As it was requested by @peculiaroptimism, I made a diagram showing the overlap between Autism, ADHD and PTSD. [I was so surprised to realise that PTSD and Autism don’t have any overlap that isn’t also shared with ADHD!]
being a 19 yo girl is *crying* *wanting to forgive mother* *fighting with her the very next moment* *fruits* *thinking about how school sucked for you* *thinking about how you lost your teen years to mental illness* *thinking* *wanting to claw out out of your body* *listening to a song on repeat and ending up somewhere else in your head* *thinking about motherhood in passing* *thinking if you'll find someone who'll love you* *thinking if that's necessary* *trying your best to be self sufficient* *crying in trial rooms and on trains* *walking* *not understanding* *missing the best friend you lost* *being scared* *questioning your existence* *fruits*
Welcome to ADHD emotions! Get ready to experience
Don’t forget:
• struggling to eat
• Struggling to shower
•Needing more sleep
• Struggling with basic tasks
• Struggling with writing and emotions
• Feeling overwhelmed easily
• More extreme negative emotions
• Less focus
• Feeling more sensitive
• Trouble with school
• headaches/body pain
Feel free to add your own
A lot of these are also indicative of a depressive episode, so if you get these symptoms for long stretches at a time and don't have autism/adhd, make sure you get it checked out.
Autistic children are not infants.
Autistic teens are not toddlers.
Autistic adults are not children.
Your 23 year-old autistic cousin does not have “the mind of a 7 year-old.”
Stop calling autistic men “buddy.” Stop calling autistic women “sweetie.”
Don’t act like it’s a crime to swear in front of an autistic adult.
Don’t assume that because someone is nonverbal, they can’t understand what is going on. ESPECIALLY don’t assume that they can’t communicate at all.
Stop infantilizing autistic people.
👏👏👏
As an autistic person, THANK you.
Shout-out to everyone, who as a kid and as a teenager:
- didn’t go to parties
- was bullied and mocked
- had interests and hobbies others thought as “weird” and “cringey”
- wasn’t into sports
- didn’t hang out in the shopping malls
- was lonely or had few friends
- wasn’t very sociable
- struggled with mental illnesses
- was left out because of their disability
- talked “strangely” according to their peers
Childhood and teenage life aren’t always like in TV and movies. I always compared my “imperfect” life to fiction, but now I’m happy about my childhood and teenage years despite the struggles. And if you’re a kid or a teenager reading this: live your life as you want it. Don’t compare yourself to others. Be proud of your quirky side.
[screenshot description:
twitter user with display name “cole (he/him)” @ semispeaking:
“#Actually Autistic people and others who need #Adaptive PPE: I recently discovered mask brackets, an insert for face masks that prevents the mask from touching your face as much and provides a bit more breathing room”
image description:
a handmade face mask with a plastic mask bracket inside next to another plastic mask bracket on a wooden surface]
Also, if you’re a crafty type, Jen from Epbot just recently shared a pattern for a foam mask that holds the fabric away from the face:
For the anon who said masks made them feel claustrophobic. Here’s the buy link I found in the comments, but I also wanted to reblog the version with the craft link above.
Remember when doing any mask edits or using a non-standard mask, it’s important to test them via this bill nye experiment to make sure you know how effective it is.
failure anxiety really is psychological torture
you can't bring yourself to start any task because of the possibility that you'll fail to produce anything of value and end up not only having to confront the fact that you were never capable of doing it, but that you wasted time and energy trying. but every second you don't spend working on it your brain is screaming at you that you're losing valuable time and only increasing the probability of failure.
and every success you've had in the past does nothing to reduce your anxiety, and in fact only makes it worse, because you feel like you've given other people expectations of you that are impossible to meet, since as far as you're concerned all your previous achievements are the result of chance and not your abilities and skills.
Also, like- can we normalize all types of stimming, not just flapping hands? Normalize pacing. Normalize vocal stimming. Normalize tapping your toes. Normalize singing to yourself. All stims are valid stims, and we deserve to be able to use them.
2 years ago today, I was diagnosed with autism. It’s a wild frickin ride and I’m glad to have this community!
As a treat to y’all, here’s another pusheen picture:
Pusheen! <3
‘are you okay’ by normal people standards? no. by my standards? do you see me crying? no? then yea im good
By far my biggest complaint about being easily sensory overloaded isn’t the sensory overload itself
It’s when I tell people that something they’re doing is causing my overload, and they shrug me off because god forbid they change something about themselves even in a small way.
Over 90% of my sensory shutdowns and meltdowns could have been prevented by people just listening to my simple requests.
As someone with pretty severe rejection sensitive dysphoria and social anxiety I’ve almost completely eliminated spiraling anxious thoughts about things I can’t control while laying down for bed with this one really simple trick and seriously, I cannot sing its praises enough:
Before I lay down, I know what I’m going to think about.
What I mean is, before I get in bed to sleep, I say to myself “what calms me down? is it big enough to hold my attention for 10 minutes to a couple hours?” once I’ve said “okay this is it for tonight” I lay down, and whenever my thoughts start going to things that make me anxious or upset or spiral my thoughts, I go “no, we’re thinking about [this one thing]”. Maybe I have to ‘realign’ every 30 seconds, but it keeps me from spiraling into anxious despair. Personally for me, low key embarrassing, but for me it’s daydreaming and “writing” in my head. I go “we’re writing this story tonight” and whenever I start the process of spiraling I start everything over again.
Just pick something relaxing, very thought consuming, and be BRUTAL about going “no, we’re thinking about THIS” and do it over and over and over again–as soon as your thoughts go slightly somewhere else, realign, start over.
Seriously, I used to lay awake for actual hours crying with anxiety and consumed with depression. For most of my life before I learned this trick I couldn’t control my thoughts for more than a few minutes if I was having a bad anxiety day–sometimes even on good days. Don’t doubt this trick, if you have ADHD or anxiety (or anything else that makes your thoughts run wild), give it a serious try. It really, really works.
Don’t lay down until you have decided on something to think about that isn’t anxiety inducing, when your thoughts start to spiral, tell your brain “we’re not thinking about that right now, we’re thinking about [this calming thing]”. It works. It really really does!
I’ve done this since I was a child and it definitely works for me.
this absolutely works.
and for friends of mine who write: “writing” your stories in your head is such a great way to do it too. Pick a scene you’re excited to make and think your way through it. Stuff your anxiety back behind your eyeballs. What will happen? Picture it in your head. Use those brain cells to build the set and put your characters there. Take those brain cells away from anxiety. Anxiety mayn’t have them.
This basically (a) relaxes you (b) will help you, over time, kick the anxiety out and © can actually help your stories. I’ll wake up sometimes with a clearer idea of what I want to do, as well. Success all around!
These are all true and your mileage may vary. I’d like to throw in also with my trick which frequently works with anxious insomnia:
“Please god no shut up I am trying to sleep” has worked on numerous occasions for me. Give it a try. Peace is worth a try.
You like hurt/comfort because you like the idea that someone will comfort you when you are in pain.
Wait… Someone finally made something that shows what it’s really like. This is always so hard to explain.
