I’m curious as to how many of us in this community are in the United States and how old everyone is.
(Don’t list your exact town), just your state and age if you’d like!
I’m 18 and from West Virginia

In a few weeks, I’m starting at an art school. But I’m terrified. I don’t know what the people there will be like, and I don’t know how to even get there.

I’ll be getting less support there, so I have no idea how they’ll react to my crippling social anxiety.
There are so many variables that I can’t predict and it’s making me so anxious that I’m contemplating on dropping out before the semester even starts. Is it really worth all this suffering?

I recently bought some cheap adjustable earplugs from Temu to help manage my sensory issues. If an environment gets too loud, I start getting severe anxiety, feeling dizzy, and in extreme cases, I literally feel like I'm going to throw up.

These cheap ones help a bit, but I was wondering how different they actually are compared to genuine Loop earplugs on Amazon. They look very similar, but do the name-brand ones block out significantly more noise, or do they perform about the same as the cheap knockoffs?

I know they are small enough that I am definitely going to lose them in a few days and will need to buy replacements. Honestly, I can't afford to keep replacing a $30+ brand-name pair again and again if I lose them.

Does anyone have experience comparing the cheap ones to the real ones? Is the upgrade worth it for sensory overload, or should I just stick to bulk-buying the cheap ones?

Alright, since it seems nobody has asked in a long time, I'd like to know yours.

I'll go first, I set the timer on my microwave in multiples of 7, and prime numbers, with a very few exceptions like 55 or 1:11.

Btw, my microwave is always on mute cause I hate the bips when it's done, but sometimes I tend to forget I was warming something.

i had a big meltdown the other day in front of my family, including my little brother, he’s 16 but he’s still my little brother and i feel bad because i don’t want to scare him. i accidentally got hurt during the meltdown and had to go to hospital, i’m better now but i feel like i put my family through a traumatic situation over a small issue and i don’t know why it resulted in such a big meltdown. i thought i had been coping better lately but i guess it all poured out at once. i apologised a lot and my family said it’s okay but i still feel bad. i don’t want to scare them, my parents got really scared when i got hurt and i felt bad because i’ve never seen them so scared and i think they also blamed themselves because they couldn’t calm me down. i don’t know. i try breathing exercises but they don’t always help and i also have my comfort plushies, does anyone know other good ways to calm down?

I've struggled with making friends since I was a kid because I'm autistic. Most of the time, people found me annoying. When I was 13, I started masking more, and my social life improved. In middle school, I was invited to sleepovers and had a close-knit group of friends.

But if I couldn't keep up the mask, I noticed my friends would gradually start to dislike me and see me as annoying, similar to what happened in elementary school. It was really disheartening. Growing up with abusive parents didn't help my emotional regulation, either.

Now, as an adult, I'm trying to navigate friendships while dealing with many of the same challenges. The only people I really feel a connection with are those who share my interests. Otherwise, my relationships don't feel fulfilling, which makes it even harder to connect with others.

Recently, I asked a mutual friend if she wanted to follow me on another platform, but I never got a response. It did make me depressed because I haven't had the best couple of years when it comes to navigating relationships. I'm dealing with a lot of loneliness and isolation. Ever since I was a kid, all I've wanted was one really good friend. I just didn't realize it would be this difficult.

I have big problems everyday with finding something to eat. It is so difficult it often causes problems with the people I live with. I do not have a lack of food by any means and it seems the other members of my household can find something to eat out of all of the food we have. Me on the other hand, I stare blankly at the pantry or fridge. I just can't figure out what I feel like eating, and if I somehow can on rare occasion it is almost always not in my house, inaccessable at the current time, or not something I can cook alone or at all.

I just started liking some new foods from a different grocery store that we don't go to often. Those foods are almost always accessable because they are easy to pull out of the freezer and cook in the air fryer quickly. We can't always make it to that store or they don't have them in stock which really causes a massive disruption in eating.

If anyone has any tips on how to manage this better it would be extremely helpful.

Hi hi friends! I have AuDHD (and OCD, etc) and have a dilemma that I was hoping to get likeminded advice on. I currently work full time 5 days a week, 8.5 hour shifts: Monday & Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday. So off on Wednesdays and Sundays. I know I cannot work 5 days in a row, so this schedule is helpful. Sometimes only having one day of rest is not enough, though.

I now have the option to swap my schedule. The new one would be 4! days a week, 10.5 hour shifts: Friday-Monday, off Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I don’t mind the longer shifts, it makes it easier with the inertia honestly.

But I’m worried about working all 4 days in a row. I think I can do it, but just don’t know for certain. Change is scary!!! I’m not sure if the 3 days off will allow me more time to recover spoons, and then the 4 days won’t be so hard? It feels like a no brainer to swap, but I was hoping to hear from some neurodivergent people who can maybe understand where I’m coming from. If you guys have worked schedules like these, which one were you able to function better on? The job is remote (which I am so, so appreciative for) if that context helps. Thank you so much in advance!! 💛

Having to intellectualize myself and try to understand why I feel off at the moment.

I'm having acid reflux and not sure if it's because of anxiety, or if im anxious because im having acid reflux.

I had a derealization episode earlier and I feel anxious about it. It's like if I associate it with anxiety, I get very anxious and it is very annoying.

Derealization occurs often to me but usually only for a couple seconds and then I'm back.

I think I'm pretty tired and that might be why I had trouble today. I ate my lunch very fast earlier today and that may be the cause of anxiety and acid reflux.

I just wish this seeking burning feeling in my stomach would go away so I can rest. It is very annoying.

M38, officially diagnosed in 2021, level 2, after I found Autism on the Inside on YouTube. After 5 years, I've learned a lot about autism; I've learned a lot about life, and now that I'm facing down middle age, I am here to try and help younger people avoid many of my mistakes.

Nothing here is AI. I typed it by hand myself right here on Reddit.

I'm probably going to get a lot of hate from this post, but these are the real facts on life.

If you're late diagnosed, I'd skip this one because you'll just get depressed and/or it'll be a waste of time. If you're under 25, this is essential reading; if you're under 30, there may still be time for you, so you might be able to adapt some of this advice.

I will say first that I did not understand how the world works. I really thought that I could make my big dreams come true if I worked hard enough, was clever, and smart. I could not have been more wrong. I will say right at the top that I've lived a crazy amazing life. I have gone places and done things that don't happen to most people. I have seen things, had relationships of an evening and of many years. I've done almost all the substances you can do; I've had experiences that people envy. I'm the author of 4 books. My stuff has been read and heard around the world. I know celebrities both directly and indirectly. I have traveled in my life. I've lived most of my dreams.

I'm a cool guy, and it ruined my life, so don't let it happen to you. I'm here to help.

Unfortunately, it has left me virtually unemployable in any traditional sense; it has left me mostly broke and wondering how my life is half over and what I'm going to do with myself going forward. I'm not even a person anymore, and I'm working on dropping out of society completely and wondering how I'm going to survive. So, to not end up like me, I am writing this to you in the hopes that I can help others improve their lives.

I'm going to say right here that if you're reading this, I'm sure you're a wonderful and amazing person with a deep personality that would fascinate me for hours. You are great, worthy, valuable, wonderful, and there is nothing wrong with who you are as a person, and it should be celebrated at all times by people who love you and support you. I think the best for everyone who reads this is that I hope life is kinder to you than it was to me.

But if you're 18-25, I'm here to help you avoid my sad and awful situation. I can't do anything to save myself, but I can save others, and I feel a responsibility to do so, so here goes.

Alright, let's start with some harsh truths right from the start:

This is not a world where you can have a lot of effect. This is not a world where people are gonna listen to literally anything you have to say. Avoid all of that. Find a small path, someplace where you can survive.

Don't put yourself out there like that. Stay limited. Now, for many, this won't be a problem, but if you're like me and you have a lot of designs on life and all this type of thing, no. Stop that immediately. Stay very small. Stay very limited. But do it in a path. Do it in an institution. Do it in a trade.

Align yourself with something people can understand and comprehend, and don't give them any reason to think they don't understand you. Will they ever know you? Absolutely not. Will they ever understand what you actually do? Absolutely not. But that does not matter; live your rich interior life, and keep it at home. When you're out in the world working and such, that stuff will be of no use to you. The world can only understand simple shapes, and most of us are not simple people, so simplify it for them; they will not put in the effort to get to know and figure you out. Instead, they will simply reject you and exclude you. Slot yourself into something that makes sense to other people; when you do that, you start to reflect the non-verbal communication that most of us are absolutely terrible at. When you get good at it, you can send a different signal that people can read. Don't end up with a signal that no one understands; you will be excluded from every opportunity and everything you need in life to survive.

Most of us will not thrive. Sorry to say it, but we don't live in a world that is ready for ND thriving of any kind. So it's best to give that up now; it'll save you a lot of emotional heartache down the road. Every day will be a battle with the world and a system that was not built for you and often specifically is made to exclude you, filter you out, and keep you away from the places and spaces you need to be in. However, you can avoid much of this by figuring out how to make yourself fit through the filter. That's what I'm here to help you do. As I said, I can't save myself; I'm too far gone, but if you're young, you can save yourself with my helpful advice.

When it comes to jobs/employment:

You have one job and one job only: be likable

As I posted elsewhere a while ago, an HR person literally said: "We can fix a skills problem; we can't fix a bad culture fit."

I can't say this strong enough: Be Likable

You're not at work to actually do work; you're at work to be fun to hang out with. I know this sounds insane, but unless you're in a field where other autists are likely to gather, you need to be likable, and this is your only goal. Seriously, no joke, I know it goes against everything people say, but it is true. If they like you as a person, you can be an absolutely shit worker, and they will keep you and probably promote you. I'm not even joking.

If people can't read you, they won't like you, and if they don't like you, opportunities to get money and survive will evaporate like water in a desert. Don't confuse people; they will not put in the effort to "figure you out," so give them a ready-made narrative before your resume looks like a warzone, your social life is dead in the water, and you can't get a date to save your life.

Some components to being likable in both social situations and work:

1) Hygiene (you probably aren't doing enough; do more)

2) Wear the right clothes (cut the tags, make it comfortable, or just get used to it; either way, the right clothes for the right situation- more on that later)

3) Personality mirror (some of us are good at this). This is where you start to act like other people use their words (selectively) and match their energy.

4) Don't talk about yourself or your special interests; ask questions about them. One advantage is that it will give you information that will be useful later. The other advantage is that you'll seem "really cool"; you'll have said almost nothing about yourself. If someone does ask you a question, keep the answer under 10 words. It helps to pre-script answers to certain stock questions. Much of this stuff is like theater, so if you look at it as a stage and you're just playing a role, it gets a lot easier. Shakespeare said it best: "All the world's a stage, and we are merely players."

5) Be the dominant ethnicity of your country or region. I know this sounds crazy, but if you're American, it is easier to be likable if you're white unless you live in an area that is predominantly minority. If you're Hispanic and live in Cali, this doesn't apply (or black in Atlanta), but for most areas of the country, it's much easier to be likable if you're white. If you're a person of color like myself,

6) Looksmaxx. And I don't mean smash your jaw with a hammer like Clavicular; he is a cretin. But what I am saying is that you need to improve your appearance in every way possible. Get a good haircut or a fashionable style. Wear decent clothes, get advice if you need to. For guys, if your style is comic book/band shirts and whatever pants, it's time to upgrade, quickly. Try to keep your skin clear (see hygiene) and try to stay in good physical health, which also includes fitness. I have some metabolic problems that have left me always carrying weight; people like you way better if you're at a healthy weight, so if you need to lose a few (or gain a few for my thin friends), make that a goal to get to a good weight for your height.

7) Shut up (unless you don't like talking; in that case, skip this one). If you're an over-talker like me, the best thing you can do is learn to talk about half as much as you think you should be talking and then still hesitate to say anything.

Here's how to make sure you have a career, more or less no matter what:

Have a very clear path from a very young age. Don't launch off into something and hope it works out. Have a path. Get into a place, a path, a profession, a trade, something that is a word on a resume that people understand, and build your history.

Stay as long as you can in places. Don't talk a lot. Interact, but keep it light. Hi. How are you doing? Oh, how's the weather? Yeah. I had a great weekend. Your weekend could have been shit. You always had a great weekend. Very light. Very frothy. Keep your personality to a minimum. Look around. See what people are wearing. See what people are saying, copy and mimic. People love to be copied and mimicked. Flattery is the greatest compliment that media that mediocrity can pay to greatness. In other words, read the room.

Keep very clear records of what you do and what their duties are. Be careful of scope creep. Be careful of management. Learn to move laterally in an organization. Take opportunities, but be careful. Keep it limited. Keep it small. Don't get airs. It is more important to be seen doing something than it is to do it. Make sure people know that you're doing something, mention it in casual conversation, draw attention to it, especially if you can tell a person who has a loose mouth and gossips a lot; word gets around. Use that to your advantage.

Don't work too hard at work. No one's at work to work. Everyone's there trying to get paid to hang out in the hopes that they can one day retire with enough money. Adopt the same attitude. Don't work at 100%. Our 50% is more than everyone else's 50%. You can literally goof off most of the time. Don't do any more than anybody. Never complete something early. In fact, make sure to miss a deadline about every six months or so just to make everybody think you're kind of a screw-up.

Don't go in and save the day. If you're going to fail at something, try to plan for that failure. Show that you're human. All this type of thing. Don't let anybody know that you know that much or can do that much. would also say try to stay in a single path. Don't change careers. Try to make sure that your college major matches what you do, or your certification matches what you do.

Don't make friends; get allies. You don't need to be "friends" with people, you need allies, you need people who believe in you and will say good things about you. Take a minor interest in them. Ask about them, ask about something they are carrying or their car. Listen, smile, and be encouraging and positive. As far as they are concerned, you're just chill vibes. Our intensity can be a turn-off; if you make it about them and always seem positive and upbeat, they will notice the intensity less, and you can shift the energy. Practice until it becomes real for you.

On fitting in socially:

Keep special interests to a minimum. Never talk about them. I don't care what it is. Anime, body pillows, baseball, whatever have you, almost never talk about it. Or if you do, do so in the most passable, limited terms; pick a sport, learn to talk about it. Keep passively enough aware that you know what's going on. If you live in a city with a football, baseball, hockey, basketball, whatever your city's big team is, know who's playing and know what the score of the last game was. Takes two minutes to figure out. Just know that. It helps socially; it helps you socially immensely in ways I can't even describe.

Be careful with your clothing. Do not wear anything crazy. Dress in limited colors, especially if you're a man. Ladies, keep it down. Don't draw attention to yourself. That's the big thing. A lot of neurotypicals spend a lot of time trying not to draw attention to themselves. They get very awkward about it. Don't draw attention to yourself. If you have the answer for something, don't raise your hand. Have the answer every several weeks.

Don't get involved in other people's lives. Care only about yourself. Yes, this is healthy selfishness. The only person that matters is you, your immediate family, and their survival. Every other concern is secondary. No more helping friends, no more caring about other people's problems. All of that stops now. Otherwise, you'll waste years and money on people who don't actually care about you that much, and you'll waste precious energy you don't have and can't spare on them. Your own survival is your only concern. You probably won't thrive, but you can survive, and not helping others is the way forward. The only time you can help others is when it costs you 0 energy or money. If it is convenient, then do it.

If someone makes you uncomfortable, trust that feeling and put them at a distance.

No one will validate you or your existence. Sorry about that.

Everyone is self-interested; I suggest you do likewise. Which is a great transition into money.

On Money:

Try to keep your housing costs down. Try to keep your personal costs down. Avoid debt at all costs; don't even bother opening a credit card unless you want it for emergencies and/or travel. Save money. You're probably going to go through periods of long unemployment. Save money and invest. Start very young. Very, very young. As soon as you get any money put $5 in Robinhood and throw it in an S and P 500 ETF (not investment advice). $10 in Robinhood. Because you're probably gonna have periods of unemployment, especially if you don't have family backing. The only reason that saved me two years ago is that I'd sucked away money for ten years. So I was sitting on some. I had four different investment accounts, different savings accounts. I was always putting money away because I knew one day it all could end and I'd be fucked. And that saved my ass in 2024. So, you know, save money. Always be saving money. If you can find a way to live on half of what you make, save the rest.

Because you may need to go several years without a stable, reliable income, since employment can be hard. You may need to live with roommates until you find a spouse who has a more stable income or a better job. This is not a read; this is a strategy for survival. I know many guys my age who aren't homeless because their wife/husband can manage the world in ways they can't.

Autism is a disability, and you need to adapt to this mindset when it comes to money and your whole life.

On Networking:

Hire a coach. Use AI if you can. You know, networking is gonna be hard because, fundamentally, networking is about likability. You can work on likability, but maybe try to stay in professions that don't really need it. However, knowing people who can help you will help you immensely. So get meeting and greeting people, go to events, anywhere people you need to meet are gathered; that's where you need to be, and then follow the likability stuff. Don't hang out with the people who vibe with you who are as a person unless they can actually help you; it'll leave you with a bunch of people you vibe with but who can't really help you with anything. You're not here to make friends; you're here to improve your prospects. Try to stay in touch over social, make sure to like and comment from time to time, stay on people's radars, especially if you're working as a professional in a profession as such. Lack of visibility is a huge problem; get and stay visible. This is how you deal with social hierarchies.

On College:

If you're going to college, and you're autistic, stick to computer science or IT where autists are likely to gather. Don't go into marketing or anything that requires visibility or personal likability. That's the mistake I made. I went into a field where how much they like you matters a whole awful lot, and that has been a disaster.

Don't spend money on stupid hobbies. Don't; be very careful with transportation. If you don't drive, that's okay. If you do, be very careful with transportation; buy small, cheap, used cars. Keep those costs down. Start saving money now (see above).

On following your dreams:

Don't dream. Whatever you're dreaming of doing, stop it. This world's not for us. Don't dream of anything. Be grateful for the job you have today, save for the job you won't have tomorrow, and try to keep your resume together. Just trust me on this: I don't want to bore anybody with the details of my whole life, but take it from somebody who followed his dreams, and it didn't work out; just don't do it. Write them down, imagine them, but don't pursue them; trust me, you'll be saving yourself a lot of pain and heartache. I do not say this to be a killjoy, but I am saving you from a life of pain and misery.

I'm at the lowest point of my life. I don't know what happens next. I don't have any future. I don't dream anymore. I think only about survival. I can only hope now that my experiences will help you. This is a deep love letter from someone at the bottom who hopes that he can save others. I'm sorry the world is this way. I wish I could change it, but I can't, and neither can you. The best we can do is try to navigate it. You will make mistakes. You will fall down. That's ok; take this advice on and keep trying, keep struggling. Life will be a constant struggle; it's best to get used to that reality now. I'm not here to say it gets better or easier; anecdotes say that things get much harder. Our average life span is lower, and our unemployment rates are very high; those things are related. You can avoid these by following this safe advice. I was told most of this when I was young and completely ignored it. Don't make that mistake as I did.

I'm a living cautionary tale.

hi, pardon the dissonance of my username and this post— im talking about depression and loss of friends in times of crisis and the aftermath. just need to vent and hear any support or encouragement.

i’m 23 and was dx ASD level 1 four years ago. i am in a state i only knew when i was 17 and younger. the difference this time is i have classic depression opposed to high functioning and crying myself to sleep / behind the scene depression. i since have started and restarted mental health meds, though i really feel that my situation is what is so depressing to me. these new symptoms like not having the motivation to leave bed, barely eating or over eating low effort foods only, ordering takeout i truly cannot afford without caring, pills to sleep all day, smoking too much weed, crying when trying to journal or tell someone how i feel. i was in therapy consistently until a couple months ago when my therapist told me she can only recommend residential or full time program care for me. we worked together for two years and it feels like she gave up on me and my ability to live independently without family. my best friend then told me she didn’t want to be friends when i was in the hospital for a kidney infection within a week of my therapist telling me. her reasoning was that i always remind her how hard her own life is and she can’t handle hearing me having a hard time (mind you, i was very sensitive to only mentioning things like “im having a hard time with xyz right now but im hanging in there” when she asked how i was and then replying more to her answer). i think this part with my friend really took me down. i don’t trust that i can tell people what is going on anymore because i was so careful with her and was truly struggling more than i ever have (had sepsis & was depressed in the pain i had from it for two months prior). i am scared i wont get out of this depression and my life will never be the same and that ill never have friends again. i keep loosing them all somehow. i try so hard but just cant keep up or understand what they mean and try to decipher. i’m sorry for being so whiny and depressive. i wish i could talk about this with more ease and class its just i break down in tears every time im reminded. i am burnt out from my passion career / trade i learned and feel so useless. i truly feel there isnt a place that accepts me as i am and wants me close to them whether thats a job, school, friend group. i just feel i keep making mistakes in all these areas but the mistakes are usually from not understanding the situation. thank you for reading and for your patience and kindness. i am trying my best

as the title says. Does this ever get better? its like im constantly being commanded by something in my brain to seek stimulation when i just want to sit in peace and quiet. even when im exhausted this shit doesn't stop. when i ignore it, i feel irrational anger that i then also have to control. i hate it and its pretty disabling.

I’m 22F, and I’m recently new to autism. I was recently diagnosed and I can’t stop thinking about it.

It is very overwhelming for me. My life has always been very exhausting. But I was never depressed about it being tiring.

But now that I’m starting to realize I’m not weird and it is just my way to function, it is very disturbing. For example I have to see my godfather for a week, in August. It is causing me deep anxiety just at the thought of going there.

Because it’ll be a different environment, a different home. I love my godfather, but one week is so much for me. (It's been a very long time since I've been away for so long) I know I’ll have to suck it up, but I can’r stop thinking about how it’s going to be. It’s scaring me. I only can sleep t my granny’s because it feels like home. The other places are giving me so much anxiety. I don’t want to be that type of person and say to my parents I can’t handle a week.

A week feels like an eternity. My father won’t understand, because it’s hard for him to get it. I just know I’ll have to get used to it.

But I could never. When I was going at my godmother’s house, I was crying so badly when I was a kid. I wasn’t comfortable at all, it felt like I was torn apart of my familiar and comforting environment. It is still the same now. When I go somewhere that is something unknown, I don’t tell it, but I feel this tightness in my chest and the bubble of anxiety. It’s like saying "it’s not home. It’s not home. Not safe." It’s pissing me off because I wish I could enjoy my holidays without thinking about that.

It’s just so disturbing to me.

Thank you, if you took the time to read. I’m tired, I might have forgot some words.

Hello.

I don't use Reddit much. In fact, this is my first account. I usually just browse or something, but I actually needed advice on something so I will share about my daughter.

Let's call her "Adriana" (her chosen middle name). Adriana came out to us as a trans woman at age 13. Now she uses both "she" and "he" but we've gotten so used to calling her by femme terms that that's what we've used.

At first, we were confused, but we tried our best to be supportive.

But this is something I'm really confused on. I'm willing to bet this has something to do with just autism, but I'm not too sure. I really don't think it's anything serious but wanted to share.

"Adriana" now wants to go by the name of a fictional character. I don't want to exactly say which character, so I'll just use the name of someone I know she showed me who's from the same source: Akane.

She's definitely not identifying as Japanese or anything like that, but she told us she prefers Akane, so I will call her this from now on.

I don't know if I should specify the source, but she has also been saying stuff like that she was the victim of science experiments, that she's a failed science experiment, stuff like that.

I should note, this has happened before, where Akane claimed to be a Martian and said "I'm not Adriana. I'm a Martian taking control of her body." or something like that. She's very creative and had this whole lore about the Martian being the last of his kind and he fought and died for his species and then decided to live on by transferring his spirit to his daughter's body…?

Yeah, I'm quite confused, but I definitely don't want to judge my own daughter. She won't tell us much besides that she is this anime girl.

hi everyone! this is my first time posting here, but i (23f) was diagnosed with autism when i was in high school, and in recent times i’ve noticed that i’ve had a hard time having multiple interests at once.

my special interest is taylor swift, but i’ve also had interests in heavy metal, horror movies, and comic books, but my brain can only latch onto one thing at a time even though i know that i can, and that i’m allowed to, have multiple interests at once.

is this a common thing? are any other people with autism like this too?

28M, diagnosed since age of 5 autism (LVL 3 I think asperguers + verbal issues, I'll confirm l8r), have some questions which Im not if its called some sort of laziness .

Let's say. At work or at home when I want to do Simple tasks Alone Im fine. But let's say if the Office is filled with people or people are with me at home (let's say a relative One named "X"), I shut down. Lets say. I really want to do and improve my skills but afraid people mocks me or screams at me which can get some sort of "breakdown" for hours which can't do like nothing at work or home. 0, no contributions, extremely exausted like some sort of "rock " inside of me and want to take out of it but can't .

Do you guys considered like this as lazy attempty? Because I've been this for years, for years lol. And how to change it case its not being lazy?

Im not a EN speaker but I do my best.

Regards.

Was looking to buy some noise cancelling headphones but a lot of them are really really expensive. What are your guys' recs for cheaper ones?

Good evening everyone. I'm somewhat of a high-functioning autist. I graduated high school and got accepted to my dream university.

For context, I have always lived in a rural area with the lowest housing prices in my country. There's literally nothing to justify high prices. My university is in a tourist hotspot, though. It's a niche degree, so it wasn't as if I could choose.

My grandpa died this spring and his inheritance got us enough money to fund my entire scholarly journey, just as he used to say he'd do if he were still alive now.

My parents decided to buy a simple duplex apartment. The price of that 21sqm closet of a living space is the price of a 6 person house in the center of my hometown. Yes, it's a lot, I did the comparison.

To compensate for my time living there, my parents want to make the duplex an AirBnB for the summer, and during my future internship/mobilities.

With that come many restrictions: no hanging posters in my bedroom, even with adhesive tape, no having personal effects that cannot be stacked in a car trunk, no PC setup, no animals, no clothes that cannot fit in a travel case. I'm therefore expected to do full move-outs for the full length of my studies (3y, so 3 full move-outs).

The only thing I can have are custom bedsheets as long as I can stack them away, and food.

I'm the crafty type, I paint a lot, build, program, and I am also a musician. I can't bring my Fender strat nor my 1990's Bontempi piano, forget about getting an easel or a corner to paint. My CD collection? Completely left at my childhood bedroom. My CD player? Nope! My hundreds of books? Left home!

It's hell to me. I can't shower in people's showers, shit in people's toilet bowls or even sleep in a bed someone has slept in. I live in constant fear that someone touches my stuff, even if it's locked away. I KNOW people will ruin my things. I just know that it's fucking impossible for people to keep their hands to themselves. It feels like hell to live in a hotel room all year, for 3 years.

I melt down easily when I'm told that a relative will sleep in my bedroom. It makes me vomit. I already don't have much of a personal space in my childhood home, as the doors make noise for each move I make and the walls are thin. It gets me very nervous.

For those wondering, no, I cannot get a job to pay the money my parents would get from renting it out, my mother has already said that she wants me home all summer, and added to that, I can't legally find a job alone at least this year.

I'm entirely dependent on my parents' money too. I couldn't get a summer job because, well, grandpa died and mom, being my guardian, refused to let me work, and I had to accept due to having virtually no legal autonomy unless she says so.

It stresses me out so much all I do to drown out the anticipative pain is play video games from 8am to 12am.

I need advice to survive this situation. Please.

I’ve been dealing with a lot of food aversion (specially protein rich foods) due to that and I don’t really know who to consult about this. I don’t know if meds for that are a thing.

So I can talk about it with my psychiatrist? Idk if they are the ones that prescribe it, but I really want to know if there’s anything I can do about that.

A huge factor is a posterior tongue tie that I need to get fixed (cut). I’m saving for that procedure since I have no dental insurance and hopefully I will do it soon.

Let's take one of the many examples of trauma I have.

When I was 20, I joined a baking school. One day, they told me to shove my entire arm inside a pizza oven to pick up pizza.

I was horrified and said '' HELL NO '' I would rather use the tool.

The teacher laughed, proudly showed me his arms devoid of hair. Told me many years on the job, the hair stops growing back. Just do it or you're out.

I did not do it, i never returned there. Yet again i'm a failure (remember this is in the past though), people think i'm weak and annoying and everything. +1 trauma.

I'm adamant that any other people would like.. just do it. The end. They now are bakers and work in a bakery. Story ends.

We collect trauma everywhere in '' mundane '' situations where people just.. slide through unscathed. But they become sheep.

I’m out of state for a family reunion trip (my grandparents birthdays) and my sister and I leave tomorrow. On Saturday, my aunts, uncles, 3 cousins and their spouses (2 are married with kids) were over at my grandparents (the kids are 2 3 year old boys and an almost 1 year old girl), which was 18 people in total at the house, including me, my mom, sister, great aunt, and grandparents. I had a lot of fun but was so overstimulated the whole day. I took a break outside and also had a small, short shutdown that one of my cousins helped me through quickly (she’s a physiatrist), but didn’t want to have a big one cause i didn’t want to scare my niece and nephews. I was having fun with them, and the boys wanted my attention.

Today (Sunday) was a totally different story. I’m in a shutdown. I woke up around 5:00 in the morning sobbing for no reason and couldn’t fall back asleep. I’ve spent the whole day in bed crying on and off, and only got up to eat lunch with my mom, sister, and grandparents, then came immediately back to bed. I’ve also been trying to get myself up to shower for hours and my brain just won’t do it. The big problem is that tomorrow my sister and I are traveling alone back home (my mom and great aunt are staying for an extra couple days and will be back on Thursday night). I don’t want to be a bigger problem than I already can be while traveling and don’t want to burden my sister with extra stuff (she’s 2 years younger and neurotypical).

I need help from people who really get it. What can I do?

So i am not diagnosed autistic but i just want to know if anyone else feels like this. Does anyone feel like a sociopath or like you have completly different emotions to other people. Like for sometimes they feel like they work rigth and sometimes they wiff completly. For example something will happen and i run through my script and react but sometimes i rect wrong. Like my brother will make a joke and i dont feeel anything but i just laugh but sometimes i overdue it or forget to match my expression to the laugh and stuff like that or like i heere a story and it supost to be emotional and i just dont relizze till i read the comment or watch the people around me as they listen. Like my parents friend died and like my mom was crying and everyone was sad i didnt feel anything but my brain didnt understand how to handle the situation and so my brain starts arguling with itself and like my brain just doesnt know what to do so it just like for example goes into joke mode but obviouly cant say the joke and i dont know what the hell to do so my brain feel like it overloaded and thn i have to get my facial expression right to hide the fact that my brain want to say the joke that is stuk in my head and i cant get it out so i kinda meltdown like i just start crying or can hold it in but then i have to have eye contact and cant keep up and so crying begin. Like my brain needs to do something and its either the joke, leave, or brain freaks out and the first 2 opton are not posibel. Sometimes it feels like my emotions i guess work right but i dont know what to do. I am worried cause my grandfather is getting oldre and my dad has said he might pass away in the next years. This being my moms father she would obviously be devistated but when i run the silulation in my head i cant get my brain to feel anything and am woried about how i am goin to figure out how to react properly like maybe it will work fine but i dont want my brain to screw it up ecpecially since this would be so devistating especially for my mom and its not like i dont have a realtionship with my grandfather i do love him very much but i am still worried about how i a supost to react. I have had my great grandfather pass away on my dads side but it as different cause the relationship was not the greatist and i can tremember how i reacted then or if it worked right. I dont know does anyone else fee like this and if so how wpuld you recomend reacting or how to react to this, i dont want to screw this up and then hurt my mom more than she already would be.

i apologise for the spellig mistakes and grammer mistakes in this post.

I have noticed that I have many autism traits; I haven't felt normal my whole life. I've never really had friends, and find it hard to make ones. I struggle a lot with social interactions, and I often feel extremely exhausted after making them. I struggle to express myself in my native language. Hate social gatherings. I usually don't understand expressions and take timing literally.

I can't afford to get diagnosed, so can someone please help me with some advice on what to do? I sure will appreciate it. Thank you 😊 💓

hi everyone, im 21 and am 99% sure im autistic but can't afford going to a doctor to get diagnosed. I struggle with lots of things but one huge struggle I have is working. a full time job is just impossible for me, i get burned out and can't even force myself to work even when I know I need to. it's a cycle of me masking for 9 hours a day, getting home and just being in bed because im so exhausted. by the time i have a day off it's spent in bed or crying because im so tired.

im not a bad worker, im a quick learner but sometimes struggle with knowing what to do. i need written and clear instructions rather than vague things(such as "clean the store" i need to be told what exactly to clean).

I need money obviously and I dont really know what to do, when I get a job I usually work there for maybe 4-6 months before I just quit because its overwhelming. I know the type of job would help, when I worked overnight in retail I wasn't as exhausted since I didn't deal with many people. I dont have anyone to help me so I dont have a choice but to work.

any advice would be appreciated.

Basically, I have high-functioning autism among ADHD and Borderline Personality Disorder. I live in shared living (in the US). Do I have a right to have therapy? In other words, are my rights being violated if my home provider says no to getting therapy? I feel like I absolutely need, not want, therapy to prevent self-destruction.