canadda-uk

[canadda-uk]

Autism has long been synonymous with "struggle". If you don't struggle, if you're successful or you're just happy with life people are less likely to recognize you as autistic, except for other autistic people.

I swear, we have an autism radar. Autie-radar? Autie-dar?

#actuallyautistic #autism #autistic community

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Alexitthymia

The Autistic Teacher

#alexithymia #neurodivergent

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Shout-out to the autistics who crave hugs. Shout-out to the autistics whose love language is touch.

And shout-out to the autistics who were denied a timely diagnosis because a misinformed professional thought you were "too affectionate" to be autistic.

You aren't any less autistic because of how you show affection. And you aren't nearly as rare as pop culture and outdated research would imply.

#actuallyautistic #autism

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Autism Awareness: Trans Edition

neurodivergent_insights

#actuallyautistic #autism #transgender

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Autism Acceptance Month Fact #16

It's misleading at best to say that the number of autistic people is growing, as the diagnosis is fairly new and thus we don't have enough data to claim this.

For example, when being left-handed stopped being stigmatized, the number of lefties "shot up" because left-handed people no longer had to pretend to be right-handed. There weren't more left-handed people being born, they had always been around.

Similarly, it's extremely possible that the numbers we're seeing have always been the case but as there was no diagnosis before people didn't know they were autistic. As the diagnosis becomes more well-known by doctors it's unsurprising that more people who fit the criteria are discovered.

#actuallyautistic #autism #autism awareness #diagnosis

[canadda-uk]

Happy Autism Acceptance Month. Your tone of voice does not come off as rude. Your speech volume is fine. The way you walk is not weird. Your vocal inflections are not cringe. Your hyperfixations are not creepy. Your opinion matters. Your voice matters. The way you experience life is as valid as every non-autistic person you know. Be unashamed of your disability, be unashamed of your autism.

#actuallyautistic #autism acceptance

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Autism Acceptance Month Fact #11

Teens on the spectrum are six times more likely than their peers to attempt suicide and twice as likely to succeed.

#actuallyautistic #suicide

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Interoception is the least known and least understood sensory system.

Interoception sense controls automatic motor movements and is the awareness and ability to detect and attend to the inner body sensations.

Automatic motor movements is our unconscious movements such as blinking, breathing, flinching, etc.

Inner body sensations are hunger, thirst, tiredness, pain, bladder, bowel, body temperature, illness, arousal, recogniseing emotions, and more.

The insula is located deep in the cerebral cortex and is in charge of recieving and decoding these sensations.

So basically it's how we feel and how we understand ourselves.

Oftentimes autistic individuals have struggles with interoception in that we are either hyper aware, hypo aware, or a mixture of both.

Other things such as hyperfixation, meltdown, shutdown, or burnout can affect a person's interoception.

An oversensitive aware person would feel these sensations more quickly and strongly than others.

Being oversensitive aware can cause problems for a person as the body is interpreting the signals for these things and the person may not be able to focus on other needs or meet these needs.

An oversensitive aware person may be told they are overreacting until it is a more serious issue. This could lead to a meltdown or shutdown.

An undersensitive aware person would not as quickly feel these sensations as others.

Being undersensitive aware can cause problems for a person as the body is not interpreting the signals for these things meaning it's not uncommon for someone to go hours without a drink, food, or using the toilet. This could cause the person to recognise suddenly and urgently a need.

An undersensitive aware person may be told they are overreacting and shamed for not doing these things sooner.

It’s simple! If a neurotypical person is hungry, they eat. When feeling full, they stop eating. When thirsty, they get a drink. Tired, go to sleep. Cold, put on a coat or use a blanket. Hot, remove layers or use a fan. Need to use the toilet, they go.

But for oversensitive aware Autistic individuals they may recognise these cues and have more intense feelings. They may feel hunger as painful, have a low tolerance for pain, feel tired or needing to use the toilet more frequently then others without a medical reason.

But for undersensitive aware autistic individuals may not recognise these cues. They may need to be reminded to eat, to use the bathroom, have a high pain tolerance, or when to get some rest.

So if your autistic individual if becoming dysregulated consider internal issues as a cause of dysregulation.

Ask how long has it been since they ate, had a drink, slept, used the toilet, are they dressed appropriately for the weather, etc.

#actuallyautistic #autism #interoception

[canadda-uk]

sometimes i feel like people forget autism is a disability. and that’s not a bad thing! i’m all for disability acceptance, im proud of my disabilities. but i feel like we forget autism can hurt.

it hurts that i have to put more time and energy into socializing than others.

it hurts when i need to move so bad, usually cause im overwhelmed by either my surroundings or emotions, that i thrash and hurt myself.

it hurts that i cant be in places that are too loud or too bright, which on bad days can be as simple as a small, quiet noise or dim lights.

it hurts that i struggle to tell when im hungry, thirsty, tired, etc. so i can’t properly take care of myself. it doesn’t help my insomnia and i get very nauseas and get UTIs.

i 100% believe in autism acceptance. i don’t want a cure. but i also want us the acknowledge that it can hurt. it doesn’t mean my entire life will hurt, but some parts will. and i want a community where we can see both sides, see the hurt, and celebrate it anyway.

#actuallyautistic #autism acceptance #disability

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Life in an Autism World

#actuallyautistic #sound #sensory issues #noise

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autistic culture is needing explicit directions for even the simplest of tasks and without the directions having zero idea how to get it done because What If I Do It Wrong(tm)

#actuallyautistic #autism #directions

[canadda-uk]

Autistic trauma: School Edition

Hiding in the bathroom

Feel like social outcast

Constant self monitoring

Know you are not liked but not sure why

Bullied

Hyper vigilant

Lonely

Crying at home

Last pick for games

No real friends

Not invited to parties

Littlepuddins.ie

#actuallyautistic #autism #school

[canadda-uk]

Why I Prefer To Text Instead Of Talking

I don't have to think about body language

It allows for information processing time

If I'm confused by language, I can fact check

If I'm feeling overwhelmed, I don't have to reply

I feel less judged for how I communicate

I can organise my thoughts more easily

I feel more in control of what I am trying to say

Littlepuddins.ie

#actualyautistic #texting #communication

[canadda-uk]

Every month is autism month for me!

[ID: A comic titled "April is Autism Acceptance Month!"

The narrator, a light skinned person with brown hair, says "You might see some places "lighting it up blue" or sharing puzzle piece imagery this month, but a lot of autistic people prefer to avoid that due to its association with Autism Speaks." Within the speech bubble is a blue puzzle piece with a red cross next to it. The narrator continues, "Autism Speaks sees autism as a disease that needs to be cured and eradicated, which it isn't. So to avoid that, we generally prefer RED instead!" The words "red instead" are shown on the narrator's shirt.

The narrator continues, "or the golden infinity symbol: (it's gold because au is the symbol for gold in the periodic table." There are illustrations of a gold infinity symbol and the periodic table symbol for gold, made to say "autism", next to the text.

Text continues "Not every autistic person celebrates autism acceptance month which is fine! It's optional :)

At the bottom, the narrator wears a red shirt with the gold infinity symbol on it and says "whether you celebrate or not, I hope you have a lovely month." End ID]

Thank you @teatual for the description!

#autism acceptence month

[canadda-uk]

Hot take...

Many of the PDA awareness posts I see on social media tend to aggressively stereotype autistic people.

"Regular autistics don't play imaginatively, but PDA autistics do!"

"Regular autistics are withdrawn and aloof, but PDA autistics are very sociable!"

"Behaviorist methods work for regular autistics, but not for PDA!" (News flash, behaviorism hurts ALL autistics.)

Demand avoidance is a real phenomenon, one we should name and acknowledge... but please, can't we talk about it without dragging out decades-old, regressive stereotypes? Without implying that demand-avoidant autistics are a whole different (more social, more creative) type of autistic?

We probably shouldn't go back to subtyping autistic people. There's a reason we don't use Asperger's anymore, and sometimes the conversation around PDA feels like we're doing exactly that with a different name and a different set of traits.

#actuallyautistic #autism #pda

[canadda-uk]

"All autistics have low empathy" - This statement is wrong.

"Autistics having low empathy is a MYTH, we actually have HIGH empathy!" - This statement is ALSO wrong.

Autistics can have low empathy, they can have high empathy, they can have learned empathy. The myth would be that all autistics only experience one end of the empathy spectrum.

In spreading around misinformation that autistics actually have high empathy, you are disregarding the autistics who do have low empathy. And vice versa.

#actuallyautistic #autism #empathy

[canadda-uk]

CANadda would like to wish you all a Happy Easter!

#easter