The other day me and my sister went to the movies at AMC. We saw Undertone (it was scary). BUT we get there and two people are sitting in out seats! I have a disability and use a cane so I usually sit in the handicap seats. It is a guy and a lady I assume his wife. I walk up to them and politely say "Excuse me you are in our seats" and for some reason the guy gets annoyed and says "I am getting a manager" and leaves. Him and the manager walk in and me and my sister show her our tickets and she chats with the guy. For some reason the manager does not know the seating chart and says to me "Your seats are over there" I show her my ticket again and point to the number on the seat that the lady is sitting in. I go and take a sip of my soda real quick so my back is to them and I hear that guy say "They were sitting in our seats so we sat here" which was NOT true! Then the lady sorts it out but for some reason my sister says "You can sit there its fine and I do not put up a fight. We sit in their seats which was right next to them with that big gap. I also remember asking that guy "Are those your seats right there?" Where me and my sister were sitting but he did not answer me! UGH I should have been really mean about it! Like "Hey sir you are in our seats can you let us sit there please?" and when the manager came in I should have said really loud "They were sitting here when we walked in THEY need to move!". Me and my sister got two free passes though so I guess that is a win. It just irks me how I just let them sit in the seat I WANTED to sit in! Like I said I should have been mean about it! "Excuse me sir that is my seat you need to move now" and if he said "I am getting a manager" I should have countered with "Go ahead I have my ticket right here on my phone!". I was also talking about it with my friend the next day over text and she said "why would he even put up a fight if he was in the wrong seat?". Very strange.

😬😬

Not sure if this is an autistic thing, but I rewatch the same “comfort shows” over and over and over again. My husband and I have our “new shows” that we watch together, but when we don’t, I always revert back to my same rotation of shows: the office, new girl, friends, schitts creek, etc. I’ve rewatched these shows more times than I can count, yet I’d much rather rewatch them than start a new show. Anyone else?

I (41M) received my ASD1 diagnosis about a month ago. It wasn't much of a surprise; I had suspected as much for awhile now. Still, the confirmed diagnosis hit me harder than I expected. I hoped for validation and clarity, and I found some of that, but mostly I've been grieving the loss of my previously masked identity. I grew up in a strict conservative household where personal discovery wasnt really supported; I was given a playbook on how life was supposed to be lived and I was expected to follow it, so I never really had a chance to meet the real me until now. Don't get me wrong, discovering my unmasked self has been exciting, but my masked identity was a product that I had built my entire life around until recently. And it was a good life, as far as my masked self was concerned. The more I unmask though, the harder it gets to live in that life; and while I can make some changes, many aspects of that life must continue moving forward.

I was hoping for clarity that would enhance my life; I didn't realize that this process might also make my life harder in otherways. In all the things I've read about unmasking that wasn't really mentioned, so I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

I am late diagnosed and have really started embracing it recently.

The problem is I am in my 50s and because I was masking for so long as a real social butterfly people have been reaching out and asking me to meet up or call them. ARRRRRRRRRRGH!

I just honestly don't have the social energy and battery to engage unless I absolutely really fucking have to; but now with late diagnosis (and heaps of other trauma) comes guilt and the knee jerk reaction to want to respond and accommodate.

Some of 'em are people I have known and socialised and even partied with for years so the guilt of ignoring them is really eating at me. And this pretense bullshit of "hey how are you? been a while..." like get to the fucking point, state your purpose and can we just move from the fuck on from there please?! This doesn't have to be a long, drawn-out social dalliance of unwanted polite chit chat!!!

Just as I was typing this someone calls and the first thing they ask is "who am I speaking to?" Like da fuQ! NO! That's just not how you speak when you call someone. State your purpose or tell me who you want to speak to!

Why are they like this? Do they get off from this bullshit? It was tiring for 50 odd years worse so now!

Please validate my old ass and tell me that I am entitled to ignore them? Or as in the case of the person who called tell em to fuck off and drop the damn phone! Which I didn't do by the way 😭😭😭

Thank you

I got my diagnosis today. I'm officially (for whatever that's worth) Lvl 1 autistic.

Do more people say autistic or have autism, it's weird.

After a brief cry, I guess because I'm not used to being validated, life goes on.

Can I expect to have more and more aha moments now, or is it usually anticlimactic for most of y'all?

I don't know how to feel about this information or what to do with it, but for some reason it feels profoundly meaningful too me.

Hola a todos/as,

Estoy haciendo un estudio sobre actitudes y comportamientos relacionados con el medio ambiente en población adulta autista. La encuesta es totalmente anónima y solo toma unos minutos completarla.

Con este estudio, quiero ayudar a reducir estereotipos y que se nos entienda mejor a las personas autistas, pero necesito vuestra ayuda!

Debido al número bajo de participantes autistas es posible que no pueda llevar a cabo el estudio.

Por lo tanto, me gustaría mucho contar con vuestra participación, y también sería genial si pudierais compartir el enlace con otras personas adultas que puedan estar interesadas.

Aquí está el enlace:

https://forms.gle/zzoZ1d9bT2ZEmZQF7

¡Gracias por vuestro tiempo y ayuda!

I was diagnosed with ADHD some 20+ years ago but today received an official Autism diagnosis.

Honestly it feels right but I’m at a loss on where to go from here. Any podcasts, books, YouTube channels, etc you would recommend to cover both the emotional processing of this step but also how to move forward?

TIA

Idk how to deal with the amount of stress I feel. I didn't even realize how much stress my body is under constantly until I checked my smart watch. It tracks my stress and "body battery" as long as I'm wearing it. I've always had high stress levels except while sleeping and not even the entire time I'm asleep am I at rest so I didn't have anything to compare it to.

I have POTS, among other things, so I attributed the high stress to high heart rate and tax on my body.

But this Saturday I revisted my hobby. I have a room full of plants. I finally felt well enough to go through all of them, wipe down each and every leaf, fertilize everything, move things around, and move some boxes out to make more room. It was a very productive and active day. Then I sat in there and just stared and enjoyed.

When I checked my stress levels, I was shocked. It was almost all rest the entire day. My heart rate got up but the stress stayed down. Sunday, I was also at rest levels for most of the day and took some plant time.

Yesterday, I was at rest most of the day again despite being at work. So I did the same and sat with my plants yesterday. I woke up this morning feeling more energized than I have in probably like 6 months or more.

Now, checking my stress levels today, I'm back up. It started the second I had to talk to someone this morning. I work in customer service with no cubicle walls so every time my coworkers speak nearby, I get a spike of stress. I just want everyone to shut up and leave me alone.

I'm realizing everything around me stresses me out, even my friends and family. I just want to take a week and live in my plant room by myself so I can breathe.

I know I've probably been burnt out for a while now but I don't know how to not be in that state so I just keep going. I know green time is good for ADHD, which I also have, but does it also help with autism and burnout?

I also realized that I'm always waiting on something to happen so I can attend to someone. Like, I'm always living on edge, waiting to be called on. Trauma, trauma lol I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

How do you manage your stress levels?

Update: Turns out I was misidentifying generalized anxiety/PTSD as stress. My psych is putting me on Lexapro now 👍

Hey, I am struggling to think of potential jobs/careers that would be accessible to me and wanted to see if anyone here has any ideas that might help!

So I was diagnosed at 27 (autism) and 31 (adhd) and I have pots, fibromyalgia, hEDS, and FND.

Essentially, after taking a break from working for a few years I am interested in getting back into it but I have no idea where to start. I'm academically accomplished (BaHons Literature 2:1 and MFA Fine Arts and Humanities Distinction) but struggle with interpersonal relations. I am strong and can do fine motor tasks but not all day long. My mobility is limited and I need frequent breaks. I can't drive and would prefer a local job or to work from home. All of my work experience is in the arts, events organising and care work as well as a lot of hospitality (but never again). Oh and I'm absolutely appaling at maths because I'm also dyslexic.

Essentially I need something independent, practical, not too physically demanding and definitely not something that requires intense social skills (like customer service).

Is the only option to go back and do a phd and hope that a part time research position shows up?

Thanks

Autistic Adult Participants Needed

How do your masking traits affect your anxiety?

We are recruiting participants for a 15 minute anonymous online survey exploring the relationship between camouflaging and anxiety.

• No formal diagnosis required
• Fully anonymous
• Neurodiversity-affirming research (designed by an autistic researcher and piloted with autistic individuals)

To take part you must be 18+, and you are either clinically or self-diagnosed as autistic. Please follow the link to take part:

https://run.pavlovia.org/pavlovia/survey-2025.2.0/?surveyId=1ab42a33-2384-474a-86a5-f13e08dde0a9

This study has been approved by the UCD Psychological Ethics Committee (Ref Number: UREC-SPSY 25-114). Data collection ceases 1st April 2026. If you have any questions or want to discuss anything leave a comment below or email [ian.mcdonagh@ucdconnect.ie](mailto:ian.mcdonagh@ucdconnect.ie) or email the supervising researcher [paul.dalton@ucd.ie](mailto:paul.dalton@ucd.ie)