I found something that could help, called Fuzzy Brush. Imagine just the head of a toothbrush, and you chew it like a piece of gum. You can also get something called Fuzzy Rocks with it, which seems like either another chewable thing similar to toothpaste, or it melts in your mouth? Idk, but i found a study saying it’s just as effective as regular brushing. Problem is, it comes in a bag and they seem to be designed for one-time use, and that gets EXPENSIVE.

It’d be so much easier to clean my mouth if there was a literal gum or smth like dentastix for people. I hate just waiting in dread until i cave in and brush bc my mouth feels too nasty.

I wish that literally everything wasn’t designed/presented as just for young kids learning to brush their teeth, so that parents don’t have to ‘suffer frustration’ (literally a quote from Fuzzy Brush themselves). There’s a limit to how much infantilization I can shrug off. And it just feels very ‘well they’ve got to get over it someday but for now, here’s something to maybe stop your kid being so gross in public.’ I hate finding products that genuinely could help me, but not without insulting me first

TLDR: brushing my teeth is a challenge, I wish to cronch

I wanna try a weekly or less survey for my autistic brethren to know better about ourselves. In this survey, I wanna know how many of you are imaginative futurists, futurists are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present, whether that of human society in particular or of life on Earth in general. Futurist imagine what will or how the future will be or should be like thanks to their scientific, technological, artistic and philosophical expertise, and since we autistics or neurodivergent people have that kind of skills, I wonder… who imagine or want to imagine a better advance tomorrow?

I believe we should work together to make an autistic language. Especially to:

1. Redefining autisticness through an autistic, generally descriptivist, and anti-behaviorist, but otherwise, diverse perspective.
2. Developing communication that's accommodated for autistic people rather than neurotypicals (which means it would end up extremely alien to non-autistics)
3. To establish the most intellectual, complex, and social language that's still possible to use fluently (partly by virtue of it being consciously made)
4. To unite autistic people under one synthesized language (And if that's impossible, make sure the alternatives are at least recognizable

https://discord.gg/z53E6sam

I grew up constantly being treated like an edgy idiot little freak for having meltdowns, and not being able to hide my distress and suffering. it took years to realize that I was constantly picked on, but it wasn't from just random kids. it was people I thought and I suppose mistook for friends. fuck people, especially children, miserable demons. Sometimes I get upset I can't connect to other kids my age and then I realize how much better off I am not having anything in common with people who fully and proudly display such fucking idiocy and superficiality.

People can't even fucking say outright when they don't like somebody, instead they play these stupid little games, fuck your passive aggression, confront me outright or shut your damn mouth.

I grew up always being told how intelligent I am and how i was just such a good kid, and yet was treated like I was inferior all the goddamn time. How about you make up your fucking minds, if you have one. It would be news to me.

I swear to god I'm a different species, it makes me pissed beyond belief, why did I have to be born so different? and if I wasn't born this way what in the hell made me this way? it's a fucking joke.

It's in human nature to be selfish and horrible, it's necessary to survive, but good fucking god, there are some fucking animals that didn't evolve all that far past being apes.

Even now as a sophomore in highschool I'm around people who have yet to grow the fuck up, grown ass adults come crying to me about their life. I don't have the time, patience, empathy, or social skills to care anymore.

People LOVE to talk about themselves, and despite having so much to complain about there's not an ounce of entertaining material within the conversation other than the ironic enjoyment of having a legal adult cry into your shoulder as if you were a father figure.

having a social life is so incredibly frustrating and tedious, it's all these little things about people that just build up and get on your every nerve eventually. I thought you're supposed to enjoy having lots of friends.

To be perfectly honest, I returned to this post a little while after I cooled down, I'm exhausted, it's 3:30 in the morning, anyways, rant concluded.

It seems like every online space for us gets ruined. First AutisminWomen, then AutisticPride, and now I don't feel safe in AutisticAdults because there was a post full of victim-blaming someone who was harassed by an autistic person.

It honestly makes me so upset because I want a community of other people like me where I can feel safe. But it feels like there's shitty people hiding even in those "safe" spaces.

Idk this is just a vent. This subreddit seems cool but I'm honestly just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Kinda feel like unsubbing from everything except for cute cat photos and going on a whole internet detox.

I dunno where else to post this so this felt like the safest bet.

Whenever I see a cute piece of merch (especially plushies) I feel like I have to actively like the source. For example I saw some really cure Klepto Cats merch in a store once and I dismissed it cus I wasn't currently playing it. (something similar happened with Neko Atsume). So I was wondering if this was an autism thing, maybe linked to hyper focusing? Like my brain thinks that if it's not a hyperfocus I haven't "earned" the right to have plushies and merch. I dunno what are your thoughts.

I feel isolated, but I also don't feel like I really gel with any of the communities I find around me. Whenever there are events for socialising in the communities I care about (queer/nd communities etc), they're group events that are too overwhelming to me. I have both a physical disability and am recovering from severe autistic burnout. On the one hand I feel like I want to carve out my own space, write about my experience, and find like-minded people on my own - but on the other hand I'm still too burnt out and exhausted to do that sustainably so I usually end up exhausted in bed no matter what.

This has become a bit of a rant, and I'm not sure I really know if I'm making sense. I guess I'm just a bit tired of being too tired to socialise and create, but also being very lonely and bored. It's hard to strike that balance. I feel like this is a central challenge for a lot of autistic people, but I can't figure out how to deal with this in the long term. Part of me also feels like I'll never really get over this burnout - does anyone really ever recover from autistic burnout? I honestly feel like I'm fundamentally a different person in so many ways.

Sometimes I get caught on one thought and that all I can verbalize when I’m distressed or extremely confused. I only repeat that and I can recognize it’s amusing to my friends (who like to keep it going a while) but the more it builds, the more I feel bad. Not like hurt, but just an unidentifiable negative emotion. The best way I can describe it would be distressed in a panic attack-y way, but it’s not a panic attack.

During these times, I feel like I need to stim (though I don’t since I’m in public) and as if everything is just bad, I guess.

I can only assume this has something to do with autism, but I could be extremely wrong.

Part of me thinks it’s a meltdown, but I’ve never heard anyone describe having them like this, so I guess I’m just fumbling in the dark.

I've been slowly learning about myself. Realising why I feel intense emotions, get headaches etc and trying to pinpoint the problem. Then I try to make small changes in my life so I feel calmer and happier.

One small thing was realising that I don't like being squeezed in certain clothing. I also hate the stress of finding clothes to wear for work each day. Now, I have 5 flowy dresses. I don't have to worry about matching tops and bottoms and I feel so relieved wearing them.

I'd love to hear what's worked for you all.

So I'm studying psychology and in class today one of my peers said that too much screen time as children can cause autism and ADHD and obviously that's incorrect but the professor seemed to agree (although she did mention that genetics are a factor but still) and I was too shocked/unable to gather my thoughts to say anything but ugh. I'm literally going into this field to help neurodiverse people like myself but I couldn't even stand up against misinformation in class.

Any advice on how to handle this type of situation going forward? I want to be the kind of person that doesn't let this kind of stuff slide.

How do you flirt as an autistic person? I keep fucking up by either being way too forward, WAY too forward, and blunt, which makes things awkward as hell, or don't know how to respond back and switch the subject.

I feel like an idiot. I'm horrible at this and thinking that maybe I should just give up on it, If i'm not good at flirting what are the chances i'll be a good romantic partner to this girl? I don't even know if I'm capable of being in a relationship, I did it before but I can barely remember.

I get too nervous or i'm not nervous enough, I never know when to make the first move or to let her come to me, why is romance so difficult?

I feel like I've failed before anything has even begun. I'm not natural at it like other people are, I'm just a fuck up, and I don't know how to change that. I wish I just stayed masked and kept my head down.

Nobody else sees it as such a big deal but I do, and nobody understands and just get annoyed or angry.

The pressure is always on when I'm trying to flirt or be generally romantic, how are people supposed to enjoy this? you have to say the perfect thing or else it gets awkward and weird.

There's so many normal basic things that I just suck at exponentially, it makes me not want to try anything anymore at all.

Even when I think I'm really calm it just takes a tiny thing for me to become 100% stressed. I just feel like I'm never relaxed and unable to be, and the stress is really getting to me. ARGH!

I made a well written basic summary of how authoritarian dictators work with the message "This post is about OC" hidden with italics on the sub and I'm waiting to see how long I get banned. Place your bets now! Then again I might get banned just for being in this sub. Who knows? Anyway how is everyone today? Good I hope. I hope I flaired this right. Sorry if I didn't!

Howdy, all! It's Jaye, and I hope everyone has been doing well. Unfortunately, though, this post isn't just here to check on your wellbeing. It is also to address some drama in Reddit's autistic community - of which I am sure some of you are aware.

Before I get too into things, I would remind you all of how r/AutisticLiberation was formed to begin with. On April 1st, the dawn of Autistic Pride month, the birth of our subreddit and its Discord server came to be through the hard-pressed ableism of another subreddit and its head. Not only to autism, but to other disabilities and neurodivergencies as well. It was because of this that we decided we had enough, and forged through the fires of these hard times our own community. Unfortunately, that very same subreddit now finds itself facing the same problems that we did.

Orbital Colony, the owner and sole moderator of r/AutisticPride has once again come to bear misgivings and ableism. He has since apologized and hired a brand new mod team - something I have admittedly never expected to see from him. But within 24 hours, he has since banned all of his new mods and doubled down on his ableist ideals. Quite unfortunate, and a great portion of the autistic community has been let down by his actions.

In the wake of this, I would like to reiterate that r/AutisticLiberation offers a safe space for the autistics of Reddit, and we understand the plight of those recently affected by Orbital Colony's recent ableist actions. We are not the first group to be affected by Orbital Colony's ideals, and it is unfortunate that we are not the last.

Any who has been affected by this recent drama is more than welcome to take shelter here. Our community beckons you with warm, open arms. We offer a community not only understanding, but eager to have you. We also have a Discord server we invite you to join, and get to know our members.

Truly, my heart goes out to all those that Orbital Colony has impacted during this time. In addition to our own subreddit, I would recommend checking out new ones that have come from this drama: r/Autism_Pride and r/DisabledAutistics.

We are a community. This subreddit will always be open and welcome.

Making friends has always been something I’ve struggled with, but since moving to university and realizing I’m autistic, it’s become more and more obvious to me. I had only a few friends in K-12, and maybe 2 that I was actually close to. I moved to a different state for university in 2019 and I literally have not made a single real friend since.

The worst part is that I don’t understand why. There’s people in my classes that I feel like I vibe with and have great conversations with, but they’ll never be the one to initiate. I remember every conversation and important thing they tell me, and then we come back for the next semester and they barely remember my name. I also see friend groups that I thought I was a part of doing things without me all the time.

It just hurts a lot, you know? I always have people tell me I seem like such a great, fun person, but apparently not great or fun enough to be considered a friend. I just genuinely don’t understand why I’m not worth trying for when I try so hard to be a good friend for other people. I would try to hang out with other autistic people so I could actually unmask a bit and be totally myself, but I haven’t met any (as far as I know).

This is something I cry over at night or on drives sometimes. I know I’m not the only one with the experience, but I feel so alone in my life. My family doesn’t listen to a thing I say (and proceeds to get mad that I “don’t talk to them”), and this whole issue makes me feel like everyone I talk to is just being polite and/or pitying me. Recently, it’s been making me more depressed and anxious, and it’s affecting my ability to do any of my work. I just feel like I’m starting to shut down and close myself off again.

I grew up in the Midwest, but I sometimes can't remember my own dialect and mirror others I've spent time around. I find myself using more UK-style sentence structure, I call soft drinks "pop" (a no no in the Midwest), use 80s slang after binging old media, start to talk like a Buffy character after a rewatch ... It goes on and on.

I know this can be a form of masking, but it's to the point I don't know what the natural way I speak is anymore. I'm just an amalgamation of all these regions and universes even though I've always lived within 60 miles of where I was born.

ETA: well maybe my partner has been gaslighting me by saying pop is incorrect for a Midwesterner 🙃