It's been a while but... New Autistamatic Video is up

[Markyg]

. The suggestions that Darwin, Newton, Mozart, Da Vinci were neurodiverse are just speculations, but it is inevitable that autistic people left their imprint

Apologies for singling a single point out, Darwin was not autistic.
One of my obsessions has been Rear Admiral Fiztroy, the chap who choose Darwin for his voyage on the Beagle. As their stories are very intertwined, i feel i got to know Darwin too. I have never seen anything in Darwins character that suggests autism, highly intelligent yes, open minded, and in the right place and time with right interests absolutely. These characteristics are however all that is needed to explain the developments of his ideas....
Incidentally, did you know he was only spurred on to publish his ideas 10 years after he spoke with professional collegues, he was approached by another chap with identicle ideas and he then jointly did a seminar on the subject? He could have ignored the second guy but instead involved him. Darwin was a very honourable, nice guy!
(Apologies again....rant over!)

 

[Autistamatic]

I was 47 when it hit the fan @Skids
It happened once before in my 30s but I went back to masking and the ratrace. The difference for me this time around is that I saw first hand some of what so many of us go through, I got a taste of what I'd managed to avoid by blending in. I didn't like it one bit. My world was turned upside down.
Thankfully I managed to weather the storm and came out on top, but now I'm open about who I am and I don't pretend.
Autism means that I'm not well suited to some things, but I'm very well suited to others. Autism has never taken anything from me, but my hiding it took a great deal. It took time and energy that were in short supply. It took my mental health and led to depression and anxiety. Autism didn't do that - faking not being autistic did.
Since I gave up the charade it's like a huge weight has been lifted. I don't dread work everyday and I don't come home exhausted and unhappy. I go in, put my headphones on and just do my job. I have no phone to bother me, I have only one boss to answer to, no involvement in office politics and I can stim to my heart's content. As long as I work the hours I'm contracted to and I get the job done I'm left alone.
It took a lot of work and patience, not to mention some luck, but it worked out for me in the end.
So I am proud to be autistic, because I'm proud to be me, and autistic is part of who and what I am. You can't separate what parts of me are autism and what are not, so if I'm to respect myself and the many fine autistic people I've met online and in RL then I must respect our autism too.
Being able to just act naturally, to be myself rather than the stressed out parody of NT normalcy I existed as for 47 years has been the most liberating, detoxifying experience of my life.