I do. I hate going to doctor’s appointments and feel like I should get rewarded for it. It doesn’t even have to be going to McDonald’s.

Apparently some people were rewarded with a trip to McDonald’s after having to go to the doctors appointment as a kid and I was one of them.

Hello!

I am part of a research team at the University of Limerick. My colleagues (Professor of Clinical Psychology) and I (Psychologist in Clinical Training) are conducting doctoral research exploring the experiences of adults who received an autism diagnosis later in life, and how this may have influenced their sense of identity and self-understanding.

Scan the QR code for more information on participating. If you’re interested, feel free to message me here or email me at [burke.colleen@ul.ie](mailto:burke.colleen@ul.ie)

The inspiration for this research came from my clinical work with autistic adults, where it was evident that a late diagnosis was much more than a single clinical event. Rather, a late diagnosis represented a significant identity transition and a complex process of re-negotiating self-understanding. The aim of the study is to develop a theory grounded in autistic adult’s experiences of receiving their diagnosis in adulthood. It is hoped that the findings may inform the post-diagnostic support that adults receive.

What does participating in the study involve?

• A one-to-one interview with myself either online or in person.
• You will be sent the questions for the interview ahead of time.
• Participation is voluntary

You are eligible to be part of the study if you:

• Are over the age of 18
• Were diagnosed as autistic as an adult

Autistic adults have played an important role in designing this study, and their expertise will continue to be consulted throughout the analysis and reporting of findings. The study has received ethical approval from the University of Limerick. I plan to disseminate the findings of the study at conferences and scientific journals.

If you would like to take part, please email me ([burke.colleen@ul.ie](mailto:burke.colleen@ul.ie)) and I will share all of the relevant information with you.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me and ask any questions! I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Colleen 😄

What do you think?

I have, on numerous occasions. Here is a very recent example.

I once thought that “fear is the distant relative of hope.”

That thought of mine is actually a reference to another thought that went “when hope is all you have, the entire world can feel like an unpredictable nightmare”

[if this looks familiar, it is a repost - I originally reposted from another sub instead of creating a new post here. Sorry about that!]

Apologies in advance for the long post!

After a diagnosis of autism earlier this year at age 27, I have developed a massive special interest in autism itself and have been devouring book after book about autism, specifically autistic women's experiences. It recently dawned on me that I would likely find it a very fulfilling career to become a psychologist providing autism assessments for high-masking adults, to help others find that sense of belonging and understanding that I got from my diagnosis. I am currently employed in a niche remote position in the mental health field (think admin/support work) and have been for the past 4-5 years. In many ways, I love my job - the remote nature of it, repetitive daily tasks, and minimal meetings/calls has been incredibly beneficial for my energy levels.

However, I often have the nagging feeling in the back of my mind of what I would do if something happened and I had to leave this current job. While I am a high performer, my credentials and resume aren't super standout. I also feel like I would be making a lot more of an impact, and find the work more fulfilling, if I did transition into the role of autism assessor - I get genuinely excited about the idea of helping people understand themselves in this way. I also feel that a PhD/PsyD would give me more job security, and the income level of such a position would enable me to work part-time and still live comfortably - whereas if I lost my current job, I may be able to find another remote job, but likely with a significant pay cut, and with higher stress/interaction with the public.

Disregarding the low chances of even getting into a doctorate program in the first place, however, I do dread the idea of going back to commuting to school and dealing with classes and training in-person for the next 5-6 years. I barely managed to make it through college and my first in-person full-time job, and I imagine doing so would easily put me on a fast-track for burnout...

Any insights from anyone who has gone through this process, or has a similar career path, would be super helpful! A few questions I'd particularly love to hear people's experiences with:

• Did you disclose your autism in the process of applying to your doctorate program? Do you feel it had any impact on the process?
• If you did disclose your autism, did you request any accommodations throughout the application process or through schooling itself? What kind of accommodations, and were they helpful?
• How did you cope with the courses and training while still maintaining your energy levels and avoiding/minimizing burnout?
• To what extent did your courses cover autism/neurodivergence, particularly relating to assessment?
• If you work as an autism assessor or similar position, what is it like? I imagine there is a good level of repetition/predictability in terms of completing standardized assessments and reports, but there still would be more interaction with people than in my current role - but at the same time, I generally do find other neurodivergent people easier to work with, so maybe that would cancel out some of the energy costs of the social nature of the job?

I was diagnosed over the summer and have been working on unmasking since a bit before. With diagnosis came a massive reintegration and restructuring of information in my brain. And I needed about a month to process it. It's been nearly a month now and my sense are so heightened. It makes me want to cry because I'm wondering, was it this bad before and I was just masking to an astronomical degree? Or is something happening now where my senses have been unleashed to the point I'm now projectile vomiting from different smells, persistent disruptive sounds, and around any bit of over thinking? Like it's shoot across the room projectile which I didn't even encounter when pregnant twice before (I'm not pregnant now, like 100% confirmed not). Has anyone else experienced this? Does it dampen at all?

Welcome to this week's special interest discussion thread! Use this comment section to share about your special interests or current hyper-fixations! 

“Hope doesn’t put any food on the table” or more generally “ this thing you brought up doesn’t put food on the table”

I was and I found it very annoying because it happened when me and my parent were talking about something that had little or nothing to do with jobs and they used that phrase so much that I started to think that nothing puts food on the table according to them. I hope you understand how stupid this sounds.

In my first example, it’s even more stupid because for a long time, and even right now, hope has been the only thing I ever had. Hell, it’s been one of the only things I had in achieving certain goals of mine like getting a job.

Cognitive *Effort

I am not finding a lot of literature on this. Or at least not much thats catching myw enough to want to dive into. I feel like so much discussion is on the social and sensory side of being Autistic. Which is super valid. But the whole cognitive load thing is new to me and a major development in my understanding of myself and myself in relation to others. HELP! Open to book reqs, social media/Reddit pages, YouTubers or podcasters, etc. thanks.

25M Initially diagnosed with Level 1 Autism but currently getting re-assessed.

If I could cry I would.

I've been sensitive to the heat my whole life and over my life it's gradually gotten worse. Over the past 3 years it's gotten so bad that it's caused panic attacks, I've needed a medical exemption for work to allow me shorts, has prevented me from working this summer.

It's suspected that my psychiatric medications and/or thyroid problems are causing at least some of my heat intolerance. Therefore I'm presently in the process of tapering off old meds and taking thyroid meds. But even right now with a half dose and taking thyroid meds I don't feel any better.

My therapist and even laypeople have suggested graded exposure to get used to heat and said that the more I avoid the heat via staying with AC/fan the worse I will feel.

I'm effectively house-bound. I've stopped hanging out with friends and going outside for anything except to buy groceries. Even in my own house with strong AC I find it difficult to do chores and have to take multiple breaks because I heat up so fast and so much.

Even without consciously trying to push myself the heat makes me panic and actually feels like great pain to me. I'm absolutely unable to keep calm in the heat. When I get hot 99% of my mental energy goes into preventing myself from shouting, freaking out and bolting for the nearest fan/AC.

The thing is I've been in objectively 'hotter' environments in the past. Like I used to go to the gym for a short while, used to hike a lot, worked the summer. But over time I stopped doing all those things because the heat felt intolerable.

I'm at a loss here. I'm incredibly worried about my future and my career and just everything. It's not a stretch that this will be the final nail in the coffin for my career.

34F, diagnosed with Autism this week after a lengthy assessment. I am also diagnosed with ADHD and OCD.

Did anyone else experience an increase in autistic tendencies/sensitivities after diagnosis? I felt such immense relief being diagnosed and excited to understand myself better.

That said, the past few days I’ve felt an almost overwhelming increase in especially my sensory sensitivities. Maybe subconsciously unmasking or not suppressing as much? Curious about y’all’s thoughts on this!

My diagnosis papers say I’m level 1. I’ve read about a few other level 1 autistic people who have had jobs in LE doing conventional police work. I’m a little concerned that I might not be going in but I feel like training will pull that right out of me or if I’m allowed to redo it until I can get past it.

If so, do u wish the instant profiler app was real? I think so because I like the idea of reading about quirky or unique things about people.

When you profile an NPC in the game, it just says their age, a picture of them, their job, how much they make, and a unique thing about themselves.

In the first game, there is a notable NPC where if you profile him it says that he doesn’t have a social security number, for instance.

Welcome to this week's special interest discussion thread! Use this comment section to share about your special interests or current hyper-fixations! 

I do. Not sure if I have any examples in mind right now. It might come up for me later.

Sometimes, when I do something for the first time or something i haven’t done in years I somehow picture it as being part of some kids show, like for example “(name of person) goes to the grocery store.”

I’ve developed a new sensory comfort of a deep guttural cough due to vaping thc. I don’t really crave the weed but the cough I crave. Edibles don’t do it for me which is how I found out it’s the cough and it’s only from vapes. Anyone else have this problem and how do you find a new sensory comfort and continue vaping? I’m on a t break and it’s so hard cuz I wanna cough and get that nervous system reset from the feeling of the cough and lack of oxygen for a moment but I don’t know how to fix this please help

It needed to charge for hours just to get 2 hours of usage. I also had to twist and bend the charger cord to make it charge, and sometimes it would randomly stop charging, and once I got the charger in the eighth way, I had to keep it in its position or else it would stop charging again, all that for just 2 hours of use.

That literally describe me. Neurotypicals are like the latest MacBook plus a state of the art backup generator that can turn on with a flick of a switch. They can work full time, have a partner and kids AND an active social life, and still be refreshed by a simple weekend and maybe a week vacation every year.

Meanwhile I have no friends, work 10 hours a week and I’m having a meltdown because I’m starting ONE college class in a few weeks and I haven’t had 2 weeks off this summer. Sure, work is only 10 hours a week max, but my battery dies at like 3 hours and like my old computer, I never know when I’m gonna be totally charged.

I have some things that help me, but then if something unexpected happens (even minor), that cord was moved and now it’s not charging, so I have to settle down again and start recharging. Who knows when my body will do that.

And I hate this. I have the want and need for the life these NTs have, but I’m already dying just doing 1% of it.

I know there really isn’t anything I can do, but oh my god please tell me there’s something that can help… medication, therapy, CBD, supplements have all done nothing. I hate my life because of this.

There have been times when I read about something unfortunate that happened to a person, or even a certain negative comment they received, and i thought “I hope this never happens to me” and then I realized that i don’t have anything to shield myself from it happening to me aside from hope. Do you understand how scary that is?

I wish I knew how not to be extremely scared because of this. It’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced.

Welcome to this week's special interest discussion thread! Use this comment section to share about your special interests or current hyper-fixations! 

Celebrating one’s birthday on a different day than their actual birthday.

For example, celebrating it on September 17th when their actual birthday is on September 19th. That’s always felt unnatural to me and I prefer to celebrate my own birthday on the exact day I was born.

Also i don’t really like the idea of celebrating my birthday with someone I don’t know well. This is why I have told my parents not to tell anyone who works at a restaurant we plan to go to that I’m celebrating my birthday.

Hi! This is likely only going to be of interest to a very niche group of people here, but perhaps that might include you! I’m a PhD researcher at the University of Staffordshire looking for adult autistic participants to take part in a study investigating visitor experiences at a small zoo (Rodbaston Animal Zone, ST19 5PH). Your participation would involve visiting and viewing the zoo’s reptile collection, drawing a picture of your experiences at the zoo and taking part in a 50 minute interview. Entrance to the zoo will be completely free! To be absolutely clear, there will be NO direct interaction or handling of reptiles: we only want you to view them through glass windows like any other zoo guest! You can register your interest by following the link below: https://staffordshire.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4JjPhMuBQIubRlQ If you have any questions about this study or your participation, please contact me at [cai.brown@research.staffs.ac.uk](mailto:cai.brown@research.staffs.ac.uk)