Tag: actuallyautistic

lucasscheelk:

frodoismycat:

It’s hard to read, so I didn’t finish it but it’s nice.

I can help out with that, @frodoismycat

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A Prayer for a Non-Religious Autistic

By: Lucas Scheelk

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May my special interests combat depressive episodes

May my stimming fingers repair what self-harm has taken away

May my clothing layers be my armor

May my toes be graceful, sturdy, and stealthy for travel

May my pocketed stim toys provide comfort in public

May my routines keep me safe

May my routines keep me safe

May my routines keep me safe

May my sensory weapons – be it music, be it noise-cancelling headphones, be it sunglasses, be it grounding smells – defeat the presence of crowds, defeat the sirens, defeat the sun, defeat dissociation

May my self-love flourish, no matter how small

May my reminders aide my memory

May my reminders aide my memory

May my reminders aide my memory

May my hyperfocus enhance my self-education

May my infodumps release overloading information – verbal or otherwise

May my heart shield when necessary

May my logic question and deduce

May my surroundings continuously rain when I am most in need

For I am worthy

For I am worthy

For I am worthy

May my repetition help me heal

May my repetition help me heal

May my repetition help me heal

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@couragetobe – You can find my poem at QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology (I saw in your tags that you were wondering which book it came from)

Barely started this, and I am already in love with everything about it. The handle on the yarn is gorgeous – it’s Moda Vera Beetle, a 50/50 cotton acrylic blend – and the radial lines of the faggoting lace (not an epithet, a historical knitting term) are really pleasing and stand out despite the bright colourway. I hope to have this finished in time to wear to Mardi Gras, as it’s kind of the perfect mix of autistic/queer pride between the spiral design, the sensory friendly fabric and the rainbow colours. Pattern is Breathe by Siew Clark.

lifehackable:

more people need to see this

EXCEPT, what people need to realise is that ‘person-first’ is not the only way and that for certain people and certain groups, ‘identity-first’ language is preferred by many of their number, the d/Deaf/HoH and a/Autistic communities in particular. (neurowonderful has a good links post about identity-first language in the a/A community HERE.) If someone tells you they prefer identity-first language, RESPECT THIS. Don’t feel that it’s your place to tell them they’re wrong/not PC, explain to them that they ‘are not their illness/disability’ or that they’re ‘letting their illness/disability define them’, or ‘giving in to their illness/disability’.

Disability being seen as an exclusively ‘negative, dehumanising’ thing is incredibly problematic. A disability is a thing a disabled person/person with a disability has to live with. It impacts their day to day life, health and abilities. It does not make that person any less human than anyone else. You know what does that? Telling that person what they’re allowed to call themselves or identify as.

IT IS NOT YOUR DECISION. IT IS NOT YOUR CHOICE. IT’S THEIRS.

If you don’t know what form of language to use with someone, take your cues from them or ask them, ‘what do you prefer?’ if it’s important for your interaction.

And don’t use reclaimed words unless you’re entitled to use them. Someone with mobility issues calling themselves a cripple? Someone with mental health issues calling themselves crazy? They’re allowed to. You calling them or someone else that without permission or prior consent? Don’t.

Dear #actuallyautistic and #askanautistic

watchkeyphone:

Talk to me about your experiences with being temporarily and/or partially nonverbal?

I still can’t figure out if I’ve ever experienced it. A lot of the ‘official’ information (e.g. books) about autism doesn’t seem to mention it as a thing that sometimes happens to people who can usually speak – but it seems like the vast majority of usually-speaking autistic people mention it as a personal experience.

The closest thing I can think of that I have experienced is a few different thing:

1. When I get kind of ‘hyper-verbal’ when I’m overloaded, and my speech is very garbled and quick, and isn’t really communicating anything I want to say. E.g. I respond to a question quickly without realising and I say something that is the opposite of my actual opinion.

2. There are sometimes times when I have trouble putting a thought into words or working out how to respond to something (e.g. a vague question), but this doesn’t seem to fit the usual descriptions of being nonverbal? Because it’s normally due to the context and specific to the thing that I’m trying to say (e.g. I can’t explain one specific thing, but I can easily tell the other person that I can’t explain it), rather than a ‘global’ inability to speak.

3. Times when i am very reluctant to speak and it feels like a bit struggle to get words out. In this case its more often to do with the person I’m speaking to- usually when I’m socially tired and I really don’t want to spend the energy on interacting. But it’s not impossible for me to speak – I usually just keep my responses brief to try and stop the interaction from lasting a long time (and I can get irritable if people try to keep going).

So. Tell me about how it feels when you become nonverbal? Are you ever ‘partly’ nonverbal in any of the ways I describe? Would you consider them ‘types’ of nonverbal-ness, or just other facets of autistic communication differences? Is it possible/plausible that I’ve never been ‘fully’ nonverbal? Is it possible to have been nonverbal and not noticed? (infodumps greatly appreciated – reblogs/asks/submissions welcome)

The times I have actually experienced this are:

1. When I’m overloaded/having a meltdown/super frustrated or emotional. It’s like a ‘block’. The words are in my head, or, at least the feeling of what I want to communicate is, but I can’t make my mouth move to say them or translate what I’m feeling and force it out. When the overload or whatever passes, it eases off and talking becomes possible again, though fully unhindered speech may take time.

2. During sex, to a lesser degree. Rather than impossible, I often find forming words really hard when I’ve got all that sensory input, and taking the focus off enjoying myself and putting it into co-ordinating speech is kind of annoying, so I don’t tend to try unless I have to (i’m uncomfortable/in pain, i’m oversensitive, etc), or I’ve been asked a direct question that needs answering, like, ‘am I hurting you?’, ‘do you need more lube?’ or, ‘what do you need? (if something’s not doing it for me)’.