Excellent new online “leaflet” on autism and mental health (link below) by the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Uses neuroaffirming language, explains the differences in terms, and everything is wonderfully succinct and up-to-date (as far as I can tell).

I particularly like the section “What support is available for autistic people?”. It is brutally honest about lack of resources in many areas of the UK, but at least it informs the reader of what is possible and SHOULD be available. It even talks about health passports, safety plans, reasonable adjustments and Access to Work. Some great explanations of how mental health conditions are likely to differ in how they present in autistic people.

A great resource to give to a mental health practitioner or anyone involved in your care because of the dedicated section “Information for health and social care professionals”.

Brilliant 👏

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/mental-illnesses-and-mental-health-problems/autism-and-mental-health

@actuallyautistic #ActuallyAutistic
#Autism

OMFG… 3yrs waiting, and I’VE GOT MY #AUTISM ASSESSMENT ON 4th DECEMBER!!!!

Another case of an autistic person being branded a "terrorist" this time a UK activist who was engaged in property damage against an Israeli weapons manufacturer.

""She should be at university now. She'd got a place to start this autumn, her first year at university," said Clare of her daughter, who has been diagnosed as autistic."

#Autism #autistic #neurodiverse @actuallyautistic #ActuallyAutistic

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmvxgkwg17o

@actuallyautistic

I am considered buying a weighted blanket, as I have heard many find them extremely beneficial. However, I have a few questions and wish to consult the autistic hive mind. So please only reply if autistic, with actual experience of this.

I have COPD and getting too hot in the night, isn't good for my chest. So how hot do these things get?

I am also a very restless sleeper and move a lot in the night. Not being able to do this, tends to not do me any favours. So, how restrictive is that weight upon you.

Lastly, how thin are they? Because I am a snuggler and like a decent amount of material to do that.

Any other remarks and comments, would be welcome, as would boosting for reach.

#Autism
#ActuallyAutistic
#AskingAutistics

@actuallyautistic

The event of this week, and if you need to know what, there's no hope for you, has led me to realise again how insidious and dangerously stupid one of the myths of what autism can be like, is. That we can be robot like and unfeeling. Over-rational, logical, the rock in a crisis, in the unfeeling way that we can cope and react. Because we have no empathy, no way to understand, or connect, with anything and especially the emotions or feelings that others are experiencing at that moment.

NO!

Yes, many of us do prioritise our logic, or ability to reason our way through situations and circumstances. And yes, through years of masking, especially when we didn't know that we were autistic, we learnt tricks to cope. To deal with overwhelm, to deal with intensity, and to cope. Mostly, I can't help thinking, through learning how to disassociate ourselves from these things, of persuading ourselves that we couldn't be experiencing them. Or by pushing the debt, the price to be paid, somehow into the future, in order to do what needed to be done.

But, that's not because we were never experiencing the emotions, or that we are not empathic. But, that we experienced them too much. I believe that we connect far more than most, and I certainly won't say all, people. We experience too much, not just through our senses, the way the intense world theory explains so well, but through the ways we connect with the very world itself. We see the connectiveness, we bond deeply with objects and things, even things that the world has decided are irrelevant. We connect in ways that most have forgotten how to do, immersed as they are in the illusion of the human world and what it means. We connect spiritually and emotionally. We see and understand and feel things that don't always have words to explain them, or explanations that make sense. We feel, so, so much.

This isn't because we are better, or worse than anyone, just different. Specialists, in a sense, in how to do this. In this world, it comes at a hell of a price and cost. In others, we come into our own. And at the moment it means that we are hurting, weeping for the future and the children born into in. Weeping for the world and those caught up in it and what it and we will become. That we might not show it, that we might be trying to help others to cope, doesn't mean that we aren't. That we are being logical and just trying to get on with our lives, doesn't mean anything, beyond that this is perhaps the only way our experience and the world has taught us how to cope. Inside the pain is only too real and the fear and the uncertainty. And yet also the hope, those of us who have always been beyond the raggedy edge of humanity, whether we knew it or not, have always known how to nurture that, always in our own way. It has always been an essential part of us, as misguided and unlikely as it has often seemed. But now is the time to remember hope, whether we can see it or not. These are going to be "interesting times" and we need it now, more than ever.

#Autism
#ActuallyAutistic
#Neurodivergent

How dare you use autism awareness by promoting ABA? Go advertise your conversion therapy somewhere else!! 🤬🤬🤬

#FediBlock #ActuallyAutistic @actuallyautistic #autism

#autistic #adhd #Audhd #autism #neurodivergent

I’ve been reading about “stimming in autism”, which up until now was very confusing to me mostly because that’s the one point kept being repeated in the community being a must for an autistic individual. And I can’t relate to that at all.

Then I came across something that describes the purpose of ‘stimming’ is to deal with extra energy. Then it kinda hit me, I’ve never had the need to stim because I’m a low energy person in general.

I get overwhelmed with activities when they involve raising heart rates (yes, THAT too). I like quiet things, dead of night etc. Once at a time in my life, I was pretty sure I could hear flow of electricity.

So my question to the #ActuallyAutistic community: do you think stimming is a must for autistic people? Do you relate to it? Anyone know of any low energy stimming that gets overlooked?

Thanks! Much love!! 💕 #Autism #Neurodivergent #stimming @actuallyautistic

I am really trying to get this but as usual my #autism is preventing me from getting the joke (and yes I do know who Rod Steward is)

Tweet: Autism Awareness Aus @AutismAwareAus
Starting school is a big deal, particularly for children with #autism, #disability or additional needs. Learning Links shares tried and tested strategies for supporting an #autistic child to successfully transition to 'big school.' #disabled #kindergarten
https://sourcekids.com.au/top-tips-for-starting-school/?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-sourcekidsau&utm_content=later-39854543&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio

On top of all the other headaches and hassles that everyone experiences with ads, #neurodiverse folks like #adhd and #autism experience many of the bad effects even MORE severely than neurotypicals. The interruption, change in tone, sounds, lights, trying to hijack your brain into paying attention to this OTHER thing - yes, it's all a nuisance to everyone. But it can completely wreck those of us whose attention and focus dangles by a thread anyways.

Here is something that came up in conversation and everyone drew a blank:

Can anyone suggest books or resources for #neurodivergent parents parenting neurotypical children?

Is this even a field of study that exists? Or just ND people as parents in general?

#parenting #representation #adhd #autism

love this movie.

For those interested, David Byrne has spoken publicly about believing he's on the autism spectrum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtX6emk6U5k

#autism

Hey all, I'm giving a talk about ASD and ADHD self-diagnosis, and I want some community feedback on a question. Do you agree with the categorization of symptome in this image?

If so, post a 👍, if not 👎, either way please comment on why.

Please only respond if you have one or more of ADHD, ASD, or OCD, or if you have relevant professional experience in one or more of those.

Thank you! 💜

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#ADHD #ASD #OCD #Poll #SelfDX #SelfDiagnosis #Boost #ActuallyAutistic #Autism

I am not the author of the image, but want to discuss it in my talk.

https://neurodivergentinsights.com/misdiagnosis-monday/adhd-vs-autism-vs-ocd

Is autism self-diagnosis valid? Yep. 💜

Hey all, after reading dozens of research papers, and meta-analyses, and living through it, I made a thing!

I'd love it if you'd check it out! 🥰

https://codeberg.org/alicewatson/asd-self-dx/src/branch/main

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Update: I've added *a lot* of new stuff to the project.

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@actuallyautistic #ActuallyAutistic #Autism #ASD #Trans #SelfDiagnosis #SelfDX #SelfDxIsValid #Research #Codeberg