So what is it like being autistic?

Until a few weeks ago, I wasn't even aware I was autistic...

So whats up?

I originally wrote this blurb, it got very dark, very negative, very quick. So I figured I'd give it a retry.

The diagnosis was recent and I have been mulling it over, it never actually occured to me that I might be autistic, which as I have found out, is very normal for autistic people.

Wait... How is that normal?

Due to the compartmentalising and black/white picture our brains use, we just assume everyone is living on the same preset.

TV portraying autism as screeching monkey people, probably doesn't help with that perception.

A lot of asperger behaviour is easily tossed under the introvert hat as well, making it even less likely to think that something is off.

Is that really autism though?

Aspergers is a form of high functioning autism, but I know there is autism turned to 11 as well, where people can barely function outside of a set schedule.

So my experience isn't representative of the entire spectrum, but it seems from my reading that a lot of aspie's were not aware that anything was amiss.

We need to talk about autism!

I am by no means an expert, I will try to destigmatise a bit of what it means to be autistic though.

We don't have an automatic system in our heads, that does stuff for us, everything is very manual, mechanical and deliberate.

What I mean by that, is that conversations, body language, noise filtering, emotions and a bunch of other daily things, isn't something we just do.

To know how we feel, we have to actively sit and think about it, to do noise filtering, we have to actively block out all incoming noise, including your voice.

The thinking about things means we can't get back to you right away, but also that we appear to "lack emotions" when presented with excting news.

I think this leads to conflict with neuro typicals and neuro atypicals, as we can find them loud and emotional, where they can find us very offensive and uncaring.

So autism means you have to do everyhing manually?

From what I see, aspies get the automatic part when it comes to subjects of interest, which are often mechanical things and/or research.

This comes to show in knowing a lot about interest subjects or being able to use/understand systems/technologies we have just been introduced to.

This can sometimes be referred to as hyperfocus, which means we lock in on a task or subject for hours on end, without noticing other people, drinking or sleeping.

So does that mean neuro typicals and atypicals can't be friends?

Most certainly not, it just means both people need to have the capacity to accept people who are different than themselves.

There is a lot of places where we can benefit from each other, especially if we understand eachothers needs.

Created 2025-03-07 - Updated 2025-03-07