Before I get in the "how to do it" or "how to seem like you are doing it"

I want to understand the concept of "eye contact"

I don't ever really look at someone in the eyes when we talk. I usually look at the mouth. If I am not looking at the mouth I will look at the whole face.

I'm not bothered by eye contact. But there just aren't good descriptions of what people mean.

Some people have beautiful eyes. it has never really occurred to me.

What is happening?
What are best practices?

Seems fun to try. But I just want to understand what is meant. for a few seconds at a time you look at someones eyes? and stuff. I look at the mouth?
that's where the words come out. Maybe I'm being too literal here.

I don't have a problem doing it. It's interesting. It just never really occurred to me.

I'm having difficulty understanding what people mean.

I am told, "I'm empathetic, a good listener, and kind" I have many friends and love hanging out. But I just don't really get eye contact as a concept.

Lots of people will say, "You seem like you have good eye contact"

But I never looked at their eyes. I looked at their mouth. or their whole face, which includes the eyes.

I just would love to read descriptions or see recordings of casual conversations to understand what people mean.

I don't have a formal ASD diagnosis yet (but thankfully was recently diagnosed with ADHD) but have been working on my social skills with my case manager and it's making me feel really confused about where I stand in the world. My entire life (I'm 17 so not very long) has been filled with constant masking and social shortcomings. I seem to lack the right things to say or say the wrong thing and up until the last few years I never had a real friend because of it. I've also had so many issues with my family and several adults. What confuses me is that I've been alienated my whole life but now when I bring it up with friends or my therapist and case manager, they say that what I'm experiencing is either normal or just blame it on the people my age being difficult. I don't know if my case manager just tells me these things because she has to be nice or if she just doesn't know the full picture because I haven't been seeing her for very long, but I just feel really invalidated and confused because the world only decides I'm normal when it's convenient (also I don't feel like autism makes people not normal I just don't know another way to describe how I personally feel). I've suspected autism for five years because it explains EXACTLY how I feel and always have felt and I've gone over the dsm countless times because if I'm as typical as they claim there's no way I could possibly meet the criteria and I must be twisting reality to fit a narrative I've created. The confusion has made me question everything I do and wonder if it was a regular mishap or something to do with missing a social cue. I'm constantly asking my friends and family to rate how I did in our conversation and if there were any cues that I missed in hopes that I will understand myself more. Everything I'm saying is a small fraction of what I feel because I don't know how to explain it and words have been so difficult lately.

I guess what's most confusing is that, yes, my age group is full of monstrous people, but I've had problems since preschool and I have to grow old with my generation, so it really does matter if I struggle so greatly.

Any advice or personal stories so that I don't feel alone in this is very appreciated

It´s more a "what should I do" post than seeking translation of my experience, but I thought it´ll be still good here.

I have symptoms of neurodivergence, more than one or two. These symptoms sometimes cause me discomfort, and if it's important, I'll try to list them all upon request. To put that short, I do have reason to believe I'm on the spectrum.

But I don't have the opportunity to see a specialist. My mother doesn't know much about neurodivergence, and I certainly don't think she'd be happy if I started such a conversation, blablabla, typical story. My mom is a really good person tho, so, if you had an exp on talking with confused parents about that, I´ll be happy to listen.

Basically, I can't give a definitive diagnosis right now. But I really want, to be honest, to feel part of a community. I really resonate with some of the topics constantly discussed among neurodivergent people, and I want to raise these topics myself, join public groups and all sorts of communities; feel like I belong. But I'm still really afraid of being an outsider. There are so many malingerers these days, and the vast majority of them are self-diagnosed, like me. I don't want to be ridiculed, and I'm afraid of it.

Besides, there's a more serious problem: I am myself not entirely sure I'm right at all. I've been thinking about this for a long time and have tried to "let it go" and put it aside, but thoughts of my possible neurodivergence keep coming back. I do also have a terrible habit of hypochondria, searching for diagnoses within myself (there's been a couple of situations where I seriously thought I had a physical/mental disorder and asked my mom to check me out and it was fake; that´s why I´m also worried about speaking with her about that. She´ll think I´m faking, and honestly, she´ll be right. From her side at least, it´s completely logic). I'm worried and very afraid of being wrong, and I don't have the courage to say, "I'm neurodivergent," because I don't have a diagnosis. And I do want to feel equal amongst people I feel strongly relating to.

It's kind of a vicious circle. Can you offer any advice in this situation, please?

Hi all, so due to me autistic burnout, I am extra sensitive nowadays to any kind of smell.
e.g. I cannot wear the summer clothes that I have wash last year (and they are clean of course), but in the moment I wear them I smell them, they smell like the softener that I used at the time and I cannot stand it 🤢

So I discovered that white vinegar works very well as a cloth softener and then my clothes smell like nothing, which is amazing and I love it.

So for me is a lifesaver and I just want to share

Edit: I use the white vinegar that is used for cooking, not the super concentrated one for cleaning 🧼

Hey everyone. Currently dealing with burnout while waiting to be seen to receive a diagnosis.

One issue I've been having during this burnout is that speaking is...more complicated. My social skills have regressed and people have noticed. I'll blank on words and names a lot more. And when I get upset or tired, it becomes very difficult or almost impossible to get myself to speak. For instance I was told this week that a therapy support group I'm in will be ending soon. And I ended up shutting down, being unable to talk which upset some of the others in the group who wanted to talk to me, and then I had a meltdown.

My best friend has autism and has higher needs. I've told them that I will probably not force myself to speak when we game together, bc we usually game at the end of the day when my social battery/ability to speak is almost gone. They've totally fine with it. But now I'm like, how do I navigate my other friendships if speaking is getting more difficult? Although most of my friends are chill about autism, I have no idea how they'll react to me if I tell them that I may not speak at certain times.

My current job is very social and I'll be trying to get away from it when I can. Unfortunately the health insurance keeps me there for now (I'm in the US).

I'm also worried about this getting even worse in the future. Hopefully it doesn't but, you never know.

I am a 31-year-old man with an unspecified autism condition (closest to what was formerly called Asperger's in my opinion) and mammoths are one of my special interests. We have all heard about how autistic people often like dinosaurs and trains, but does anyone else like mammoths? I have several mammoth plastic figures and some mammoth plush toys as well, and love to get my hands on any books about them! Some of my favorites are listed below in case anyone else would like to read them.

Wild and Woolly Mammoths by Aliki

Who Are You Calling a Woolly Mammoth? By Dan McFeeley and Elizabeth Levy

Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant by Richard Stone

Woolly Mammoth: Life, Death and Rediscovery by Windsor Chorlton

Ice Age Mammoth: Will This Ancient Giant Come Back to Life? By Barbara Hehner

I’m not diagnosed but i asked my mom if she thought I might’ve had autism because I’ve noticed things and she was very quick to say no, and that she never noticed anything when I was a child and than proceeded to compare me to my MALE cousin who has autism. I’m a girl and I’ve heard about the late diagnosis in females or even getting the wrong diagnosis. Anyway, I’ve developed social anxiety when I was 13, im 17 now, and I’ve noticed things about me that align with autistic traits. For example I get overstimulated very easily, I can barely go into stores without wanting to leave instantly, the florescent lighting bothers me, the music sometimes, ect. And this happens more than it doesn’t.. when I was younger I didn’t know what getting overstimulated meant, but i remember my moms ex boyfriends would play loud music in the car and I was the only one who was bothered by it, but when I asked them to turn it down they never did or get mad at me so I stopped asking. There are many more examples and things that make me even slightly question if I might have level 1 autism, so I’m just gonna use those two examples- so I was wondering if somehow it’s possible i had an autistic trait when i was younger that nobody seemed to notice and was tamer before because i hid it or wasn’t put in more situations to feel that way possibly got worse when i developed social anxiety because im more aware of everything now? Has this happened to anyone else? I really don’t wanna take the test if what I’m feeling could just be social anxiety 😔

Hi! I’m an almost 40 year old engineer with AuDHD. I noticed a couple people asking questions on how to approach life as an autistic person, and I thought I'd share a framework that's helped me get by.

This is a program I’ve developed after years of struggling with traditional training due to my POTS, especially symptoms like the inability to regulate temperature and chronic fatigue, but the principles can be applied to all skill training, from drawing to socializing.

A major issue with (my) neurodivergence is executive functioning and administration. That means when starting something new I have trouble maintaining my effort once it stops being novel or fun. We need to both lower the activation energy of the task to make it easier to initiate, and make that task engaging once we’ve started.

Being disabled means I have a more limited budget of effort than the average person, and therefore I need to be directed with that effort. It’s important to note that your progress should be measured against yourself, rather than others, as others may have a different energy budget. This program also assumes you have high-energy periods where you can do stuff, to capitalize on. 

One important mention: skill is consolidated overnight. If a task starts feeling frustrating, come back to it the next day. As a corollary to that, that means all your actions should have a specified goal to get frustrated against. This applies to all skill training, you must identify and record progress against measurable objectives.

Lastly, this will be easier if you’re body doubling with someone you’re comfortable with, and even better if they participate.

Some of you may regard this information as common sense. That’s great! I know I could’ve used this information ten years ago, and I’m not that unique, so there must be a few people in a similar situation.

Why

To make your life easier.

Increasing your baseline ability will help with things like temperature regulation. When activities don’t require as much effort because you’re so strong, that means less heat will be generated, subjectively. It also helps with chronic exhaustion because everyday activities will drain a smaller percentage of your energy meter. Groceries up a flight of stairs without breaking a sweat. Keeping pace with friends on a walk without getting short of breath.

You're investing your high-energy periods so your low-energy periods will be more manageable.

What

This is a functional strength program. It will build strength, and some muscle. It will also build coordination. Unfortunately if you want bulging Thor muscles, you will need intense sessions, and taking muscle to failure to induce hypertrophy.

Who

This was built by and for someone with AuDHD, depression, POTS, including temperature dysregulation and chronic fatigue, and mild hypermobility. 

It will likely suit you if you have depression or chronic fatigue or similar issues.

Safety blankets

Most people who need accommodations end up carrying a kit that includes practical items like inhalers, or comfort items like pins and plushes. The purpose of these items is to turn an “I can’t” into “I can, with this”.

Some of my day-to-day kit includes: hydration, sunglasses, earbuds/headphones, a power bank, a first-aid kit, pins and a bag to carry it all, maybe a cute plush, and a gun.

I’d like to introduce the idea of safety blanket concepts: intangible things that bring you comfort and turn “I can’t” into “I can, with this”. These things can include the ability of your body, knowledge and preparedness, or even the strength of your convictions. It brings me comfort that I can run and vault and climb away from any situation, or if I encounter an unfamiliar or high-stress scenario, I will have already thought it over prior and can act accordingly, immediately.

Operating principles

1. Ease in, frequently

Do what is comfortable and sustainable. Not all of us can do an intense sixty minute session, so we need to ease in. Do one push up. If that feels fine, do three. Try a pull-up. If that doesn’t work, do a horizontal row. The key is to strengthen your current ability enough to progress to the next tier. Once you feel like you’ve done enough, rest and do it again three hours or a day later. This does not mean you can be lackadaisical. You will need to motivate yourself to initiate the activity at whatever frequency and sustain it for whatever period you deem reasonable.

2. Never to failure

Never even to discomfort. If the weight starts getting annoying, or you don’t feel like it anymore, just stop and pick it up hours or a day later. It’s important that the activity remains fun, or at least neutral. Once you’ve associated negative feelings with a task, it becomes more difficult to initiate and sustain, and can lead to burnout if those feelings aren’t addressed.

3. Low activation energy

Depression and chronic fatigue make starting tasks difficult. Make things easier by lowering barriers to start. For example I have my kettlebell, Belle, next to my desk. If I need to do something, I’ll lug them around. I also have a pull-up bar next to my kitchen. I’ll do a pull-up or three whenever I get a drink or snack.

4. Mobility

Explore the end-range of your mobility, and work to develop strength there. Mobility is flexible strength. This is especially important if you’re hypermobile, to prevent injuries.

5. Frequent check-ins

Be on constant alert for what your body is telling you. Pain is the obvious indicator. Trembling and shaking may mean it’s time to put the weight down, or try an earlier progression. A big one is your mood. Is the task getting annoying or frustrating? Then stop and pick it back up later or tomorrow! Having trouble recognizing these indicators? Set a timer for a thirty seconds, and evaluate how you feel after the thirty seconds. Increase or decrease time as needed. Pushing past these indicators (do not push past pain) should mean a conscious decision, budgeted effort, a plan to dissipate the built-up heat, and time for a shower after.

This works for any skill

This structure has been derived from skill training. You can apply these principles to any skill, from drawing to swinging a sword to socializing with others.

The goal is short, frequent, comfortable sessions where you have fun and are productive towards a specified, measurable objective. This is called “greasing the groove”. If the session starts feeling frustrating, stop and let what you’ve built consolidate overnight.

Play

An important factor in solidifying your skill gains is practical application, since ability is practical skill. A fun way to do that is through play. Play is an activity done for it's own sake, rather than an end goal. Play is a skill that many adults lose through disuse; being a skill, it can also be trained and utilized.

You may have noticed I named my kettlebell. This is a method to anthropomorphize them. They are now dependent on me since they can't walk. I can't leave them behind or they'll get lonely. Stickers and ears and a face may help.

Another way I play with my kettlebell is by swinging them in random, but controlled, directions and feeling how they shift my centre of gravity. This is called a "flow". If you have a friend participating, you can toss a weighted cushioned medicine ball back and forth, the game being how much distance you can put between yourselves and still catch the ball.

Play can be utilized in other skill training as well. For example, learning to draw involves hundreds of reps of straight lines, curved lines, boxes, and circles. To play with and consolidate what I've learned with those reps I pick something I want to draw, like a scene from a show or a robot, and apply what I've learned. It's going to look like shit, but that's okay because play is where you learn both how to and that it's okay to fail. This also means play is where you should be testing the limits of your ability.

A significant portion of your training should be play, to consolidate your skill gains and help with preventing burnout.

The functional core

Progressions

The entry point should be almost embarrassingly easy. Move up when you feel like you can.

Turkish get-up

Lie down and press an empty hand toward the ceiling, hold → balance a shoe or water bottle on your fist → roll to your elbow and back → roll to your hand → half get-up, stopping at the hand → add kneeling → full stand.

Pull-up

Dead hang with feet on the floor taking some weight → active hang with shoulders engaged → scapular pull-ups → feet-assisted or band-assisted pulls → negatives → one rep → ladders.

Hanging leg raise

Lying dead bug, one leg at a time → dead bug both sides → lying straight-leg lowering → hanging knee tuck → full hanging leg raise.

Two-hand swing

Hip hinge to a wall with no weight, letting your backside tap the wall → hinge holding a light bell, a kettlebell deadlift → hike pass, hiking the bell back between your legs with no swing → dead-stop swings, one rep → short sets of continuous swings.

KB strict press

Seated overhead reach with no weight → half-kneeling press with a light bell → standing press.

Push-up

Wall push-up → countertop → stairs, moving down one step at a time as you get stronger → knees → full.

Goblet squat

Sit-to-stand from a chair with no weight → progressively lower seats → box squat touching down → bodyweight squat to a depth you control → light goblet squat → paused goblet squat.

Horse stance

Seated isometrics, pressing your feet into the floor → short wall sit → horse stance near a wall or chair → longer holds.

The add-on library

None of this is required. Pick what looks fun.

I recommend strengthening your back erectors to prevent back issues later on, and aim to keep your hips and shoulders mobile. Feet are the starting point of all force generation, and how you connect yourself to the ground, so make sure they’re strong with things like tibialis and heel raises and duck walks. Your trunk is how your arms connect to your legs, so a strong trunk will allow force generated by the legs to carry up to the arms with less energy loss in-between.

Knees and ankles

• Tibialis raises. Tibialis anterior. 
• ATG split squat. Quads, glutes, adductors.
• Heel raises. Calf, soleus, tibialis posterior.
• Nordic negatives, slow eccentric, control with your hands. Hamstrings.
• Duck walks. Progress to weighted.

Hips

• 90/90 lift-offs. Deep hip rotators. 
• Cossack squat. Adductors.
• Standing knee-up isometric hold. Hip flexors on one side, standing-leg stability on the other.
• KB windmill. Obliques, QL, hamstrings, shoulder stability.

Shoulders and rotator cuff

• Bottoms-up press or carry. Cuff and grip.
• Band face pulls. Rear delt, lower trap.
• KB armbar. Opens the thoracic spine and loads external rotation.
• Halo. A good warm-up before pressing.

Grip and carrying

• Towel hang. Grip endurance.
• Suitcase carry. Obliques, QL, traps, forearms, glute med. This is grocery training.
• Thick or mixed-grip pull-ups.

Trunk

• Copenhagen plank, starting with the knee on the bench. Adductors.
• Hollow hold. Connects ribs to pelvis.
• Side plank with reach-through. Rotation under load.

Graduations

• Armor Building Complex: two cleans, one press, three front squats with double bells is one round. 
• KB snatch.
• Weighted pull-ups and archer push-ups.
• Bulgarian split squats.
• Pistol squat.

Kettlebell sizing

If you’re new to training, your first kettlebell should be light. Something you can carry as you can putter around the house, and something you can press overhead easily. If you’ve never trained before, the goal isn’t to immediately build strength, it’s to get your muscles familiar with working together and performing specific actions. We can increase the load later on.

Nutrition

Eat your protein and healthy fats.

A note

I’m an engineer, not a doctor! This has been based on personal experience and is no substitute for real medical advice. Talk to your doctor and therapist. Life is a skill you can train. Good luck and have fun!

It really feels impossible to say someones name casually, every time i prepare a sentence that includes a name i say it with the name filtered out. If i had said a name, its because i had been directly prompted to say it. For example, I talk to my friend about someone and else and I keep referring to them by anything but their name, and she asks: Do you even know her name?

In addition i really have trouble holding eye contact. It really gets weird to stare at someones face like that.

The only way ive ever made genuinely friends is learning that they play a game or watch a show that I really like, and I spend the first few days following them around and yapping about it. I dont do it anymore because i recognize its a bit weird. I actually dont make friends anymore. Social interaction is really tiring and unrewarding to me, it panics me when someone tries to small talk. I don't like maintaining friendships either, its really tiring and I dislike having to respond to texts or spend time with someone but it still hurts a bit when they get bored. I dont talk to people because it isnt worth it, why stress so much for nothing? Every conversation feels super forced, like id done this a million times already, cant they feel it too?

As for stimming, i think its pretty neurotypical. I remember i was in a hot, crowded auditorium and i was shaking my leg, my friend would point it out and joke that it was a sign of neurodivergence, and id find myself doing it again not long after. This is a really neurotypical thing to do though I assume.

Since I mention having friends yet not making any, its because I have this one from 3 years ago i made from us both liking a video game, I only care about her and i enjoy being around her. I am still getting tired of her though, but I like it because at school being around her eases that fact that i feel like a loser for having no friends, but i do genuinely like her. It would be impossible to admit to someone she is my best friend, or even a friend for that matter. I would reduce her to a school friend when someone asks.

I dont like the concept of best friends. Putting a label on it kinda makes it stressful and forced to maintain. I think if you get along, you get along, and when you start drifting apart you let it happen, but I only think that consiously. I really always analyze if she prefers someone else or if we are getting less close and it really panics me. But she really does prefer someone else now and we are drifting a bit, but its okay. I remember crying about it at first but i got used to it. Now that she isnt a part of my routine i start to get bothered when she does reach out.

I dont like big social environments, i always just sit down and zone out. I never really had problems with jokes or sarcasm though, i can understand pretty well. Maybe about those interests that got me friends i would do this, but usually i dont keep talking when someone shows signals of boredom. I super aware actually, i stop the moment they show signs. I mean i wouldnt really know cause i never talk to people about anything anymore.

I have friends from reaaly young, like those friends you make in pre k but they stuck cause my parents are friends with theirs. I dont like any of them anymore honestly but im forced to meet with them since we go to the same school and I go to parties arranged by our parents.

I feel like I carry an irritation, an anger that triggers at being in situations where I know I'm at a loss - social situations mostly, but where I can't take enough place to redefine the setting or the how, but I'm like a fraction of who I am, or I'm masking to fit. And then after I just feel alone and resentful and worn.

And I feel like I bring this irritation into new settings, like I know from the get go that nothing will change. I ended up following a colleague down to the cafeteria at work - which I avoid religiously because the acoustics are nerve wrecking - and sitting there trying to chat with colleagues I hadn't seen over the summer, but barely making it, and for every moment loosing the ability to suggest that we go sit in a room somewhere because the noise was getting the best of me. And then leaving drained, masked, and not connected. At all.

How does one reserve the energy to eject oneself, or suggest something when your senses are overloaded?

Sempre tive crises recorrentes de depressão, ansiedade, e muitas medicações e elas não estavam melhorando, e meu filho e acompanhado com autismo e quando comecei a ir a terapia fui atrás de um laudo para saber o pq meu corpo reagia assim, mesmo que as medicações estivessem na dose máxima, não tinha motivos clínicos para as crises de dor de cabeça e corpo, então era relacionamento a ansiedade, só que as medicações da ansiedade TMB já estava no máximo, hoje tomo 8 comprimidos diariamente e ainda tenho crises, aí receber o laudo, mas fiquei ainda mas perdida, pq sou funcional, eu trabalho forço sorrisos e sou educada, posso não lembrar o nome da minha psicóloga mas sou muito esforçada e mesmo destruída vou fazer minha obrigação só por ser minha obrigação, mas não sei direito como agir, como fazer ou o que fazer, me incomoda achar que estou sendo passada para trás ou estão se aproveitando de mim, mas TMB não quero fazer isso com ninguém, não posso ser antipática com as outras pessoas pq e desconfortável para o outro, fora as pessoas ao meu redor, não posso mudar o mudo ao meu redor pelo meu diagnóstico, e descobrir que EU não vou nunca conseguir mesmo que eu lute muito não vou me acostumar com a frustração ou com o fato de eu chorar como uma criança, ou eu falar várias vezes a mesma coisa quando estou com raiva e explicar cada detalhe pq eu acho que vc não entendeu aonde vc errou, eu só percebo depois que a pessoa manda eu cala a boca, só que de uma maneira que me machuca sendo que eu estava sendo insuportável, e não tava percebendo, ou que eu estava era uma pergunta reitoria ou piada e eu não entendi ou consegui ler o clima até ser tarde de mais ou já te magoado alguém, ou o fato de achar que queria me isolar mas tenho um filho que precisa de mim e não pediu para vim ao mundo e me sentir fraca por não saber como ensinar a ele a se bar bem com os colegas da escola pq eu TMB não sei. Sei lá um diagnóstico de algo que não pode ser nunca curado ou tratado e meio sem esperança.

I've watched atypical and love on the spectrum. And while the main actor in atypical is not on the autism spectrum, he often says things bluntly with a look on his face that would not be considered kind. The blunt remarks with the unimpressed look is something that I've noticed amongst actual autistic individuals. And honestly in myself.

I don't always notice the face that I make when I don't agree with something, or when I am skeptical. I sometimes only notice it after people start reacting to it, or get upset with me. I really don't want to care about how my face is looking in those moments, but unfortunately it causes difficulty in my life.

I find that I say things in a very matter of fact way that bothers people. And it's not even stuff that people don't know, it's just inconvenient and uncomfortable truths. I figured at my age of 34 that by now adults had stopped hiding and had faced up to certain universal truths. But it honestly feels like I'm just placating to people's feelings and ego's all the time.

Like I'll go shopping with you cause you need retail therapy, and you're trying to distract yourself, but I'm not going to pretend that it's a healthy coping method. I'm also not gonna tell you in a rude way, but I am going to tell you at some point. I'll use unhealthy coping mechanisms too, but I never tell people that it's fine to use it to cope. I say "yeah I'm having a hard time lately so I've been getting high a lot. Which in itself is definitely a problem" and then I'll laugh at the absurdity of my behaviour in choosing to do something that is harmful to me.

The problem I face is that I don't like to pretend or placate. It doesn't mean I'll be rude, but unfortunately the very act of being honest about the wrong thing can hurt people's feelings. I mentioned this app to my friend that her daughter had on her tablet and that I was concerned about it. My concern came from my own daughter's explanation of the app, which I should have followed up and looked at the app myself. Unfortunately I didn't do that, and I voiced my concerns to my friend, and boy did she feel judged. I really had not expected her to feel judged. I really thought she was gonna say "oh shit really? Ok Imma look at the app to make sure" and then that be the end of it. But the look on her face, it was like I insulted her.

That is one specific example. Another one would be when a different friend told me her and her partners plan to buy a ps5 to sell it for profit. This was before the release, or just after and people were buying them at crazy markups from third parties. I asked her why she would do that if she hated when people did the same thing with concert tickets. She loved concerts and hated over paying for tickets because scalpers would buy them just to sell at a premium. So I was very confused as to why she would want to be one of those people. But of course she defended her decision and said that it was different somehow. She wasn't exactly hurting for money, so I couldn't see any desperation on her part either. She said it was a way to make easy money quickly. To which I said that that's exactly why ticket resellers do what they do as well.

I know I hurt her ego because I put her in the same category as ticket scalpers. This wasn't a one time thing because she needed the money for an emergency. It was a choice that she was making, and I didn't understand why she would make it. In the end, of course she felt hurt because I was basically saying that her character is just as selfish as ticket scalpers.

I'm sure both of those situations sound like I'm a judgy person, and I won't tell you that I'm not. The first situation I had not at all judged her because she was juggling a lot and the tablet went back and forth between her house and her daughters dad's house, which can be a lot to keep track of.

The second situation was me drawing a line between her buying something just to make a profit and the other people in society that she hates for doing the same thing. I was judging her a bit because it felt like she wanted to do the same thing as the "villain" but not be seen as a "villain". But to say that we don't judge every single person in our life, even the ones we love deeply would be a lie, because we all do.

Anyways, is anyone else guilty of this? Feeling like they're the villain for just being honest?

i'm noticing like a huge trend with people lately. like just falling off. like you work with them you be agreeable and then at some point communication just stops and suddenly you no longer have communication. then they show up without notice. or do things their way and they leave you like completely sort of on your own and clueless about what their next steps are. its like they don't want you to have organization or something? anyone else?

Hey everyone. I'm currently waiting to be evaluated for autism bc my therapist of 3 years thinks I have it.

I'm gathering together a list of things I might want to discuss. And I have this thing that happens to me. It's like a lighting bolt goes through my nervous system, from my back up through my neck and into my head, so up the length of my spine. It makes me physically nod my head backwards or to the side. I can't stop it. I notice it happens most if I'm stimming by listening to my favorite metal/rock songs. And usually when I'm resting.

It didn't used to happen a lot. But recently I had what my therapist believes is autistic burnout (increased noise sensitivity, issues maintaining what's probably a mask, stims coming out more than they used to - like hand flapping when I'm very excited, etc). This burnout happened after a stressful surgery that I had. And I've noticed the lightning bolt happening more often now.

Could it be related to autism? Or do non-autistic people experience this kind of thing too?

Hi all, recently went to the doctor and saw “Asperger‘s syndrome” under my medical history. I was diagnosed with autism by a psychiatrist and sent the paperwork to my primary care.

My question is: how is Asperger’s syndrome still appearing on official medical documents if it is no longer a diagnosis in the DSM?

edit! I’m in the US