Autistic Callum

AUTISM

Phantom HC ⚡

(tw: mention and description of tics and related injuries)

Phantom has a tic disorder. It's quite unnoticeable to everyone else but he definitely notices when he's ticcing. He has a lot of minor face tics so if people do see him tic, they mistake it for him pulling weird faces/being extremely expressive. The only people who know about his disorder are Copia and Aether. Aether sensed it and also checked him up when he first noticed, and Copia knows because it had to be written in Phantom's file. Occasionally, Phantom has vocal tics that are louder/more obvious than throat clearing and clicking but the pack seems to think his generic ghoul noises are a bit more different than everyone else's. His tics get significantly worse when he's stressed, tired, or excited. If he feels bigger tics or a tic attack coming on, he retreats to his room and calls for Aether to sit with him and tend to any injuries he receives if he's been punching. He usually takes a day off after a tic attack but people know Phantom likes a good long nap now and again so don't think much of it. Phantom doesn't want to tell anyone else in case they become concerned about him which would probably make his tics worse. He's also terrified of judgement even though he knows there wouldn't be any.

Autism as a concept has lived in the pathology paradigm from the very beginning. That’s about a hundred years of seeing Autistic people as “broken” and in need of fixing. It is officially diagnosed as a “disorder,” and the diagnostic criteria are full of pathologizing language. So for most of society, negative language and attitudes around autism are “normal.”

To someone in the medical or mental health field, pathologizing language is also “normal.” Same goes for people in education, particularly special education. It’s just how they talk about patients and students, they don’t mean anything by it, you HAVE to talk about a person’s deficits/symptoms in order to get them help. It’s just…normal.

But sometimes, when something negative is normalized enough, people can mistake it for being “neutral.” Which leads to people arguing that the word “disorder” is neutral, and that the actually neutral language of neurodiversity is “overly positive.”

That’s all incorrect, though. The word “disorder” is not and was never intended to be neutral. The language used to diagnose autism as a medical/mental health condition is not and never has been neutral. And “normalized” is not the same as “neutral.”

And so, here’s a handy dandy (and slightly snarky) graphic for anyone out there whose frame of reference could use some re-centering.

NOTE: Genuine questions are fine. Attempts to argue that pathologizing medical language is neutral OR that autism is a disorder are not. If you are uncomfortable in the realization that the language you’ve been using contributes to negative attitudes towards Autistic people, that’s a sign that you have some stuff to learn, not an invitation to get defensive in my comments section.

ALSO NOTE: Nowhere have I told anyone how to refer to or think of *themselves,* so don’t come at me with that one either.

ALSO ALSO NOTE: I don’t actually endorse anything in the “positive” column either. It is strictly to demonstrate that there is a difference between neutral and positive language, and all of it is meant tongue-in-cheek. Toxic positivity and supremacy don’t help anyone.

https://jennifer-129.ludgu.top/a/j1zrYie

Hey fellow freaks of tumblr,

at the ripe old age 35 I'm beginning to suspect I might have ADHD. Actually I've been carrying around that thought for some years now. There's currently noone in my life I can talk to about this. My partner refuses to believe me and stresses that I'm totally normal and like everyone else (I'm beginning to suspect he's got ADHD too and just thinks his experiences are the norm). But I don't see other people struggle with the same things I struggle with. I'm trying to get a doctor's appointment at the moment, which isn't easy.

What brought me to this point is the fact, that I'm pretty sure I have rejection sensitive dysphoria along with some other symptoms that make my life a living nightmare. Especially work, where I have little control over the environment.

Can the ADHD-side of tumblr maybe give me some tips on how to deal with RSD? It's going to take a pretty long time to get an appointment for diagnosis, so I thought I might try out some things in the meantime (it can't hurt, right? I mean, my hair dresser, who has ADHD and takes Ritalin for it, offered me her pills and I was very tempted. But maybe it's a bit of a smoother start to try some behavioral things first).

autism culture is choosing starvation over eating a food that you don't like

real!!

McClure pointed out that even if adults with ADHD seem to be excelling, they are the ones who actually struggle the most.

“ADHD girls are at such high risk of behavior like perfectionism, silencing themselves, and masking behaviors in order to fit in and succeed in this neurotypical world with relentless demands and expectations of them to feel like they belong,” she said.

Perfectionism is one way that women with anxiety and ADHD attempt to control their environment since they feel so out of control most of the time.

Okay. One load of laundry.

I believe in you, you can do this!

Don't you want little sock stickers with your favorite color, pattern, etc? 🥺

Cannot overstate the panic and dismay I feel when people's responses in a social interaction do not follow the multiple scripts that I have invented and rehearsed in my head prior to the interaction

Suddenly all my preparation is thrown out of the window and I'm having to juggle masking, listening and processing a thousand variables at once

Understanding The Spectrum (updated)

I CAN Network Ltd

PSA: If you are one of the few autistic people who work in an office (this would probably help ADHD people too), get yourself one of these in addition to your office chair. It is amazing for stimming at the desk while I'm doing work and it is socially acceptable at most workplaces.

happy Autism Awareness/Accepatnce Month!!

I drew some of the lil guys! (there's an explanation of what each one is under the cut)

(from left to right)

-red creature: spooked, perhaps by a schedule change

-lime green creature- drawing the blorbos from the media they're hyperfixated on

-pink creature: vibing, listening to the soundtrack from a movie on repeat prolly

-blue creature: overstimulated wet beast

-purple creature: sleeping w comfort object, dreaming of their special interest

-orange/yelllow creatures: went on a walk and got distracted together <3

-teal creature: infodumping about their hyperfixation/special interest (in this case the bubonic plague)(I was hyperfixated on that when I drew this)

-orange creature: vocal stimming because happy

-bluish green creature: tfw you get to eat the same meal you've been eating since you were 12

-gray creature: over/understimulated melted sad guy

-pink creature: amazed and a little overwhelmed by how much they are learning about the bubonic plague

idk who needs to hear this but many high masking autistics don't want to be told they're good at masking or "no one can tell ur autistic" as a compliment bc it reinforces the need to mask in order to be accepted socially (of course there are exceptions to this and not all autistics will agree)

growing up i was told so many times "u do a great job at appearing 'normal'" and let me tell u that made me feel incredibly insecure of unmasking in public (i have also been told "ur autism is showing" as a way for someone to tell me that i should 'put the mask back on', which is also very hurtful)

to this day im scared that ppl will not like me if im more "visibly autistic" so i oftentimes mask more than i'd like (which leads to difficulty forming real connections as well as burn out and anxiety)

(it's also ableist to say that not seeming autistic is a good thing bc that implies that autism is an insult or something to be ashamed of)

You know one thing I appreciate being able to find when I get curious about comparing different types of neurodivergence? Actual reliable information.

I freaking LOVE being able to see comparisons like this.

Yes, there's some external behavioral overlap (like how there's external behavioral overlap between autism and ADHD, or ADHD and anxiety, or C/PTSD, and on and on and on), but getting to have that acknowledged and see it clearly stated 'These bear some similarities and these are the ways they're different, and just because they look similar externally doesn't mean they're the same thing; the different source points for these overlapping behaviors point to different support needs that won't be met if they're treated as all the same thing when they're not' is both immensely satisfying and deeply fascinating.

(Especially since trying to look up comparisons between allistic versus autistic hyperlexia usually results in me slamming into a wall of 'autistic hyperlexia is the only form of hyperlexia that exists (pay no mind to the sources that briefly mention allistic hyperlexia before moving on to the "problem" of autistic hyperlexia) and autism and anything associated with it is supposed to only exist in children'-- which is infuriating as hell. 🙄)

That said, I will say I didn't appreciate that some of the results I came across took that patronizing 'autism is a problem and autistic people have tantrums' perspective. Way for those authors to show their ableist bullshit. (At least one of those articles I linked briefly toes that line for a sentence or two, but they moved past it quick.)

Still, I am so damn glad there's information that actually gives a clear-- AND ACADEMIC AND PEER-REVIEWED-- comparison of how autism and being an hsp are similar and different.