Sorry if you are seeing it for the third or fourth time:
I have now (reluctantly) migrated my @ratcatcher account to this one.
Unfortunately (probably due to the current technical issues with neurodifferent.me), my followers list hasn't migrated so I need to ask everyone to follow me again. Sorry about that.
So if you followed me before, please follow me again. And if you didn't follow me before, by all means do so.
The term “self-diagnosed” developed wide acceptance and use prior to my realization that I am autistic. I honor and value the history of my communities of autistics by understanding the meaning being communicated by that term. I do not try to change anyone’s use of that term, but I do not use it myself. I share this here in case others have similar ideas or want to discuss.
I strongly believe that no one is entitled to know any diagnosis of another. That information can be shared freely by the person diagnosed but should never be required. This goes for autism, mental health conditions, pregnancy, HIV infection, and even COVID infection.
Diagnoses are tied to medical, psychiatric, and educational institutions that perpetuate racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, classism, eugenics, and more. The existence of well-meaning professionals and the benefits of sharing commonly understood categorizations do not eliminate the danger that can be associated with knowledge if diagnoses. Thus, every individual should have full control over who has access to that knowledge, in order to maintain agency over their own lives.
It is my best guess that I would meet the current diagnostic criteria for ASD. If I were to say that I am self-diagnosed, that would be what I mean. But I do not say that. Now that I understand what autism is, I do not care whether I meet the criteria for ASD. I simply communicate that I am autistic. How others interpret that communication is up to them.
I did give complete details of what has happened in the past on Twitter which included some folks coming up with an alternative tag, #allautistics. This is part of the history on twitter. It's information. It wasn't a suggestion that we should no longer use #actuallyautistic. I use the tag constantly.
I suggested that we need to constantly explain that the tag is inclusive.
EDIT:
If you read through the replies to my post (the one I linked to) you'll see several say that they thought the tag excluded self-diagnosed. It's far more common than people think for people to misunderstand the meaning.
@yourautisticlife@actuallyautistic
Fortunately, hashtags are non-rival. The use of one hashtag imposes no barrier or additional cost on the use of another hashtag. There is no scarcity in hashtag space. And in the end, multiplicity is one of the features of our community I value most highly. #ActuallyAutistic#AllAutistics#AutisticMe
The main thrust of the discussion was about people who had recently realised they were autistic, or thought they might be, wondering if it was OK to use certain hashtags/groups.
As long as there are at least a few of us following each of the hashtags and groups, we will see the posts from newbies and can welcome, clarify and point them at the other hashtags/groups.
Pattern brain:
Why the rush to a new hashtag when #ActuallyAutistic has been in use for ten years and is understood across every platform in use now?
Rude brain:
Why did all the cool kids get up and decide to sit at a new lunch table when the poor weird kid who was raised in a cult sat down with them?
When I 1st came here I assumed #ActuallyAutistic was gatekeeping & didn't interact until I saw the tag explained. Most weeks since I've seen posts assuming the same.
But like many of us I'm fond of the AA tag, plus change is... unappealing.
Then I saw a couple of posts under #AllAutistics & got quite anxious we'd go through the pain of change but end up with another problematic tag.
I’m thinking about how, when I was masking, I was basing everything on sitcoms, and how I related to my family like a sitcom family, like “oh, they give me a hard time, but I know they love me”… and how that whole facade crumbled when I found out that they’d been alerted that I was #ActuallyAutistic#AllAutistics since my childhood, and refused to take it seriously, leaving the burden to me, a bomb waiting to explode my future.
It’s also on my mind with my stepfather’s recent death; how it’s been driven into my head that “family is everything, family is all that matters”, and yet… none of my mom’s sisters have been bothered to come support her. She postponed his memorial to late September, a month after his death, to give her sisters time to make plans to come… and yet, they’re not coming. At all.
It just feels like everything I’ve been taught about “family” was just hollow bullshit to keep my sister and I in a constant state of obligation, always trying to “earn” our place in this family.
It was all just empty words the whole time, and we were the dummies who believed it.
For anyone having issues with the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag, there is also #AllAutistics and @allautistics (the latter being a recently created group that you can follow and post to).
They are intended for anyone who is (or thinks they might be) autistic (formally or self-diagnosed).
I'm in flow when I can focus on the endless beautiful forms and patterns of nature. I love seeing how things connect. I used to observe nature as a job (as a scientist), but I could not survive in academia.
I'm also a mom.
A year or so ago, I found out about neurodivergence. Reading and listening to the accounts of autistic people sharing their experience filled me with an overwhelming feeling of peace and kinship. This lead to a path of self-discovery. I'm also learning about ADHD as my partner and my kid are AuDHD.