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- Thread starter The Penguin
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You will fit in not all of us had an official diagnosis.
Welcome, Steff! What do you like doing in your free time?
ClowningAround
New Member
Hello, I am a 20 year old from the Midwest in the US. I was diagnosed back in July of this year, along with social anxiety.
I am interested in participating here because I am constantly trying to understand how my brain works and how others handle and manage it. I don't have many friends with autism, so I think it would be very beneficial for me to reach out to others for the support I'm lacking in the real world.
Thank you for having me
I am interested in participating here because I am constantly trying to understand how my brain works and how others handle and manage it. I don't have many friends with autism, so I think it would be very beneficial for me to reach out to others for the support I'm lacking in the real world.
Thank you for having me
Xinyta
☆Being my weird self~♡
Welcome, @ClowningAround
It is difficult to fit in, in a NT world built for NTs by NTs. But you are most definitely not alone. In fact. A enlightening book I highly reccomend reading, if you haven't already, is 'Neurotribes' by Steven Silberman. This book has helped me so far, while I also deal with mental health issues. Psychosis namely.
One thing to remember is that your Autism is part of what makes you uniquely you. The best part of it need to be nurtured and allowed to grow. And part of that is learning to minimize or mitigate the negative aspects of ASD. But that too is subjective, as our neurodivergence doesn't have to be negative thing.
If you find yourself:
- Doing stimming. Such as flapping hands, rocking back and forth, humming, repeating slogans/sayings/phrases, etc.
- Avoiding certain kinds of overstimulating things. Such as; Sounds, smells, tastes, textures, touch, light, or other miscellaneous stimuli.
- Finding conversations hard to engage in due to misunderstanding and/or not processing socail cues. Sarcasm, jokes, and turns of phrase are common examples.
- Enjoying keeping your place tidy, messy, or in a certain kinda order. That any disruption of this, is agitating and/or overwhelming.
- Making rigid routines for every little thing you do, or have certain routines for different time frames during the day.
- Finding large crowds of people overwhelming. Especially in places where you can easily be blocked out of quickly exiting the area, without some kinda intercepting interaction.
- Needing to know your paths you can walk, the details of rooms you frequent, and the quick exits of public areas. All incase you start reaching a point where you are about to be overwhelmed.
- Hyperfixated on one or more things that hold your interest. Making near all your time spent on these hyperfixations, over anything else.
All these are a normal part of being ASD. And like anything in life, you just have to find a happy medium. Where you can still be yourself, but also help yourself when you can tell you need time to yourself.
That's the other thing. It is not selfish to want alone time. Being alone is a good thing. But this doesn't mean you are not compassionate, kind, and friendly. You just are at a point where communication is not possible due to overstimulation, or maybe you are just trying to avoid stress and inevitable overstimulation.
In anycase. I'm glad you are here with us and hopefully this will become your second home. We all look forward to seeing you post more and are happy to answer any questions you have.
It is difficult to fit in, in a NT world built for NTs by NTs. But you are most definitely not alone. In fact. A enlightening book I highly reccomend reading, if you haven't already, is 'Neurotribes' by Steven Silberman. This book has helped me so far, while I also deal with mental health issues. Psychosis namely.
One thing to remember is that your Autism is part of what makes you uniquely you. The best part of it need to be nurtured and allowed to grow. And part of that is learning to minimize or mitigate the negative aspects of ASD. But that too is subjective, as our neurodivergence doesn't have to be negative thing.
If you find yourself:
- Doing stimming. Such as flapping hands, rocking back and forth, humming, repeating slogans/sayings/phrases, etc.
- Avoiding certain kinds of overstimulating things. Such as; Sounds, smells, tastes, textures, touch, light, or other miscellaneous stimuli.
- Finding conversations hard to engage in due to misunderstanding and/or not processing socail cues. Sarcasm, jokes, and turns of phrase are common examples.
- Enjoying keeping your place tidy, messy, or in a certain kinda order. That any disruption of this, is agitating and/or overwhelming.
- Making rigid routines for every little thing you do, or have certain routines for different time frames during the day.
- Finding large crowds of people overwhelming. Especially in places where you can easily be blocked out of quickly exiting the area, without some kinda intercepting interaction.
- Needing to know your paths you can walk, the details of rooms you frequent, and the quick exits of public areas. All incase you start reaching a point where you are about to be overwhelmed.
- Hyperfixated on one or more things that hold your interest. Making near all your time spent on these hyperfixations, over anything else.
All these are a normal part of being ASD. And like anything in life, you just have to find a happy medium. Where you can still be yourself, but also help yourself when you can tell you need time to yourself.
That's the other thing. It is not selfish to want alone time. Being alone is a good thing. But this doesn't mean you are not compassionate, kind, and friendly. You just are at a point where communication is not possible due to overstimulation, or maybe you are just trying to avoid stress and inevitable overstimulation.
In anycase. I'm glad you are here with us and hopefully this will become your second home. We all look forward to seeing you post more and are happy to answer any questions you have.
Welcome, @ClowningAround. I hope you find this forum as welcoming and helpful as I have.
Welcome to the forum!
Welcome @JayCee
Welcome, JayCee
SoundOfSilence
New Member
Hello everybody,
I came across this forum while researching something else, so decided to sign up and participate.
I'm a 20-year-old male, from the UK, and frankly am just looking for new friends having been through a lot in the recent months. Please don't hesitate to send me a message, I am happy to talk to anybody.
I came across this forum while researching something else, so decided to sign up and participate.
I'm a 20-year-old male, from the UK, and frankly am just looking for new friends having been through a lot in the recent months. Please don't hesitate to send me a message, I am happy to talk to anybody.
hello and welcome. Tell us more about yourself, your likes and dislikes, hobbies and stuff. It'll be easier to connect to you, after we know more. Wishing you to have a good day.
Xinyta
☆Being my weird self~♡
Welcome home, @SoundOfSilence
It's great to have you with us. Whether you have Autism, ADHD, or something else. You are a brother/sister in arms here. I would say the same, and not hesitate to post your questions or share experiences. Whether here or in relevant threads. We are happy to help and give insight.
It's great to have you with us. Whether you have Autism, ADHD, or something else. You are a brother/sister in arms here. I would say the same, and not hesitate to post your questions or share experiences. Whether here or in relevant threads. We are happy to help and give insight.
HI and welcome to the Forums.
There are a number of folk in the UK here, and I expect you will work out who they are in due course.
Do get to know us a bit by hanging around for a while
Welcome, Tom.
Welcome SoundsofSilence
This is a warm and friendly place. Read around, ask questions. Between all of us, we've been through it all.
Welcome SoundsofSilence
This is a warm and friendly place. Read around, ask questions. Between all of us, we've been through it all.
82_Percent_Cat
New Member
Hello! I'm pretty new to finding out that I have ASD, so I apologize in advance if I use any outdated terms or say anything offensive. It will definitely be from a lack of knowledge, not intentional. This is also going to be a long post.
My therapist (the type you talk about your general mental issues and problems with) used to work with Autistic adults for a living, and he told me after many sessions that almost all of my problems are the same kinds of things that people on the spectrum deal with and that the way they were affecting me was also typical of many people with ASD.
When I was very young, an older kid called me a freak and said it was weird that I never looked him in the eyes when he was talking to me. So I started looking at people's noses so they wouldn't realize I wasn't looking them in the eyes. Looking back, it seems obvious, but I never told anyone I was doing that, so no one ever mentioned that I may be autistic, at that age.
I'm old enough that I don't think I ever even heard about Autism until I was well into adulthood. I don't even know for sure how diligent people were at diagnosing it back then.
Over the last 20 years or so, I have had a few people who were either related to or friends with people with ASD that told me I should look into it because they thought I had it as well. I never took them seriously because I didn't understand it well enough to see the signs in myself.
But after my therapist pointed it out, I started reading about it and watching videos. After a year or so of digging deeper and deeper into it, and looking back on my incredibly difficult life, and from what the therapist uncovered, it's clear that I have a bucket load of issues/conditions(?) that many people with ASD have. Including severe hypersensitivity (emotional, rejection, as well as sounds, light, smells, etc).
I have had a few people I thought of as friends in the past, but I have none now, and have become mostly a shut in, leaving my home 1-3 times a month only for things that I absolutely have to do, and often starting to leave, but turning around and going back in because I'm getting to stressed. When I had a couple people I thought of as friends (who ended up badly screwing me over, or in some cases some have passed away), I was able to deal with being out. With no one left, I have serious fear and anxiety about interacting with people.
After being completely alone for the majority of the pandemic, I think I have lost whatever skills I had developed to unknowingly mask as well as to deal with the stress of people constantly misunderstanding my intentions.
It would appear that I have been in an Autistic burnout for many years now, and have no support system to help pull me out of it. And it seems to me that life is just getting more and more difficult and unpleasant all the time. I also have ADHD. From what I have read, a lot of people that have ASD have ADHD as well. Finding out that I have it is also just as new, so I'm trying to deal with a lot.
That brings me to why I am here. To hopefully make some friends and learn how to deal with the damage of life time of trauma and not getting the support I needed, and learning how live a better life moving forward. I'm currently feeling very hopeless, and I'm hoping chatting with other people who have been through it will help bring back some hope.
I get along much better with cats (and other animals) than I do with people, but I'm willing to give you all a chance. LOL
My therapist (the type you talk about your general mental issues and problems with) used to work with Autistic adults for a living, and he told me after many sessions that almost all of my problems are the same kinds of things that people on the spectrum deal with and that the way they were affecting me was also typical of many people with ASD.
When I was very young, an older kid called me a freak and said it was weird that I never looked him in the eyes when he was talking to me. So I started looking at people's noses so they wouldn't realize I wasn't looking them in the eyes. Looking back, it seems obvious, but I never told anyone I was doing that, so no one ever mentioned that I may be autistic, at that age.
I'm old enough that I don't think I ever even heard about Autism until I was well into adulthood. I don't even know for sure how diligent people were at diagnosing it back then.
Over the last 20 years or so, I have had a few people who were either related to or friends with people with ASD that told me I should look into it because they thought I had it as well. I never took them seriously because I didn't understand it well enough to see the signs in myself.
But after my therapist pointed it out, I started reading about it and watching videos. After a year or so of digging deeper and deeper into it, and looking back on my incredibly difficult life, and from what the therapist uncovered, it's clear that I have a bucket load of issues/conditions(?) that many people with ASD have. Including severe hypersensitivity (emotional, rejection, as well as sounds, light, smells, etc).
I have had a few people I thought of as friends in the past, but I have none now, and have become mostly a shut in, leaving my home 1-3 times a month only for things that I absolutely have to do, and often starting to leave, but turning around and going back in because I'm getting to stressed. When I had a couple people I thought of as friends (who ended up badly screwing me over, or in some cases some have passed away), I was able to deal with being out. With no one left, I have serious fear and anxiety about interacting with people.
After being completely alone for the majority of the pandemic, I think I have lost whatever skills I had developed to unknowingly mask as well as to deal with the stress of people constantly misunderstanding my intentions.
It would appear that I have been in an Autistic burnout for many years now, and have no support system to help pull me out of it. And it seems to me that life is just getting more and more difficult and unpleasant all the time. I also have ADHD. From what I have read, a lot of people that have ASD have ADHD as well. Finding out that I have it is also just as new, so I'm trying to deal with a lot.
That brings me to why I am here. To hopefully make some friends and learn how to deal with the damage of life time of trauma and not getting the support I needed, and learning how live a better life moving forward. I'm currently feeling very hopeless, and I'm hoping chatting with other people who have been through it will help bring back some hope.
I get along much better with cats (and other animals) than I do with people, but I'm willing to give you all a chance. LOL
Hello & welcome @82_Percent_Cat...!
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Would anyone please listen to this song with me?- Started by RemyZee
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