CAN I HAVE SOME MUSICAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Enjoying Imitation

In my previous article. I discussed imitation, repetition, and memorization. Imitation is important for learning purposeful movement and other skills. Imitation is the first step to learning. Read the article by Simmi Vasu here. Repetition is another important step in learning. While we don’t pay much attention to the role of repetition, Ananth’s Bharatanatyam experience made me tune into the…

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Can I ask you about your autism? Are you able to lie to people like if someone asked you if their outfit looked nice would you still say yes because you recognise if you don’t it would upset them? Cause my therapist thought I might have autism but she has said that if I wouldn’t do that then I probably don’t

I can talk about my autism a bit but to preface

1: I’m still fairly new out on my autism journey after years of denial

2: Unfortunately most professionals don’t know jack diddly about how autism actually works, including but not limited to maybe the therapist you’re seeing and also actual specialists for autism.

Yes, I can and do ‘white lie’ as the allistics like to call it in social situations. In fact, a lot of the only reason why I am able to function socially is keeping in mind how much allistics loooove being ‘lied to’. I however also went through really brutal social retraining out of necessity as a kid when I, and I am what is often considered to be a moderate to high functioning autistic person.

To me, a lot of allistic interaction is not honest, so in my very black-and-white functioning mind, if it’s not total honesty, it’s a lie. This is how my brain personally handles allistic socialization. Lies, half-truths, and going against my personal social sense of always providing completely honest and exhaustive answers to social prompts is how I have handled social interactions with allistics for a very very long time. This is probably not healthy (I honestly don’t know??) but it works very well and on the surface, to most people, I pass as an extroverted allistic person. It tends to fall apart when I cannot mask as well- if I’m under stress or emotional, if I’m overstimulated, if I’m mentally exhausted, or if I’m put in a situation or printed with something I’m unfamiliar with and haven’t practiced, it becomes very difficult for me to maintain the illusion. In terms of your question specifically, if it’s a stranger/coworker/etc- yeah I would simply flat out lie even if it’s atrocious. I simply do not know them well enough to care to offer them feedback, nor do I want them getting upset with me over a question they asked. If it’s a close friend or family member obviously looking for actual feedback- it’s a little more complicated for me. I would want to be honest but I tend to be ‘brutally honest’ aka blunt af, so I have to be super careful to like, dress it up and sugar coat it a lot and pepper compliments in there bc allistics get their feelings hurt really easily by bluntness even if the blunt comment is not inherently mean, they just personally feel like it was supposed to be mean. I can recognize allistic people have feelings attached to how I respond to things but that doesn’t mean I’m necessarily good at answering in a way that WON’T hurt feelings, since my social compass is working on different settings from theirs. ANYWAYS Autism comes in a lot of shapes and sizes and this really is personally just a snippet of how functioning and coping operates for me. Some autistic people are much ‘better’ than me at picking up allistic subtext, patterns, ext. Some autistic people are ‘worse’ at it. A single and highly variable question like that is not enough to determine whether or not someone has autism. We all have slightly different toolsets and ways of handling a world that is inherently aggressive to us. If you have not already, I would HIGHLY recommend taking the RAADS-R and the Autism Quotient tests online. While not used for official diagnosis, they are really helpful to understanding yourself and can be used with the right leverage in professional settings to help you have your autism acknowledged and receive the accommodations you need to be a healthier and happier functioning person. Many PROFESSIONAL AUTISM SPECIALISTS use tests that are highly outdated compared to the RAADS-R and Autism Quotient and are only trained to see the very crude and outdated caricatures of what autistic people look like. Many have no idea about what it even means for autism to be a spectrum and how it can change the experience so wildly between two people.

I wish you much happiness, self love, and hopefully a smooth journey! Remember always that regardless of the outcome, you are doing your best to live authentically and understand yourself.

Autism can be a beautiful thing. GLHF!

When I was younger and researching the autism diagnosis criteria and symptoms, I thought “oh I couldn’t POSSIBLY be autistic.” Because when I read “takes everything literally” I thought it literally meant EVERYTHING and I was like “I don’t take EVERYTHING literally, just most things!” And I just realized the other day that it didn’t actually mean EVERYTHING and that was an overstatement.

the way people online talk about autism is getting really weird, like do they know that neurotypicals still have interests? that someone being passionate about a hobby doesn't mean they're autistic? you guys know that right

If u interact with my posts, just know I respond like this:

retiring to your chambers >>>>>>

Never gonna get over how the anime made this scene just so,, haunting and elevated. Like I love the manga but I love how the anime has taken these scenes and elevated the themes of death and rebirth with simple shots like this and it’s why even after reading all of the manga I still get excited for the anime because I *know* the anime will not only be a faithful adaptation, but also an artistic masterpiece as it uses the medium to its advantage

"bluntly honest" autism but in the sense that i absolutely cannot refrain from complimenting strangers if i like their earrings or their shirt or i think they have a friendly-sounding laugh or i think their art is beautiful or i think the fic they wrote portrays the characters so well. "bluntly honest" doesn't have to mean "mean". i love to tell people things that are kind and also true.

hey autistic people who get overwhelmed by large groups or noise or conversation or etc etc etc you’re not evil for wanting to leave a family gathering. just so you know.

autistic friendship 🎉

autistic you 🫵

REAL NOT FAKE????

Smile Brightly and Dance - Part II

Smile Brightly and Dance – Part II

Exploring Theater as a Tool for Stress Management  Many neurodivergent individuals and their parents face significant amounts of stress. This stress arises not only because of challenges that an individual has in areas such as motor functioning, executive functioning, and communication but also due to the environment. Finding the right environments for neurodivergent individuals to thrive is not…

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i'm sorry but i don't think we should call this the "autism website" when there's still posts with tons of notes mocking people who:

struggle with social skills / have anxiety around social settings

are unemployed / unable to work certain jobs

have intense or "age-inappropriate" interests

haven't had certain life experiences that are deemed universal/essential

struggle with personal hygiene

don't have any friends or dating experience

don't go outside much or at all

take things literally / don't get sarcasm/jokes

have unusual ways of speaking

generally aren't "normal"

neurotypicals are so funny sometimes. “well, just don’t forget it next time.” holy shit. you’ve done it. you’ve fixed me. who knew memory problems could be solved so simply? i am no longer autistic, i am ready to join you at the social function. by god.

happy autism awareness day/acceptance month, be aware of them

OOF 

(original text from article by devon price)