@ashleyspencer@autistics.life
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ashleyspencer

@ashleyspencer@autistics.life

My name is Ashley Lauren Spencer. I'm an autistic e-commerce entrepreneur, writer, and owner of The Autistic Innovator and Autistic Bookshop, and the https://autistics.life mastodon instance.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

ashleyspencer, to ADHD
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

I had a Rockstar energy drink, coffee, and a small Red Bull can, and it made me so sleepy I passed out for 14 minutes and woke up feeling like I slept an hour.

Energy drinks are supposed to make me functional, not take a nap after 240mg energy drink caffeine + whatever 4oz coffee is.

Damn ADHD lol.

Energy drinks do this to anyone else?

#ADHD #AuDHD
@adhd

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

Nikita doesn’t allow me to eat alone.

She came up to me while I was eating my dinner and starts asking me to pet her (she’s an affection eater).

Me: why do I always got to pet you while I eat, why can’t you pet me while I eat?

Nikita: pets me by rubbing her head all over my leg and arm

Sweet kitty. :RedHearts:

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@Cassandra She has throughout the years, but the second time in the last week, yes.

When she eats Dinah’s food I’ll tell her “Nikita stop eating Dinah’s food” and she stops like fine whatever. I’ll tell her “There’s food in your bowl go eat your own food.” So she goes and eats her own food. Or I will tell her “It’s not time for you to eat yet. Too early.” She comes over and stares at me and goes meewwwwww.

She understands basic English when it’s about cat things.

ashleyspencer,
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@Cassandra Something like that. :)

ashleyspencer, to random
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Today is the AuDHD “I’m too tired to do anything so I’m just going to eat cereal and play a game all day because I can’t function enough to do anything else.”

And the “I really need to shower but that requires too much effort.”

ashleyspencer,
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@neversosimple it most definitely is!

ashleyspencer, to random
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I asked my employee if she’d like to create some t-shirt merch designs for Autistic Bookshop. She’s very excited to design them!

I’ll pay her individually for each design she makes as a bonus pay on her paycheck.

100% of merch sales go directly towards supporting her paycheck, so in a way the money goes into her pocket when she creates the designs.

The more money the store makes, the more money she makes.

As long as I can get the store to break even, I’m good with that.

ashleyspencer, to random
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I fell asleep last night in a kitty cuddle pile and woke up 9 hours later still in a kitty cuddle pile. :RedHearts:

ashleyspencer, to random
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I got an alert that my YouTube channel reached 50 subscribers. All my views are going to one video. The “5 Signs I Didn’t Know Were Demiromantic” video.

Which is ironic considering I realized I’m not demiromantic, I’m 100% aromantic.

ashleyspencer,
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Despite being full of energy today. Still not alert enough to perform happy friendly facial expressions.

Sometimes I’m okay once I get to talking and start rambling to a camera.

I’m just so used to neurotypicals judging me for having no facial expressions, and having to smile at them 24/7. My dad said it’s one of the signs that made him think I’m autistic.

Maybe I should just try recording a video being myself and see how it looks on camera.

ashleyspencer, to ADHD
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

Lately the ADHD has taken over.

I’ve been unable to work, can’t clean, not getting anything done. Always too burned out to function.

But today I got the hyperfocus part of ADHD.

Mostly it’s like, I’m incapable of functioning.

I’ve gone weeks unable to function. I can drink 2 energy drinks and still barely function.

Today I woke up full of energy and in hyperfocus hyper speed work mode, so I just rolled with it. Tomorrow I could be nonfunctional again. It’s so unpredictable 🙃

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@pathfinder They normally do but occasionally I’ll get an intense drive to work and have the energy to do it. At first I thought it was hypomania, but I’m not feeling impulses to be irrational or spend a bunch of money. My mood is very level, I’m just very focused. And also tired after getting so much done. I have a hard 5pm cut off time where I do not work after that no exceptions.

ashleyspencer, to actuallyautistic
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Any autistic artists who are also book lovers want to create some t-shirt designs for me?

Book loving and writing themes.

It’s for Autistic Bookshop.

30% from the authors book sales alone is nowhere near enough to break even (need 500 books sold a month), so added merch.

Example below.


@actuallyautistic

All I need is my cat and a good book t-shirt in a pink color
I am always writing a story in my head t-shirt in a navy color

ashleyspencer, to random
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

I did a lot of thinking and Autistic Bookshop needs to diversify it's income sources.

30% profit at an average of $1.97 on book sales means the store will never pay for itself.

So I created a merch collection to help.

I had some reading and writing themed designs already, so will add more later.

Google should eventually bring people to this once the store has built up some authority, which is mainly how a merch collection will help.

https://autisticbookshop.com/collections/merch

ashleyspencer,
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@dyani Those I have to order, store in my apartment, ship myself. It will have to wait until I get the shipping label printer for my chew necklaces. They're really cheap to buy in bulk.

ashleyspencer,
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@dyani the print on demand ones are more expensive. They’re this hard plastic and can only ship in the US.

ashleyspencer,
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@Cassandra The printer has fitted t-shirts for men and women that aren’t unisex. They have a lot of different types of clothing that can be made tag-less.

18+ ashleyspencer, to random
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I did a Memoji on my iPhone to see what my natural face expression is.

Yep, definitely blank stare. 😂

Marked as sensitive for eye contact.

ashleyspencer,
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@Mepurfield lmao I guess that’s why people think my face is off putting unless I’m smiling

ashleyspencer,
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@Mepurfield 😂 the autistic curse, RBF and blank stares lol

ashleyspencer,
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@Mepurfield I heard guys tell me all the time, “I can’t read you.” It’s like well good F off lol.

ashleyspencer,
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@ToddPM 😄

ashleyspencer, to random
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I think I figured out why it’s so hard for me to keep up with TikTok and YouTube.

When I was a kid I had a monotone voice and expressionless face. I trained myself to do vocal fluctuations that make me sound bubbly and friendly.

I also learned to smile a lot because it made me socially acceptable.

Covid masks allowed me to sound bubbly while straight faced.

When on video, I’m doing the bubbly voice I trained myself to do, and consciously making happy facial expressions. It’s very draining.

ashleyspencer,
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I’m thinking maybe I should just stick to writing articles or something instead of video. I think I’m always going to be too burned out to keep up with daily/weekly videos. Articles I can write whenever I have the energy randomly.

ashleyspencer,
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@ToddPM People find my expressionless face and expressionless voice very off putting.

It’s human nature to like smiling, happy, friendly people. People ignore monotone people and judge them very harshly.

I got video shopped when I was working an apartment leasing job, and almost got fired when they saw my expressionless face on camera. I had to really learn how to make myself the opposite of monotone to keep my job. Leased every apt we had very quickly after being acceptable

ashleyspencer, (edited ) to random
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I made my first infographic. :)

Since I’m going through a bad autistic burnout myself, seems like a good topic to make a graphic about. Might be relatable for someone.

:RainbowInfinity:

ashleyspencer,
@ashleyspencer@autistics.life avatar

@Fishy I’m happy to help fellow autistics learn more about themselves. There is greater peace the more we understand ourselves. :RedHearts:

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