@autism101@actuallyautistic Appearing to know what's happening, what people have just said, what a phrase or concept means, but I'm actually completely lost. I bluff well. Chameleon behavior.
@autism101@actuallyautistic I’ve noticed on social media, I’ll comment and post my own content less, and like/repost others’ content more. I’m basically using other people’s seemingly more “acceptable” voices to communicate.
@autism101@actuallyautistic a career path in a subset of a field the core skills of which are all things i'm bad at and in which all the things i'm good at are actively derided and discouraged :)
@autism101@actuallyautistic This is so weird for me to see. All of these apply to me to at least a noticeable degree, but I have never been diagnosed with autism (or related disorder). I'm old enough that it wasn't a thing when I was school-aged, but I wonder if something was missed.
@heflin@autism101@actuallyautistic welcome to the club. Got diagnosed at mid 30s. It just wasnt a thing in a lot of places back in the day. Check out a couple official tests if you like. They‘ll tell you if you‘re on the right track and from there you could visit a psychiatrist or whatever the professional title in your area is.
@autism101@actuallyautistic
What I do and what is not really represented on the graphic is growing into new groups.
I often find myself quite passive in new social groups. I guess I am learning the characters, the social norms, the group culture. And with some time and understanding I will become more active. But eventually I am a slightly new version of me, fitting for this group.
@Dr_Obvious@autism101@actuallyautistic That was me. In a social group, a new workplace, even online. Watch, listen, make mental notes about the norms, the types of humour…
@autism101@actuallyautistic Thanks, that clears things up! They're mechanisms I recognise and know all too well from my hypoactive #ADHD I just hadn't heard them explained in spoons 😊
@autism101@alittlepuddins@actuallyautistic It's infographics like this that make me pretty sure that, diagnosis or no, I must be on the spectrum. Forced eye contact is definitely something I've been noticing in myself lately.
That site is where I discovered my own autism last August.
If you decide to try a couple of tests there and maybe explore other parts of the site, and if you decide that you may be autistic, then first of all: don't panic. Nothing's changed. You're still the person you were yesterday. You can do everything you could do before. A self-diagnosis just gives you more information than you had before — a way to explain parts of your life that you had thought were just you being different.
Feel free to follow @actuallyautistic, or the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag, or both, or neither. Feel free to talk about it here, or not. Don't rush to tell friends, family and your employer until you've thought it through. Similarly, don't rush to seek a formal diagnosis until you've weighed up the pros and cons: once you have it, you can never shrug it off.
@Adventurer@nddev@cinnamon@autism101@Bard@actuallyautistic What they said. I have been exploring this on & off for nearly 3 years. Had reached a point where I was pretty sure, then saw one brief description of childhood autism that nailed it. That was me at 7. Still learning. I wanted to tell the world, because it explained so much, but not everyone else will see it that way. Reaching out to & meeting up irl with another autistic woman in my age group is helping a lot.
@nddev@cinnamon@autism101@actuallyautistic I've been wondering if there might be some good resources for self-diagnosis. Thanks for the link, and for the advice. I'll check this out some time.
@pilum@JeremyMallin@autism101@actuallyautistic Doesn't all of masking count as "adapting to social environment"?
If you regularly have to hide from others, that you know more about a subject than them, or are better at something than them, I would count that as masking.
@nddev@autism101@actuallyautistic lol good point! That’s probably true of any single autistic trait and/or coping strategy. It’s the bundle (but not necessarily every element in it) that makes the characterization. Complicated.
Most frequent are: suppressing stims, intense self-monitoring and ignoring spoon levels as well as sensory issues. I'll sit there with a bad migraine, but still force eye contact, make myself smile and keep up the conversation.
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