#askingautistics

One of the current diagnostic criteria for autism is a lack of imagination. Would you say you lack imagination? Whatever way you answer, I'd love to hear more detail - if you've time & inclination. Reposts also appreciated ☺️ #AskingAutistics #ActuallyAutistic #Diagnosis #Neurodivergent

Subject: Trauma and executive functioning difficulties. Are there any links? I’m just having a thought about the constriction of people’s capacities after severe trauma. So... one problem, you can deal with. Two problems to deal with, you can just about manage. Three problems, and suddenly everything falls apart. And I’m thinking how this could resemble some autistic executive-function difficulties. Judith Herman also talks about what powerlessness does to people. If you get used to almost any action potentially being punished badly, then acting becomes difficult. Deciding, too. Sometimes doing anything becomes difficult! Which makes me wonder about the overlap: if there is one, and how the two things could be related if so. Does that make sense to anyone else? I’d be really interested to know what people think. #AskingAutistics

Anyone know of a good explanation of the difference between an #AutisticMeltdown and a panic attack? I think I can explain it myself, but a short explainer I could share with people would be handy. I wish there were more awareness of what autistic meltdowns are, especially how they aren't the same as tantrums, panic attacks, and maybe a few other things they get mistaken for. I think a lot of unnecessary damage gets inflicted on us because people don't understand what meltdowns are or how to deal with them. #ActuallyAutistic #autistic #AskingAutistics

I've suspected for a while that I'm probably on the spectrum. It seems to fluctuate, but for the past few days I've been experiencing something that sounds very much like what I understand autistic burnout to be like. Tasks which should be simple (e.g.: feeding myself) become insurmountable obstacles. I'm exhausted all the time, and when it's at its most acute, communicating what I'm experiencing becomes impossible. I literally lose the ability to form coherent sentences. Is that what this is? Do others experience this? And more importantly, has anyone found any kind of strategies to help manage/minimize it? The best way I've found to deal with it is to simply disengage from everything until I manage to build up a spoon reserve again. Unfortunately, this does not exactly seem compatible with the responsibilities of adulthood. #AskingAutistics Edit: I realize that I may have given an incorrect impression in this post. I have experienced this before. It's just been particularly bad the past few days. It seems to ebb and flow. In fact, I've had a term to describe this since high school. At the time, I had dubbed it a "neural meltdown".

My fifth grader is going through a wringer, which will surely only increase next year, sixth grade, new school. He's undiagnosed-probably-definitely-autistic with a big tender heart. And certain kids (who used to be friends) are doing little things that cut him to the bone, probably(?) because they know they can get a rise out of him. I know what I did to survive school at his age, but I don't know my strategies were best. How do you advise your kid so as to minimize normie-inflicted trauma and preserve the availability and tenderness of that beautiful ND heart? What strategies do you advise? How do you prevent hiding, masking, toughening and shame? #actuallyAutistic #askingAutistics @autistics@fedigroups.social

Let’s talk tags on clothing. I hate them and they annoy me to no end. And even if I cut them off, the tiny bit remaining always manages to touch me and I hate it. Do tags bother you? #AskingAutistics #ActuallyAutistic image: unknown