#this was on like a post about how neurodivergent doesnt just mean adhd and autism but also a plethora of other | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

c-kiddo · 1 year

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tmn are all nd: a bunch o headcanons

(a sequel to these trans headcanons lol)

(also, warning before that this post is about neurodivergency and mental illness, so various mental illnesses will be mentioned. i dont want to single any out here, but you should probably skip this if thats something thats upsetting 2 you)

(also also, this is a infodump and not super in-depth or articulate, so sorry if i worded things wrong because i don’t mean to lol im just bad at reading things on screens so it might get jumbled. . )

beau: she’s got adhd and will hyperfocus and work All night on her theories and notes. perhaps she has audhd, has low-ish empathy and doesnt know how to regulate volume or realise her tone is usually annoyed sounding ksjnjkfs :''') also she has depression n that combined with adhd made her especially impulsive and self destructive, but she’s working on it, getting better :’) also had problems with substance abuse but the cobalt soul (dairon specifically) helped her get out of that. has cptsd because of her upbringing and abuse from her dad

fjord: he’s got adhd too, babey!!!! also he’s got tourettes and his most common tics are: clearing his throat, a small head tilt, raising his eyebrows and grinding his teeth. he's a bit (a lot) impulsive and him and beau cant be trusted alone together they will get distracted and into trouble

yasha: she's autistic!! mostly effected by th social aspect of it.. like, talking to people is hard and she doesn’t get jokes or sayings and its all just tiring. also has p bad social anxiety. also memory loss from trauma as per canon.. struggles with when she does start to remember things but luckily has a support system so she doesnt just run off on her own like before :') she also tends to disappear off like that due to sensory overload and just being overwhelmed in general bc of autism

caleb: i mean, he’s autistic n its basically canon. he experiences psychosis and has ptsd n depression/anxiety that has come from his trauma. he already had OCD before trauma and his obsessions revolve around hurting others A Lot, especially with fire after his trauma.. he also has dermatillomania due to ocd and anxiety. also has some sort of disordered eating in a self-punishment way.. .

veth: she has autistic-girlie-who-was-diagnosed-as-an-adult swag .. . and then the substance addiction that often comes with that i guess :''') .. also think she has body dysmorphia of course, especially during her being Nott, and some lingering things after too.. she just struggles to perceive her body for a while.. yeza rly helps ground her back to herself tho so thats nice :' ) . also she ptsd from her own murder + drowning , as per canon

molly: has npd and also he has a traumatic brain injury caused by all the things going on in his brain when his souls leave and he dies and things.. so struggles sometimes to find the right words and with memory and with mood regulation. also experiences psychosis and just, in general, strange things going on in his brain.. . also he likes sounds and textures all the time but will sacrifice th sounds for hanging out with yasha because its 110% worth it to sit with her instead ;w; they sign to eachother sometimes and have a made up sort of language

jester: she's got adhd and it means she loves having 10 conversations at once and spinning around and telling you all about her fave romance novel at lightning speed. she stims like all the time with little objects and ribbons and bells. also accidentaly yells a lot sknfsk and same as molly, likes noise n things all the time, gets kinda anxious or sad without it.. ;-; oh jester,, filling up space with noise so she doesnt have to be in the quiet..im not sure if i have any more thoughts about her rn :o

caduceus: he’s autistic (so overwhelmed by noises and too much all the time, also his empathy is fluctuating and he's not sure how to perceive it.. its confusing, he can be very empathetic and then, sometimes he's just in focus-mode and totally doesnt get at all what the vibes th other person is putting out is).. he’s got (inattentive) adhd. also depersonalisation derealisation disorder. and experiences psychosis since it was triggered by being alone in the grove so long + consuming hallucinogens a lot. he tends to just deal with it and not to tell tmn though, even though most of the time there's some little whispery noise or a fuzzy shape around, he's not scared mostly, only when he's triggered by something... also bad anxiety sometimes that he doesnt know how to deal with so he usually casts calm emotions on himself to help, or the herbs he chews (or smokes) for his joint pain help it. and also, his eating is Disorded but doesn’t quite realise (denial, ignoring it perhaps) the eating habits he has aren’t healthy,... he's just. kinda messed up still from all that time alone.. he had his own odd sometimes nonsensical reasons behind ways he treated his body and some of them stuck. also omg this section is a mile long im sorry, but also he has dyslexia and dyspraxia and dyscalculia . .. numbers and letters and walking without bumping into stuff is tricky. also thats why his fine motor skills for writing /drawing aren't so good like in canon :-3

ok,. thee end. good night now u_u zz

#ALSO one more that i didnt include bc it was too long anyway and not my headcanon but i think abt it sometimes: cad quiet type bpd.#inchresting. . .. .. i. think perhaps. yes #long post #<- as an apology #kiddo say #kiddo nd headcanons #i think thats my tag for it..#IM SORRY THIS IS SUCH A AUTISM POST. . . . .GOOD LORD #OK goodnight .

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lilysaus · 10 months

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okay. this fucking picture made me so mad i went on a 15 minute rant to my sister while she was trying to read her book.

so ive been looking at a lot of pictures of posts on pinterest because thats just where i spend most of my time. most of these posts are on the topic of adhd. ive never been properly diagnosed, but reading through these posts has made me feel so welcomed and understood (more than my parents have made me feel, pretending that this is "all just a phase that ill get over soon because pretending to have adhd is just the thing right now") that i realized ON MY OWN that "hey maybe i do have adhd." well.

i found this post while scrolling through pinterest, and it really sparked my anger.

i have a friend who was diagnosed with add before it was considered an "outdated" term and scrapped because apparently ALL FUCKING FORMS OF NEURODIVERGENCY THAT ARENT AUTISM ARE JUST "ADHD".

i read this post and it was what sparked my anger and my 15 minute rant to my sister. people who get degrees in this stuff, or counselors at schools, never really know what youre going through. all they know is that youre having some problems and they need to be solved.

which brings me back to this picture. if you look up "is add still a thing" on google, this is the first picture to pop up. and just seeing the visual aids they put with it makes me furious enough to throw something or someone out a fifth story window. the little girl is fucking SMILING while thinking about the most common shit people think us neurodivergent folks think when distracted. first off, no. false. we dont just think of video games and candy. we think of the randomest shit possible, like how long can i sit here without blinking or what kind of funny shit can i draw on this one sheet of paper.

and ALSO.

you cant just categorize adhd as TWO SEPARATE THINGS and call it good. we dont fit under two umbrellas. theres too many of us. we each have our own figurative umbrellas that only we ourselves can fit under, no one else. thats the problem with neurotypicals. they fit the typical stereotype for humans: we try to understand everything by putting it in a box. those lists of "symptoms"? i match every single one. on both sides. so ha. take that SCIENTISTS. what am i? some kind of freak of nature because i dont fit under just ONE of your precious categories?

i also looked up what "inattentive" means and it made me angrier. according to oxford languages, "inattentive" means "not paying attention to something", which doesnt seem too bad, right? it fits some people perfectly with their symptoms, right? but its not the definition that bugs me. its the example sentence thats used. "a particularly dull and inattentive student". basically saying that if you dont pay attention well to something, youre dull and boring.

im sorry, what? sometimes i have trouble paying attention, sure, but you ask any of my friends and they can agree i am NOT boring in any way, shape, or form. non of them would describe me as "dull". inattentive? sure, but not dull. so to call it "inattentive" adhd, instead of just add, is stupid! my friend with ADD (not fucking adhd, stupid scientists) is one of the funniest, most entertaining people ive ever met. shes an incredible artist, super smart, and knows how to make anyone laugh. does that sound dull to you? does she have problems focusing sometimes? yes. does she struggle with doing something sometimes? yes. but dont the rest of us?

my point is, when i see things like this, it pisses me off. like, unless all of the scientists who agreed "add" is an outdated term have it themselves, i refuse to believe its outdated and i will continue to say that my friend has it. she was literally diagnosed by the doctor telling her "you have attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder without the hyperactivity." THATS JUST FUCKING ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER YOU DUMBASS!!!

anyway, i hope im not the only one who feels this way. i just felt it necessary to get this out there. maybe someday, people wont be so dumb and single minded. in my opinion, neurodivergent people are superior in intellect and creativity, but i guess until someone like that takes over the world and dropkicks neurotypicals into the stratosphere, we'll never know.

#adhd stuff #undiagnosed adhd #living with adhd #neurodivergence #neurodivergent #add #its called add not adhd #you dumbasses #scientists are stupid sometimes #make that all the time

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unhingedkinfessions · 3 months

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so like. we're in this discord server and its p sick lol theres not many issues with it tbh but there is smth thats been botherin me and ive gotta get it out somewhere so that i dont feel like an asshole for sayin it in the server itself its very 'kin focused, a lot of ppl in the server are otherkin. so we have a channel for ppl to talk about 'kin stuff. only issue is that its open to anyone who joins the server. which wouldnt be an issue if we didnt have the occasional person join whos a 'normie' and then they automatically have access to the kin channel. we're also all very anti-kff and are very open abt how those ppl arent welcome in our space and are fine with explainin the dif if needed this is context needed for what imma talk abt lol so theres this guy in the server, we'll call him G, and he's just some dude who is in the server and exists in our space. which is totes fine. but. G has a bad bad habit of thinking that being kin = relating to a character/having a comfort character. and we (several members of the server + the owner) have explained that he is wrong several times. he asks what 'kinning' is and we explain. we explain at least once a week atp but for some reason, it just isnt clickin for the guy. that or he is blatantly ignorin us anytime we explain it. but the thing is. he blames not understandin on his autism/adhd. which is genuinely the most bullshit thing ive ever heard bc like. most of us HAVE autism/adhd and we're like... come on dude.... i understand not gettin social norms and shit but at this point, its gettin absurd. it doesnt help that he also blatantly ignores ppl's boundaries and continues to post things that make ppl uncomfortable and then once again, blaming his neurodivergence for his actions. which again. most bullshit thing ive ever heard. i genuinely dont know why this fucker is still in the server atp. he doesnt respect any of us. he's even gone as far as to try and use tupperbox (which we have for system + kin use) for his 'fandoms' as he says. and then ignoring when i told him that he's NOT ALLOWED to do this. genuinely i cannot fucking stand this guy and i want him out of the server because fuck him. if you cant respect our space or us you can get the fuck out. stop acting like you're kin when you say you dont even know what being kin means. stop ignoring us when we try to explain it to you. stop acting like you're absolved from any repercussions just bc you're autistic and downt undewstand uwu fuckin. shut the hell up dude i hate your bitchass. petition for the server owner to ban his ass the next time he says some stupid bullshit

also ik someone from said server follows this blog so hiiii if u see this <333 ik u agree with me bc weve talked abt it before <3333 love you dude /p ur so cool

girl what the fuck

ruling:

#kin server stories #Anonymous #mod bender

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kanside · 1 year

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something sorta lame about having neurodivergence or spicy cooties or whatever the fuck the internet calls Autism and ADHD is that i will always weird people out. i give people uncanny valley because if im strange i must be unhuman. its frustrating! i am very much human, but i suffer from disorder and disability and i am unchangingly weird.

i will want to pour my life story early on in the day but not in the afternoon. i may not have time for you, and prefer indoor activities and staying home, but please still invite me to leave the house as much as possible because i deserve to have the option and i will often take it. i may act in a pattern which will cause your pattern-seeking brain to define my personality, but my patterns will always be determined by complex problems and the personality you see is a miscommunication. for example, i may say i want to talk to you more often, but seemingly not make effort to do so. you may think its rude, and that's fair to think that, but the motivation is not to be rude or hurt you. my days are defined by a pattern of different obstacles and pains to overcome, and i post about them here to give insight into why i act the way i do. these obstacles drain me, so unfortunately by the end of the day when my friends just woke up, all i want to do is rest my mind and do something like watch mha, south park, or play sims 4 - really whatever im into atm.

this doesnt mean i dont make mistakes or misbehave, im not making excuses. i admittedly have emotional problems and for as long as i can remember i have been evolving and working to change them. this means be critical. dont be abusive or criticize things that are utterly out of my control, but truly criticize every action i take. i have a behavior disorder as well as ADHD and anxiety, the lines often become blurred and i cant tell right from wrong in the moment. if you feel frustrated with my behavior or see habits you disagree with, and you either want me to apologize, explain why i acted that way, and/or change my behavior, you should clearly express how you feel and what i did that was wrong. correct my behavior in the moment and dont be afraid to be critical, i can take it. my feelings may become hurt and i may be confused, but in that moment it is not your job to comfort me, i only expect information and what i can do to better the situation. truth is that in person i lose my temper quicker, and its very hard to have this conversation if we're not close, so i definitely recommend doing this over text/message. its fine to do it in person if there is a safe space, but i only really have successful conversations like that with someone im extremely close in (ie. my parents!) when online i can hold more emotional strain and effective communication is easier to pull off.

i know that sounds like a lot of work, but the truth is that relationships (yes, especially friendships) require an extreme amount of dedication and effort. again i should not be babied or excused, however it isnt fair to assume we're friends if you ghost me or launch anger at me all at once. the most effective way to conmunicate with me, with the intention of repairing a relationship, is to directly and clearly communicate with me your feelings and expectations, and work to come to a solution.

i will tell myself that this is because i struggle with communication, because im autistic and cant read your mind, but the truth is that everyone deserves this treatment. it is not an attack to privately hold a friend accountable for mistakes, misbehavior, bad habits, or hurtful words. as long as the goal is to fix a problem, mend feelings, and make yourself feel safe and worthy in a relationship.

if you dont value these aspects of communication, i dont want to be your friend. this post started out as a little ramble about how autism can affect first impressions, and now its devolved into a vent about how i expect friends to engage conflict. i know i got off track, but i have a point.

my point is, every sort of relationship (friendship, love, allyship, business partners, whatever) absolutely REQUIRES direct, clear communication.

ive decided that i will not put up with people that ghost me, that add dramatics to genuine conflict, that jump to conclusions without asking, people that engage in conflict in unhealthy ways. my expectation is that if you have the slightest anxiety or frustration, you reach out calmly and clearly, you express how you feel and what you expect, and we have a conversation about why it happened and how we can find a solution.

it sounds like a lot, but its geniunely not hard. this is how relationships are held over time, and people refusing to do this are why relationships online and in person, especially with neurodivergent people (or just people who prefer direct communciation), do not last long.

uhh sorry for all the negative tone, rant over!

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j-exclamationmark-l · 2 years

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Hi, i found your post about the phrase-triggered PTSD through the Kiryu autism tag (i recently found out i have autism and thats thanks to finishing the yakuza series and realising people HC kiryu as autistic which is how i went onto be diagnosed, although i dont see it as a diagnosis i see autism in terms of neurodivergency but this is a tangent) I don't presume to fully understand your struggles, but I just want to say you're not alone and you don't deserve this. I know I'm just a stranger on the internet, but familial trauma is something I struggle with as well, where i've had my fair share of being emotionally abused for being weird and different (i also have adhd, that was diagnosed last year, i take medication and stuff its neat). You deserve much better, and what she is doing to you is akin to abuse, she is purposely putting you in harm's way and you should absolutely report her, like the others in the comments of your post have probably said.

I do not want to step out of line but this next bit comes from a place of personal experience and from what i understood from your message: she is intentionally inflicting pain on you because she is engaging in power play. she is deeply insecure and muddled and confused by her own emotional problems (also probably because of autism given that her son has asd/aspergers and that's highly genetic) and she's formed some highly maladaptive behaviours because of this. however, this neither justifies her actions, nor am i asking you to forgive her. instead, you should not avoid her.

i know this sounds counter intuitive, and again this is just from my experience, and i dont claim to think it'll work for everyone. but avoidance would be playing into her power play, and from what i can understand you dont want to engage in it, you just want to exist and be at peace. in fact, you shouldnt avoid anyone who tries to hurt you, they do not have your best interests at heart. power play is never beneficial and i have never seen it be used to help people or to propagate kindness. (ive heard BDSM is a healthy outlet for power play but that requires a lot of trust and people outside that context generally dont give you a safeword).

I cant offer a simple alternative to avoidance, but i can say that if either she doesnt matter to you or power play doesnt matter to you, then it'll be a lot easier to discount her words. you'll find that when she uses triggering phrases, it has less of an impact coming from her, just because you have the knowledge that she is not someone who wants the best for you, nor is she someone who loves you.

and i know this is even harder, but never stop being compassionate and understanding, from what i can tell you're an incredibly empathetic and understanding person. do not change that about yourself, and im confident that as long as you are sure of who you are, you'll get through anything. i think i'll end my unsolicited ramble there, and i hope to have been some kind of help. if you ever need to, please feel free to dm me. if you feel like this advice doesnt apply to you, you can discount it. either way im rooting for you and im confident you can get through this.

Hello and thank you so much for your words of support. It really means a lot!

As for the terrible coworker, she actually got fired not long after I made those posts because, surprise, she wasn't just awful to me, she was awful to everyone. I have the satisfaction of knowing I outlived her at the company ^^

And thank you once more ^^

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dirk-has-rabies · 3 years

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Gender variance and it's link with neurodivergency

Okay so this is it going to be another long one

All quotes will be sourced with a link to the scientific journal I took it from

Okay Tumblr, let's talk gender (I know, your favorite topic) my preface on why this topic matters to me is: I'm autistic ( diagnosed moderate to severe autism) I'm nonbinary trans ( in a way that most non-autistic people don't understand and actually look down on) and I went to college for gender study ( Mostly for intersex studies but a lot of my research was around non-binary and trans identities) I will be using the term autism as pants when I have experience with however when ADHD is part of the study I will use ND which stands for neurodivergent and yes this is going to be about xenogenders and neopronouns.

autism can affect gender the same way autism can affect literally every part of an identity. a big thing about having autism is the fact that it completely can change how you view personhood and time and object permanence and gender and literally all types of socially constructed ideas. let me also say hear that just because Society creates and enforces an idea does it mean that it doesn't exist to all people it just me that there is no nature law saying that it's real and the “rules” for these ideas can change and delete and create as time and Society evolves and changes. gender is one of those constructs.

Now I'll take it by you reading this you know what transgender people are (if you don't understand what a trans person is send me an ask and I'll type you up a pretty little essay lmao, or Google it but that's a scary thought sense literally any Source or website can come up on Google including biased websites so be careful I guess LOL) anyway to be super basic trans people are anyone who doesn't identify as the gender they were assigned at Birth (yes that includes non-binary people I could do a whole nother essay about that shit how y'all keep spreading trying to separate non-binary people from the trans umbrella) some people don't like to use the label and that is totally fine by the way.

now autistic people to view the world in a way differently than allistic (neurotypical) ppl do. we don't take everything people teach us at 100% fact and we tend to question everything and demand proof and evidence for things before we can set it as a fact in our brains. This leads to why a lot of autistic people are atheist (although a lot of religions and this is not bashing on religious people at all I am actually a Jewish convert) this questioning leads to a lot of social constructs being ignored or not understood At All by a lot of autistic people and personally I think that's a good thing. allistics take everything their parents and teachers and schools teach them as fact until someone else says something and then they pick which ones to believe. autistic people study and research and learn about a topic before forming an opinion and while this may lead to them studying and believing very biased material and spitting it out as fact it can also lead them to try and Discover it is real by themselves.

because of this autistic people are more question their gender or not fall in a binary way at all as the concept of gender makes no sense to a lot of us. “ if gender is a construct then autistic people who are less aware of social norms are less likely to develop a typical gender identity”

no really look: “ children and teens with autism spectrum disorder ASD or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder ADHD are much more likely to express a wish to be the opposite sex compared with their typical developing peers” That was posted in 2014. we have been saying this stuff forever but no one wants to listen. the thing is gender variance (being not cisgender or at least questioning it) has always been closely hand-in-hand with autistic and ADHD people I'm even the doctor who did that study understood right away that it all made sense the whole time: “ Dr. Strang said they were initially surprised to find an overrepresentation of gender variance among children with ADHD. However, they later realized that prior studies have shown increased levels of disruptive behavior and other behavioral problems among young people with gender variance” SEE YOURE NOT WEIRD YOURE JUST YOU AND YOURE NOT ALONE IN THIS!!

5% autistic people who did the study were trans or questioning. it was also equal between the Sexes fun fact. that may not seem like a lot till you realize that the national average is only .7% that's literally over 700% higher than the national average. That's so many! and that's just in America.

in Holland there was a study in 2010 “ nearly 8% of the more than 200 Children and adolescents referred to a clinic for gender dysphoria also came up positive on a assessment for ASD” they weren't even testing for ADHD so the numbers could be even higher!

now I want to talk about a certain section of the trans umbrella that a lot of autistic people fall under called the non-binary umbrella. non-binary means anything that isn't just male or just female. it is not one third gender and non-binary doesn't mean that you don't have a gender. just clearing that up since cis people keep spreading that. non-binary is an umbrella term for any of the infinite genders you could use or create. now this is where I'm going to lose a bunch of you and that's okay because you don't have to understand our brains or emotions To respect us as real people. not many allistics can understand how we see and think and relate to things and that's okay you don't have to understand everything but just reading about this could be so much closer to respecting us for Who We Are from you've ever been and that's better than being against us just for existing.

now you might have heard of my Mutual Lars who was harassed by transmeds for using the term Autigender (I was going to link them but if it gets traction I don't want them to get any hate) since a lot of people roll their eyes at that and treated them disgustingly for using a term that 100% applied correctly. Autigender is described as " a neurogender which can only be understood in the context of being autistic or when one's autism greatly affects one's gender or how one experiences gender. Autigender is not autism as a gender, but rather is a gender that is so heavily influenced by autism that one's autism and one's experience of gender cannot be unlinked.” Now tell me that doesn't sound a lot like this entire essay I've been working on with full sources…..

xenogenders and neopronouns are a big argument point on whether or not people “believe” in non binary genders but a big part of those genders is that they originated from ND communities and are ways that we can try to describe what gender means us in a way that cis or even allistic trans people just can't comprehend or ever understand. Same with MOGAI genders or sexualities. A lot of these are created as a way to somehow describe an indescribable relationship with gender that is so personal you really cant explain it to anyone who isnt literally the same as you.

Even in studies done with trans autistic people a large amount of them dont even fall on a yes or no of having a gender at all and fall in some weird inbetween where you KINDA have a gender but its not a gender in the sense that others say it is but its also too much of a gender so say youre agender. And this is the kind of stuff that confuses allistic trans people and makes them think nonbinary genders are making stuff up for attention, which isnt true at all we just cant explain what it feels like to BE a trans autistic person to anyone who doesnt ALREADY know how it feels.

In this study out of the ppl questioned almost HALF of the autistic trans individuals had a “Sense of identity revolving around interests” meaning their gender and identity was more based off what they liked rather than boy or girl. That makes ppl with stuff like vampgender or pupgender make a lot more sense now doesnt it? We see that even in the study: “My sense of identity is fluid, just as my sense of gender is fluid […] The only constant identity that runs through my life as a thread is ‘dancer.’ This is more important to me than gender, name or any other identifying features… even more important than mother. I wouldn't admit that in the NT world as when I have, I have been corrected (after all Mother is supposed to be my primary identification, right?!) but I feel that I can admit that here. (Taylor)” and an agreement from another saying “Mine is Artist. Thank you, Taylor. (Jessie)” now dont you think if they grew up with terms like artistgender or dancergender they would just YOINK those up right away????

In fact “An absence of a sense of gender or being unsure of how their gender should “feel” was another common report” because as ive said before in this post AUTISTIC PEOPLE DONT SEE GENDER THE WAY ALLISTIC PEOPLE SEE IT. therefore we wont use the same terms or have the same identities nor could we explain it to anyone who doesnt already understand or question the same way! Participants even offered up quotes such as “As a child and even now, I don't ‘feel’ like a gender, I feel like myself and for the most part I am constantly trying to figure out what that means for me (Betty)” and also “I don't feel like a particular gender I'm not even sure what a gender should feel like (Helen)”

Now i know this isnt going to change everyones minds on this stuff but i can only hope that it at least helped people feel like theyre not broken and not alone in their feelings about this. You dont have to follow allistic rules. You dont have to stop searching inside for who you really wanna be. And you dont have to pick or choose terms forever because just as you grow and evolve so may your terms. Its okay to not know what or who you are and its okay to identify as nonhuman things or as your interests because what you love and what you do is a big part of who you are and shapes you everyday. Its not a bad thing! Just please everyone, treat ppl with respect and if you dont understand something that doesnt make it bad or wrong it just means its not for you. And thats okay.

#autism #actuallyautistic #trans #nonbinary #xenogenders #neopronouns #lgbtq #adhd #nuerodivergent #gender identity

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androidemotions · 4 years

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OK NEURODIVERGENT GAANG TIME BC I WANNA

these hcs are kinda halfway set in a modern au bc thats my context for this ! (gonna split it up so its not as long bc i drafted the original and it was LONG) water tribe siblings first !!!

Sokka

adhd/autism king 😌

[ID: a screenshot of Sokka standing on a raised stone platform with a map of the Fire nation hanging behind him. He’s holding his arms stiffly by his side with a wide-eyed look on his face, brows raised as he has his mouth open, saying something. End ID.]

- schedules to survive, he likes to know what hes getting into and if you try to change plans on him without warning he’ll be very resistant

- smart kid who doesnt study, oh he tries, oh boy does he try, he ends up reading the same sentence over and over until he gets distracted by drawing something, working on the blueprint for his latest invention, or with researching something completely unrelated to what he’s mean to be studying. then he tosses and turns all night because he’s stressed by not having studied, but when he actually takes the test he makes a 105, despite there not even being a bonus question, he just answered the essay question so well the teacher gave him an extra 5 points

- special interests?? we got em!!! classic weaponry (think swords, boomerangs, but also, like canons and catapults and shit) engineering/physics, art/drawing, strategy games. he tends to hyperfocus within his special interests, so like for a week he was hellbent on building his own full sized trebuchet, much to the dismay of Gran Gran who just wanted to grow her tomatoes without them being crushed by said full size trebuchet

- (also he plays all types of games probably, but he def plays those ones where you take over the world, like the ones online and azula also plays them too and they end up being rivals, while not actually knowing who the other is outside of their usernames)

- he also talks a lot in his classes/is like the ‘class clown’ and ppl think this is him not focusing but engaging this way actually helps him focus way more than sitting silently, a lot of teachers dont understand it but the ones who do are actually paying attention and realize that he’s generally talking/joking about their current topic

- some observations (this shit is all canon babey!!!) - sokka is great at being a leader and communicating in groups he’s in but he really really struggles in front of crowds, one-on-one and sokka can talk well, joke and stuff but as soon as he’s separate from other people and everyone is just listening he clams up (solar eclipse pt 1). he also loves to joke and make people laugh, and a lot of the time he misinterprets stuff because he’s autistic but he also will realize this and do it anyway because he thinks it’s funny and he likes laughing with his friends (idk if this happens in canon but i do this and sokka does too bc i said so :^). He also takes up the protector/comforting role but despite his best intentions he can sometimes say insensitive stuff and not even realize what he’s done to upset people (when he happily told aang ‘the whole world thinks your dead!’) works best when he feels needed, if he feels unnecessary or like something doesnt matter he struggles to complete it (i feel like the beginning of sokka’s master rlly demonstrates what i mean here), and this goes both ways, he will put too much value into certain things that he cares about and can get his priorities mixed if he’s focused too much on what he believes matters more than what might be most pressing (zuko destroyed his suki sculpture, oh right bc he was attacking aang)

Katara

she also has adhd/autism, (so do both Hakoda and Kya 💙)

[ID: a screenshot of Katara, Hakoda, Sokka, and Bato. Hakoda has his hand on Katara’s shoulder as they both look at Bato who is saying something, she has curious look on her face with her brows raised, while Hakoda looks exasperated. Sokka beside him his also looking curiously up at Bato, with one brow raised and the other furrowed. Bato has a neutral expression on his face as he speaks. End ID.]

- palms sweaty thoughts spaghetti, she tries to be practical bc she thinks someone needs to be but really her brain is like a runaway train, she sees something that needs doing and is like, guess ill do that now! and drops whatever she was doing first. she can get very anxious because of this because all the thing that need doing start to pile up because theyre all in her brain at once. that and as much as she tries to be practical she’s very impulsive, getting help from other people really helps alleviate this stuff

- interacting w ppl, when she was only part of her own smaller community she had a lot less toll on her, bc she knew everyone and was used to them, as she meets more people she gets really frustrated with how many people seem to refuse to say what they really mean. Katara is very straightforward herself and she says what she means, so even tho she gets more and more perceptive when interacting with new people, she resents how much she has to work just to decipher what people really mean half the time.

- caring for ppl, with people she cares about communicating is much easier bc she knows them, so she’s very open about her feelings around these people, and she can be hyper empathetic at times, but then sometimes she will say SUPER insensitive stuff off the cuff because she’s just very impulsive and she might regret it after the fact but she really struggles with apologizing because being wrong makes her feel like ppl are going to reject her

- perceptions, she knows what’s expected of her by the world, but she really rejects the idea that she has to stay in her role. still, she has internalized a lot of these expectations and tries to perform them, even when she sometimes struggles. beyond herself, she’s very certain about what she knows is wrong and has a strong moral code, she sees something wrong and she wants to fix it.

- she’s awful in school, not because she’s not smart, but she’s smart in ways that society does not appreciate. she doesnt care at all about all the worksheets and math she’s never gonna use, and all the history that got distorted, she’s much better at learning stuff on her own and she will go on deep dives of subjects she cares about and is super knowledgeable abt them.

also:

[ID: A cropped screenshot of Sokka with his arms extended outwards, palms flat as he gestures. He has a slight grin on his face with his mouth open to speak, eyebrows raised and looking at the viewer calmly. He’s wearing his usual blue tunic with the Earth Rumble XI belt along with his earth kingdom bag hanging across his chest. The text on the image says, “This post made by ADHD Sokka gang. End ID.]

[ID: a cropped screenshot of Hakoda, he has a serious expression on his face as he looks ahead. The text on the post reads, “This post made by ADHD Hakoda gang.” End ID.]

from this post (part of what inspired me to write these out) @meteor-sword now just katara needs one 😄

adhd aang next, i will finally live up to my url (will edit with a link when i post)

#a:tla #atla #katara #sokka #avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #hakoda #adhd headcanon #autistic headcanon #water siblings #image described

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arizona-trash-bag · 3 years

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I can totally explain a bit of my thinking behind seeing lwj as autistic and wwx as autistic/adhd!! Before I get into specifics though, let me preface with where I’m coming from. I first saw CQL and then read the EXR translation of the novel. I prefer MDZS to CQL, but also want to acknowledge that because I do not read/speak Mandarin I am inherently experiencing this story second-hand and therefore am probably missing out on a lot of nuances. I am trying to learn Mandarin, but it will be a long time before I am even a little close to fluent lol.

Another preface- obviously not all autistic people present in the same way, and many of the things that I will mention are not solely specific to autistic people either. It’s one of those things where all of it added up together points towards asd, but each one individually would not on its own indicate asd, you know? Also, I will say that many of the things I picked up on for both characters are autistic traits that many autistic people have vs the clinical characteristics (much like most of the case I could make for wwx’s adhd would be adhd traits he has rather than symptoms that would lead to a real-world diagnosis.) Edit: OH! I almost forgot to say, that also all of these traits I’m listing are from a western perspective, and I would LOVE to read more about how autism presents in different cultures and to see conversations between autistc Chinese people specifically, so as to see if these traits are specific to western autistic people or not, but again, I do not speak Mandarin or Cantonese or any other Chinese dialect, so that’s a little inaccessible for me atm.

Ok, SO, for both characters I would list: strong sense of justice, lack of care for society’s opinion (I feel like it could be argued that lwj does to a certain point, but imo he operates more from what he morally considers to be correct and from a place of familial duty vs catering to the opinion of society at large), and then more vaguely, they both seem to be “nerdy” (this doesnt feel like the most accurate term, especially because it's not like being scholarly is specific to their characters, especially in ancient fantasy China- it’s more that their particular hmmm, flavor?? of love of knowledge feels very neurodivergent to me, vs like, being scholarly because it’s the thing that is expected of a Young Master, if that makes any sense at all- like the difference btwn someone getting an engineering degree because it is expected of them vs because they genuinely love engineering), and lastly for both- I would say that they are canonically kinky, and while I can’t cite any statistics, there’s a pretty high correlation between being autistic and being into kink. Obviously, not every person who is not vanilla is autistic, and not every autistic person is into kink…….but there is a high correlation.

For lwj specifically, the things that made me think he might be autistic are his lack of outward emoting combined with his depth and breadth of emotions, how he seems to thrive in and quite enjoy the very structured environment he grew up in, and then the last one off the top of my head (side note, I feel like a week from now I’m going to randomly think of other examples lol) I’m not actually sure IS an example, because I know (thanks to the awesome post from hunxi that you linked to that I had read previously) that his succintness does not equal autism, but I do kind of feel like it is very autistic to Always be so formal and to Always talk in textbook perfect language.

For wwx, I also think he likely has CPTSD! I’m not going to list anything for adhd or cptsd since we both agree on those :) As far as being autistic goes, there is, of course, the high prevalence of adhd/asd comorbidity. For specifc traits- while autism can show up as lack of facial expressions/tone, it can also show up as being overly exuberant and overexpressive. Especially for younger autistic children this can show up as being overly friendly/no boundaries w/ strangers (just?? going home with a random man who says he knew wwx’s parents???), making unusual connections that others do not can be both asd and adhd, his disregard for social status (disregard might be a strong word, and also I feel like this might be one of those things that got lost in translation and if I had read the original text I might have a different opinon, but what I mean here is the way that often autistic people learn certain social rules and try their best to follow them, but often do not pick up on specifics related to social hierarchy that are not spelled out for them- I think jyl’s take down of jin zixun is a great example of the /oppossite/ of what I’m talking about, and is a very neurotypical interaction. An example also of what I mean by disregard for social hierarchy, but from my own life, is how I’ve reflected on past convos w/ my boss only to realize that what I thought was just an interesting conversation about our opinons on a particular subject was actually them trying to tell-me-as-my-boss something they wanted me to do. We ended up doing things the way I wanted to do them because I didn’t realize that they were telling me to do something because they didnt explicitly say so, and because I just don’t pick up on when people are saying something from a social hierarchy pov. Idk if this makes sense or not, so I’m happy to try to expand if you would like me to. I feel like wwx could be described as having alexithymia, which is very common in autistic people, but could also be due to his cptsd. And then, I don’t feel like this is a true point because it is kind of based on headcanon? but wwx feels very demisexual to me, which is much more common for autistic people than it is for allistic people. But him being demi is not canon, just my perception of him (I see him as demisexual gay w/ massive comphet, but I know lots of people see him as bi, which also totally makes sense!!)

Tbh, I’m having a harder time than I thought I would listing wwx specifics. I might go through the book sometime this weekend and see if there are specific moments that pop out at me, but tbh w/ him its more that he Feels very adhd/asd to me?? Idk, I was diagnosed w/ adhd when I was 8, and all 4 of my siblings plus my father have offical adhd diagnoses. I’m 29 now and was only diagnosed as autistic earlier this year. All of my close friends have always been either adhd, asd, or adhd/asd. There have been multiple people I have met that I’ve suspected were neurodivergent who have later told me they started looking into it and are now seeking formal diagnoses. I mention these things, only to give full context when I say that I have spent a lot of time observing the differences between interacting with neurotypicals and neurodivergents. I mean, obviously, it’s possible that I could just be projecting, but to me, Wwx gives off late-diagnosed/heavy masker autism/adhd combo vibes. Again, maybe I am projecting, but I did try to analyze whether I was or not previously, and determined that since in the past with other favorite characters (who I probably share more similarities in personality with) I did not feel like they were neurodivergent, so I figured that probably I wasn’t? That feels like a very convoluted sentence, but what I mean is that I have not thought that about other characters who have been my fav, so I figured that while I do project in certain areas that this particular area probably wasn’t one of them. Or, to say it in yet another way, since i did not project any of my neurodivergencies on past favorite characters, I figured I probably didn’t start doing so now.

I would love to hear more of your perspective on this, particularly because I worry that I do not have the cultural touchstones to realize when something wwx or lwj is doing is not actually a sign of being neurodivergent. I try my best to research things I don’t know about and to listen to fans who actually do have that cultural understanding, but there’s only so much I can look into on my own when I only speak/read english. And also, I love mdzs and I love talking about both adhd and autism, so I’m glad to talk about these subjects with someone else who also likes all of those topics :) Sorry for sending a book of a response and also I hope you are having a great day!!

wow wow wow anon THANK YOU for doing your research and acknowledging your blind spots you seriously made my day. I wanted to get to this as soon as I made that rant while sharing cyan’s post bc this is specifically an example of a well researched proposition based on actual lived experience and critical thinking.

I almost want to ask you to come forward so we can take this convo elsewhere for a more nuanced discussion bc you’ve already hit upon an issue that’s been holding me back from making a big blathering masterpost on the matter - that the ND experience is so unique and individual, and no one person can dictate someone else’s experience. at the end of the day, if you personally relate to these characters and gain more understanding of yourself and your experiences from them, who am I to take that away from you?

in a public space though I have to make the discussion very broad in order to accurately contextualize these issues, bc in typical autistic fashion I feel morally compelled to Do My Best and Get It Right even as the masses show no inclination of returning the favor, so apologies for the boring backstories I have to get out of the way before we can approach anything resembling new ground.

first from a diagnostic standpoint, while I recognize the traits you listed (and appreciate your clearly nuanced understanding of ND expressions) and would find value in exploring them in a personal context, they are not unique to adhd and/or autism and wouldn’t constitute a basis for diagnosis in a clinical setting. I know that's probably beside the point for this anon, but there's enough edgy teens hoarding labels out there without tacit encouragement from scientists (yes I am technically a scientist, even though my ideologies these days range from conventional to... wildly esoteric, shall we say)

from a cultural standpoint, it’s important for me to emphasize that the concept of neurodivergence is a uniquely western notion. for those unfamiliar, the term 'neurodiversity' was only coined in 1998. I was born in 1991. I existed for a whole 7 years as an autistic person before the idea of being neurodivergent was even a thing. this ND acceptance thing is very, very new - people were not making tiktok confessionals about their adhd diagnosis journeys when I was growing up.

china, like most asian countries, is about 20 years or more behind on just about every social issue compared with western countries. to better illustrate, the experience of being ND in china falls much closer to the conventional experience of disability (i.e. being eugenicized out of existence) than the tentative ND acceptance movement that’s been kickstarted in the past 20 years in the anglosphere.

safe to say, there is no ND coding going on in chinese media. characters are either explicitly ND or they're not. there's no basis for a creator subtly inducing ND-like traits in a character, because there's no such thing as ND awareness in the cultural context of where mdzs was written and consumed. any resemblance is purely accidental, as they say.

as to how this resemblance could exist - I could go into the layers and layers of historical, cultural, social and religious context that make up these characters and the xianxia genre as a whole. for this anon in particular i'm happy to, because they've done the work. please please get in touch in some way where we can have a fully fleshed out chat if you're interested in taking this further, I realize i’ve basically addressed none of the finer points you’ve raised but honestly it’s another level of discussion to be had that cannot be summarized in one blog post haha.

as for those who would scream 'but special interests!!' at a character whose sect was founded by a literal monk - what would be the point?

PS. to comprise a starting point for why it's possible to see ND4ND everywhere in media if you looked hard enough - I refer you to the seminal red oni blue oni trope 💁‍♀️

#neurodivergence #neurodiversity #actuallyautistic #autism #adhd #danmei #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #mdzs #lan wangji #wei wuxian

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another-bedeviled-murdock · 4 years

Text

Fair warning, this post gets rlly personal and emotional. You have been warned.

Gods.....one time a friend told me that as a form of self therapy, I should write myself a letter to help settle my head. I decided to do that today, and I found the only other letter I ever wrote, dated almost exactly one year ago. And guys........I've come so far. I didn't even know how far I'd come. For reference, these are the two letters, almost exactly one year apart.

--------------------

March 9 2019

So, I guessed I'd try the whole letter writing thing to settle my head. Cohen is pissed because he misheard me. Emily is upset because I got upset when she told on me. I don't know why Sami is mad at me. It feels awful, like I'm right back in that fucking house. Like I'm three inches tall and invisible. And it makes me feel sick inside, like this tar is just bubbling up in my rib cage and slowly suffocating me, poisoning me. And to make it worse, Jerome invited me along with him and his mom. And that's wonderful, it makes me feel wanted and whole and clean again for a while. But then it comes back. That desperate, god awful need to just be enough, to be worthy enough to even stand a chance with him. But I know I never will. I'm too broken for that. But all I want is to lean over and simply coexist. Just....be. I'd rather sit in a threadbare settee watching The Ranch for the rest of my life than go home. I'd be happy then. I'd feel...complete.

-----------------

Not a great letter to self. Here's the second one.

--------------------------

March 2, 2020

I gave up on the letters for a long time, but it's almost two in the morning, and I just feel.....melancholy. Not depressed or sad, just......meh. Mostly, it's still because of Jerome. It's just this......this scar, I guess. Like a scab that I think is healed and then all of the sudden it'll pull and I'll bleed and bleed and bleed. I miss him. A lot. I don't know why he stopped talking to me so suddenly, and I don't think I'll ever get an answer. And I'd like to say that's okay, I really would, but I know that it'll always be that...scab. I still love him, and I don't know how to stop. He was the only one that really made me feel...safe. Contended. Enough. Like I was.....I suppose the best word would be 'human'. I've come a long way in the year since the last letter. I stopped talking to Elijah, I've learned to get over a lot of my trauma, and I've grown a lot as a person....but it just makes me so incredibly sad that he'll never know. He'll never know how much what he did meant to me. If I'd never met Jerome, I would have never realised what life could be like. I would have never known just what situation I was really in, how much pain was hiding in me. He showed me what it felt like, for hours at a time, to be unburdened. How light it feels. How beautiful the world can be. How happy I can be over the smallest things. The world is new. I dance in the kitchen when I do the dishes. I sing to love songs and wear stupid clothes. I dye my hair and I do what makes me happy. I plaster myself everywhere I can, and am happy with what I am. I listen to songs about joy and I know what they mean. I've learned to set boundaries, to know my worth, because he treated me like I was worth something. And I am, I know that now, but I'd never been treated like that before. Like who I was was enough. It wasn't, but it taught me that I can feel that way. Before he showed me what I could be, I was more broken than I had ever realised. I'm still broken. I've got things I still need to get over, I know that. But now I know that I can. I can climb these mountains and reach the sky. I've already tasted the clouds. But he'll never know. In the beginning, I changed for him. I wanted to be better because I hoped that he would see, and he would love me. Now I know that I don't owe anybody who I am. I stand strong in what I believe in. I speak up for what I want more often. I don't just drift around anymore, lost in the fog. I stand, tall and firm as a tree, rooted deep into who I know I am. I still miss him though. I wish I could show him what good he's done. He didn't save me, not by a long shot. But he sure did get things started. Even if I could only speak to him once, all I want to say I thank you. I'll always love Jerome Brown, at least a little bit. If not for who he is, then for who he helped me become. I just want to tell him so. Since I can't tell him, I'll just put it here.

Thank you. I love you. I love myself.

--------------------------

My all I cannot comprehend the difference. I'd known I've been making progress the last year, but I had no real basis of comparison. I just found it, and I'm so proud of myself and how far I've come. In ONE YEAR, ONE GODDAMN YEAR, I have:

Come out as trans, to friends, to family, to new acquaintances

Cut ties with my lifetime abuser

Established personal boundaries and rules for myself and how I let people treat me. Which I should add, went from allowing myself to be used and abused frequently to CUTTING TIES WITH TOXIS PEOPLE IN MY LIFE

Realised my self worth

Started therapy, and on that note, learned to identify what kind of therapist I need, what kind of therapist I want, and sought out trans specific resources for mental health

STOOD UP FOR MYSELF AGAINST AOMEONE WHO ATTEMPTED TO BECOME MY NEW ABUSER, at the cost of my biological father, who I've been searching for since my literal birth

Learned to speak up about my chronic pain and health problems

SUCCESSFULY GOTTEN OVER A LOT OF THE ABUSE IVE SUFFERED

Learned to recognise my feelings and actually deal with them instead of dissociating

STOPPED SELF HARMING, WHICH I DID FOR EIGHT YEARS. EIGHT GODDAMN YEARS AND IVE FINALLY KICKED THE HABIT

Done away with my shame over my body and unlearned 90% of the fatphobia I had internalised

Re established ties with my mother and my sister

Found myself a stable and loving home

Recognised that yes, I AM neurodivergent. There is a high likelihood of ADHD and autism present, and that DOESNT MAKE ME ANY LESS THAN WORTHY OF LOVE OR CARE OR PATIENCE

And finally, and most importantly, I learned to LOVE MYSELF. Unashamedly, proudly, loudly. I love myself. I love who I am, I love what I am. I am out and proud as trans, non binary, Pan, and neurodivergent.

I'm.....I'm honestly cryin in the club Rn over this guys. To SEE the actual proof of growth is just astounding to me.

So here's to me and my growth, to all the things that I've learned and unlearned in a year, to all the changes I've made, and to all the changes I will make in the future. Cheers, lads. Love ya.

#personal #emotional post #personal growth #letters to self #mental health #abuse #abuse tw #self harm #self harm tw

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closedspeciesdrama · 7 years

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Wow... some of you people are honestly fucking disgusting. M2 does have a point. Perhaps its you people whom dont understand what its like to be emotionally abused by someone who is mentally disabled. Yes, they have a mental problem but it does not give them the right to treat people like garbage. Ive had former friends who played the disabled card any time they hurt me and then went on to say "Im mental so you need to understand me" when I confronted them. Without any appologies. Smh (1/2)

(2/2) What M2 is trying to get across is that while mental disabilities are indeed a factor in people’s behavior, there comes a point where someone is just being an asshole. They, like anyone else, should learn from their mistakes and not expect the world to revolve around them because they might have an issue. Everyone has issues some more severe than others. Again, it still doesnt mean you can treat eachother like crap.

Id also like to clarify on my two part post, pointing out someones bad behavior, mentally disabled or handicapped, is not the equivalent of making fun of them. Nor am I refering to those whom have SEVERE forms of mental issues such as high functioning autism that literally cannot communicate properly. I understand being patient with someone who needs a bit of time to learn from there mistakes but its not a get out of jail free card. Thats all M2 is saying.

This just in! Anons have no cs drama to bitch about so they attack the mods. Oh the humanity

Honestly the real trashholes are the idiots ragging on M2. I mean really??? You guys are so willing to got out and attack them . You guys are just as horrible. Because you guys took the time out of your day to go and be nasty back. And then go and tell em be humble and shit?? Fuck all of you anons. You /could/ have addressed the issue much more civilly than this. I’m not trying to pick sides, but it’s pathetic when people resort to this bullshit

wow using words like the r word and snowflake when defending people with mental disabilities doesn’t make it quite effective lol?????

Hoooly shizz, are people seriously that dense? Someone defends their points on how things are going and y'all are getting so butthurt about it. I know this place can get some trashy anons by my dear, y'all got some serious nerve calling someone scum and telling them to leave for this. Hope you’re not taking all this to heart M2, not all the anons are that hate-filled ;n;

No, anon. If they are mentally ill, disabled or otherwise neurodivergent, DESPITE the difficulties they may have understanding social cues, being polite or understanding that they were rude and apologize, it is STILL not an excuse to not put forth the effort to learn when and what they did wrong. It is still up to them to be a decent person, or they should not be in a mod role. M2 is not in the wrong, and you’re being a bully and pretty anti-recovery imo. Need me to elaborate?

To the anon(s) deeming it necessary to spam the mods’ asses with bullshit: what the FUCK is wrong with you people?? Do none of you have ANY shame whatsoever about harassing someone for no reason other than to be complete assholes? “I’m a complete shitter so I’m going to harass this person for saying this one thing that I don’t agree with” - get a fucking grip and stop forcing other people to deal with your bullshit because you have a shitty life.

Btw, anon who sent that defense for M2 about how nd ppl still need to try and learn and not be rude, I’m mentally ill too, so don’t start. I’m fucking sick of the attitude Tumblr in general has towards mental illness. Recovery is good! People should own up to their actions, mentally ill or not. I don’t care what it is that causes you to miss social cues, lash out or whatever, you still need to ow up. It sucks that it happens, and maybe you didn’t mean it, but still least try to be better.

Tmblr just has a bad idea of how memtal illness should b treated. Take it from someone whos mentally ill (adhd, psycosis and mood instability fyi) tjis website HURT me with its “ooo MI ppl can do no wrong n are stuck in a shitty place forever n can never get better” that they act like its a good thing or something fuckkkkkkk. Its legit toxic, and im STILL recovering from those mindsets two years later. Stop. I beg you! Youre not doing MI ppl any good this way.

As someone with mental health issues and disabilities I can say that it is not a get out of jail free card, You guys are being pretty damn rude to M2. People cant learn from their mistakes or about their behavior if you dont tell them what their doing wrong and try to help them better themselves and their behavior towards others. Not all mental health issues and disabilities make it so you literally cant do some things, For those ones its completely understandable for ones that dont effect ½

2/2 people in that way who have them, It is still not right to be an asshole and these people are the ones that could definitely learn to better their behavior if people would actually let them know what their doing is not okay.

#thank you #;(#compiled post #mod drama

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creacherkeeper · 7 years

Text

“am i autistic?” a step by step guide

so there are some resources out there about learning about autism and trying to determine if you’re autistic, but i figured some folks would appreciate a nice neat step by step guide. this is intended to be used by adults, but older children can certainly follow these steps as well and get something out of it

first off, hello! dont be afraid! whether or not you determine you’re autistic at the end of this, it’s always great to learn more about yourself! try not to think of this as a serious thing. what you determine isn’t going to change anything about yourself, just give you a new perspective. whatever changes is up to you

before you start, open a new word document. you can title it 'autism tests’ or something cheesy like ‘my autism journey’. you’ll use this to keep record of things as you follow the steps

**allistics feel free to try it out and signal boost!**

step one: quizzes!!

who doesn’t love a good quiz? we’re starting with quizzes because diagnostic criterion can be scary and confusing. try not to think too long about these questions, go with your first instinct. don’t second guess yourself. if you’re having trouble answering them yourself, take them with a person who knows you well

A. short quiz - 50 short questions. takes 10-20 minutes to complete (warning in the results section for ableist language like ‘suffers from’ and ‘impairments’. just pay attention to the number)

did you get a 30 or up? did you get a number lower than that but feel like you want to keep going? write it down in your word document, and lets go on to the next quiz

B. long quiz - 124 questions. takes 30 minutes to an hour to complete. it says ‘aspie’ but this is a good tool for autism in general

you’ll get two scores, an aspie score, and a neurotypical score. go ahead and write these down. this test is a pretty good indicator, so pay attention to what it says before you decide if you want to continue

step two: the criteria

okay, so you’ve taken the quizzes. you probably have some prior knowledge, but you might be asking yourself, what IS autism, exactly? what does it entail? we’re gonna go ahead and take a look at some of the criteria of what autism is, and what autistic traits are, so we can get a fuller picture

A. asan’s about autism page - here’s a very simple overview of some autistic traits. it has seven points. does this sound like you? copy the headers into your document, and see if you can come up with one example of how each one fits you. if you cant think of one, ask yourself if it fit when you were younger but doesn’t anymore (you might want to ask your parents or childhood caregivers if these fit you as a child).

still want to keep going? lets get a little more detailed

B. revised autism criteria - okay so this one has some more heft to it, it goes into a lot of detail, but dont let that frighten you! just take it one step at a time. like last time, copy the headers into your document. for each point you relate to, copy that into your doc underneath it. can you think of specific examples where these criteria applied to you? if you can think of ways you relate that aren’t listed on this page, go ahead and write those down under the appropriate headers (in parentheses so you know those are what you added)

C. if you’re feeling like these criteria apply to you, go ahead and take a peek at the dsm v criteria for autism. if you’re in the us, this is what your diagnostician will be using if you choose to pursue a diagnosis. pretty much all these points are covered by the revised criteria above, so dont feel like you have to put any of this in your document if you dont want to

D. still not sure? if some of this feels like it applies to you, but it doesnt fit quite right, you might relate more to what’s called ‘atypical autism’. it’s still autism, but it manifests in a different way than what is more stereotypical. this is more common in people assigned female at birth, but can apply to any gender. go ahead and check it out here. if you find these things fit, do like you did before and copy and paste it into your document [edit] link is broken please see bottom of post!

keep in mind that many allistic (non-autistic) traits can be learned, so you have to look at all these things as how they can apply to you in childhood as well. while autistic people can learn things such as allistic body language, and allistic social skills, the key here is that they were learned. it doesn’t come naturally. autistic people may be very good at these things, but it will always feel like something of a performance, and can be very draining cognitively

step three: review

okay, so we’ve done our quizzes, and we’ve reviewed the criteria. you should have a pretty good overview of what autism is at this point, and how you might relate to it. go ahead and take a look at your document. how long is it? how many things did you copy down?

if you copied down a small amount of things: you’re probably not autistic. but you’ve now learned some more about autism, and some more about yourself! congratulations!

if you copied down a medium amount: you might be autistic. before you continue, go ahead and check out some conditions that we call ‘austim cousins’. these are neurodivergencies that have overlapping traits with autism. take a look at adult adhd, ocd, and schizophrenia (the negative symptoms of schizophrenia overlap with many autistic traits). do you feel that one of these might fit you better? if not, go ahead and continue to step four

if you copied down a large amount: you’re probably autistic! go ahead and continue to step four

step four: exploring a diagnosis

so, you think you might be autistic. what to do now? the first thing to do would be to continue researching on your own any points of confusion you had. if you have specific questions, a good place to ask is the ask an autistic blog. they also have a resources page with links to pages that deal with specific autism traits, like echolalia, burnout, and meltdowns

after you’ve researched to your satisfaction, the next step would be a diagnosis. you have two options here: self diagnosis or a professional diagnosis

self diagnosis means that you approach things with the understanding that you are autistic, and you are free to immerse yourself in the autistic community if you so choose. professional diagnosis means that this understanding of yourself is confirmed by a professional such as a qualified therapist, doctor, or diagnostician

what are the pros and cons of a professional diagnosis?

pros: an official label, if you like those. accommodations in school or in the workplace. the chance to pursue ssi, if you are unable to work due to autism

cons: finding someone to diagnose you as an adult can be difficult, especially if you are a woman or identify more with atypical autism. there is the possibility of a misdiagnosis. it is not covered by insurance and can be expensive. there is a stigma attached to the diagnosis. if you wanted to go into the us army, you would not be able to with a professional diagnosis. possible discrimination in child custody battles

no one can decide for you which is the best path, so take some time to think about it. if you decide you are happy self diagnosing, then congratulations! this part of the journey is over, and you can move freely into your life as a newly realized autistic person. know that even without a professional diagnosis, you are still autistic, and no one can take that away from you. you can go ahead and skip to the end

if you’ve decided to pursue a professional diagnosis, here are the next steps you can take:

A. if you are currently seeing a trusted therapist, ask them for a recommendation for a local diagnostician. they might know someone in the area who has experience diagnosing adults, if they cannot do it themselves. if you’re not seeing a therapist, hit up google and search ‘adult autism diagnosis’ + your city name

B. have you or someone you trust make some calls to local diagnosticians. ask them how much experience they have diagnosing adults, if they have experience diagnosing women (if this applies to you), what their fees are, and exactly what their process is

C. make an appointment! this can be scary, but i promise it doesn’t have to be

D. at the appointment (which may be one day or broken up into several days), you will be interviewed about your experiences and childhood, and asked to fill out paperwork (this will be similar to the quizzes you did earlier). there will be several games you will play, like memory games and puzzles. you can choose to share your document with the diagnostician. another appointment will be made where you get the results

step 5: your new life

you’ve made it! you now know that you’re autistic, and a new part of your life is beginning. there is a lot of joy to discover now that you’ve realized this about yourself. you can find a community, relearn old stims, and understand and accept behavior that may have confused you before. the biggest part of this new life is acceptance. there is nothing bad or broken about you, you are just autistic, and that’s okay! go ahead and reopen that document, and put a big ol smiley face at the end, because you did it! you know more about yourself, and you can now connect with the world in a new way. welcome to the autistic community :) we’re glad to have you

[edit] thank you rowan for letting me know the link was broken and saving this info for me!

Appearance / Personal Habits

Dresses comfortably due to sensory issues and practicality

Will not spend much time on grooming and hair. Hairstyles usually have to be ‘wash and wear’. Can be quite happy not grooming at all at times.

Eccentric personality; may be reflected in appearance

Is youthful for their age, in looks, dress, behaviour, and tastes

Usually a little more expressive in face and gesture than some other Autistic people

Enjoys reading and films as a retreat, often scifi, fantasy, children’s, can have favourites which are a refuge

Usually happiest at home or in other controlled environment.

Intellectual / Giftedness / Education / Vocation

May have been diagnosed as Autistic when young, or may have been thought of as gifted, shy, sensitive, etc. May also have had obvious or severe learning deficits

Often musical, artistic

May have a savant skill or strong talent(s)

May have a strong interest in computers, games, science, graphic design, inventing, things of a technological and visual nature. More verbal thinkers may gravitate to writing, languages, cultural studies, psychology

May have been a self-taught reader, been hyperlexic as a child, and will possess a wide variety of other self-taught skills as well

Highly intelligent, yet sometimes can be slow to comprehend due to sensory and cognitive processing issues

Will not do well with verbal instruction - needs to write down or draw diagram

Obsessions (passions / special interests) are not necessarily unusual

Emotional / Physical

Emotionally immature and emotionally sensitive

More open to talk about feelings and emotional issues than people with typical autism

Strong sensory issues - sounds, sights, smells, touch, and prone to overload. (May not have taste/food texture issues.)

Stims to soothe when sad or agitated; rocking, face-rubbing, humming, finger flicking, leg bouncing, finger or foot tapping, etc

Similarly physical when happy - hand-flapping, clapping, singing, jumping, running around, dancing, bouncing

Hates injustice and hates to be misunderstood; this can incite anger and rage

Prone to mutism when stressed or upset, especially after a meltdown. Less likely to stutter than some other Autistic people but may have a raspy voice, monotone at times, when stressed or sad

Social / Relationships

Is very outspoken at times, may get very fired up when talking about passions / special interests / obsessions

Can be very shy or mute

Like people with typical autism, will shut down in social situations once overloaded, but is generally better at socialising in small doses. May even give the appearance of being skilled, but it is a “performance”

Doesn’t go out much. Will prefer to go out with partner only or children if they have them (note from typist: I find I have a short list of “safe people” who I prefer to go out with, and I will refuse to go out if none of those people are available)

Will not have many close friends, and will not conform to gender stereotypical activities with friends, or have get-togethers to “hang out” with friends

Will have a close friend or friends in school, but not once adulthood is reached

May or may not want to have a relationship. If they are interested in a relationship, they probably take it very seriously, but may choose to remain celibate or alone

#okay here it is!#been working on this for a few days #wading into the deep end of autism research can be really scary when youre just starting out #so i figured this might help some people #if youre like me and like step by step things #i encourage everyone to at least take the first quiz and see what the results are! never know what you might find out!#actuallyautistic #actually autistic #autism

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androidemotions · 4 years

Text

he returned so its time for more neurodivergent gaang !!

Zuko

adhd/autistic? yes.

[ID: a screenshot of Mai and Zuko standing next to each other. Zuko is wearing his royal Fire Nation robes with his hair down and bangs hanging in his face, while Mai wears her usual outfit. Zuko looks perturbed as he furrows his brow, frowning down at something, and beside him Mai looks unhappy with her mouth open and down-turned as she says something. End ID.]

- impulsive: yes. we all know it, we all watched the same show. so zuko is the kind of person whos really reserved about shit but as soon as smth crosses his mind he cant let it go, he spent like months being completely broke so he refuses to buy himself anything or accept other ppl buying him stuff until he gets some impulse and then hes buying eighteen boxes of his fav snacks all at once. he also really struggles with volume control and end up yelling way more than he means to. this makes people see him as kinda intimidating but he really doesnt mean to be.

- moral code, he has a really strong moral code but he also internalized everything he’s taught very literally when he was young, so like when he was a kid and the adults around him had these morals and rules they give to kids, just stuff like ‘cuss words are bad’ he took it SO seriously, and always felt betrayed if any of the adults around him broke those rules because they said that’s bad!!!! as he gets older he absolutely get to a point of being like, “fuck it” about everything but for a long as time he was literally the biggest goody two shoes, rule follower nerd. he really starts saying fuck it once he realizes the adults around him don’t know shit and that so much of the stuff they said mattered actually doesnt at all and he’s really really angry just in all directions about all of this

- mood swings, his trauma along with his adhd/autism means he really really struggles with regulating his moods, and often flies off the handle when hes angry, and then he feels really guilty about flying off the handle and gets SUPER depressed about it. he tends to struggle the most with those, his guilt and anger. But he also does have mood swings up, and gets weirdly happy sometimes and can’t stop laughing/smiling, which always confuses him and often times the crash back into depression can really hurt him with those

- memory, his memory is so shit <3, he cannot remember your name, sorry. what was that thing he learned in school yesterday? when was that appointment again? he really really struggles with schedules and outside help really benefits him in this area even tho he’s like hellbent on doing everything on his own, similarly to toph he has issues with relying on ppl so it takes a while for him to accept help with stuff. but when he does hes like, wow holy shit this is so much better.

- interacting w/ ppl, he scripts!!! practices so many of his conversations beforehand bc he really struggles with catching social cues in the moment so he has to think it thru in preparation, ESPECIALLY for ppl he doesnt know!!! if he hasnt got the chance to script it is really really easy for him to come off as rude bc hes very impulsive and brusque with his words. but its like, if he knows the rules he can play by them, so he he’s much better in v formal situations vs casual ones, because he knows how to be like stiffly polite but as soon as ppl want him to just like.... chat he’s at a loss.

as a bonus im including mai in zuko’s post bc i love her <3

Mai

adhd/autism 💜

- expression, got really really shut down as a kid so she really struggled with being open around ppl, and she keeps to herself as much as she can bc she finds that way way easier than trying to parse the fucking impossible interactions with everyone around her.

- stims!!!!!! she stims with objects most of the time (typically her knives) spinning them on her finger, fiddling with them, tossing them. dont worry, she’s very good at first aid. She doesn’t fidget around ppl much because her mother really hated that and so she mostly stims out of sight, but she taps her foot/bounces her leg when she’s feeling more relaxed and carefully and quietly stims more with her hands if she feels like she needs her guard up.

- special interests, throwing knives!!! she also likes caring for hair, taking care of her own and other ppls (like ty lee’s 💕)

- sensations, she likes being outside, despite claims of hating the world she doesn’t like being cooped up and enjoys running around in the woods way more than spending all day inside. the main problem is she really hates being dirty and not immediately being able to clean herself, the feeling of dirt/residue on her skin really irritates her and sets her on edge. which is why she sometimes avoids going out despite enjoying it a lot. She also doesnt like bright colors bc they tend to overstimulate her, so she always goes for muted/dark tones, also she just likes them and thinks they’re stylish. she has a lot of opinions about aesthetics but she’s used to keeping them to herself, but with ty lee and zuko she’s a lot more likely to voice her opinion

[ID: a cropped screenshot of Zuko, he’s holding up the Sun Warrior egg in his hands and looking at the veiwer with a perturbed expression, a small frown on his face. The text on the image says, “This post made by ADHD Zuko gang.” End ID.]

badge by @meteor-sword

rest of the gaang: Sokka & Katara, Aang, and Toph

i dont have a post for suki written already so idk when ill do her but i do have a few thoughts !

#a:tla #avatar the last airbender #zuko #avatar: the last airbender #atla #prince zuko #mai #mai avatar #adhd headcanon #autistic headcanon #nd gaang #image described

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