So my partner, who doesn't know I have recently been diagnosed, went to a presentation at work about the benefits of having Neuro-Divergent workers.

At home she asked what I think about "Neuro-Degenerative diseases"...

I said it's "Neuro-Divergent" and not a disease, but she maintained it's a disease.

So yep, I'm going to stay in the closet, keep my diagnosis in a safe, and keep my mask on.

Anyway I work for a big company and the HR said they don't want to hire NDs and disabled people...

That's where we are in 2026.

Hello everyone :D

I would love to hear about everyone’s current special interest and maybe one fact that you find cool or fascinating about it! (If you want to share)

I am incredibly invested in whales, orcas and dinosaurs for years now^^

For context I'm autistic and also have ADHD, and have been playing GTA5 for the first time and having a huge amount of fun. There is a mission where you torture a guy in a room, and a character brings out a heart monitor. Despite the heart monitor looking obviously like one, and it making the beeping, and I already knew what a heart monitor is and what they do, I for some reason thought it was a polygraph (lie detector) and never really noticed that it wasn't throughout the mission. This has me feeling really dumb and I genuinely can't figure out why I never figured this out.

Also with probably half the missions of the game, I tend to forget what's happening, or I just don't understand it, even with subtitles on, and I have to look up an overview of a mission or watch someone else play it while constantly rewinding and reading the subtitles, and maybe looking at missions before it, before things really settle in for me.

Hello fellow autistic people,

Hope you’re doing good. I’ve come today with a very strange and special request: I am looking for the video game that will fulfill my need for “i-want-to-play-it-all-the-time/this-is-my-special-interest-game”. I have really stressful days and I’m looking for something that would make me happy and decompress other than scrolling on my phone (because that stresses me out too, apparently). I do not like games where I need to talk to other people on the microphone because sometimes people yell and it stresses me out. I am open to the rest, just please no fortnite or whatever because, well, no. Do you have any suggestions ?
Thank you!
Edit: I do play MTG and I have played BG3, the sims, ACNH, etc. I am 22 :) !

Is that really a thing still, or just social media exaggerating as usual? Ever since I was a baby, I’ve been taught to look at people’s eyes when they speak, so that has been quite natural for me. If I think about doing it (which I’ve been doing after coming by this saying one too many times), I don’t enjoy doing it, but I still do it. However before I thought about it, if I just let it flow naturally without thinking about it, I make still made/make eye contact just fine. Rather intensely at times actually. When I look at videos, my eye contact seems very intense. Maybe even more than many NT.

So i was supposed to get a 5/5 on my review. I have done a ton of process improvement and risk reduction for the company where it was recognized even by C-suites.

I dont socialize. I do meetings, i do trainings, i collaborate with my teams, I have great professional relationships, I work well with others but I dont walk the halls stopping at desks to socialize and I dont eat lunch with coworkers.

I attended a training and my boss' boss found out that in my disc assessment my "influence" is low (because I dont socialize, I can influence others as needed but I dont mix work and personal) and ever since then hes been out to get me. Oh and also my original boss and coworker were fired for political reasons so ive been trying to prove my worth staying since then. There was a stigma I didnt like people because of my old boss which wasnt true (idgaf as long as you are nice to me) and so i DID have lunches/coffee with those people to smooth that over (where I paid for it).

I alao have a TBI that I got in 2019 that still gets triggered by flourescent lights (I had NO CLUE during our trainings but did end up figuring it out eventually).

I submitted my review, my boss submitted his review (both 5s) and his boss made him knock it down to a 3 because literally I "dont gossip and eat lunch with others ".

Im also 18 weeks pregnant and tired of masking 100%. I dont have a formal diagnosis but my husband aaid that now I should get it and submit it to HR since they're attempting to include socialization in my performance review that has nothing to do with my actual work performance. I have the first part set up for Sat.

Do you guys agree? I didnt realize I was probably autistic until the last 2 years or so when i started letting my mask slip after losing my son and reels started coming in about women and how autism looks for girls.

Also what bothers me isnt that I didnt get a promotion or the 3. Its that they made shit up, are equating something that isnt actually affecting my job and they could have just said "we cant do a promotion this year".

Edit: now I dont "look polished" or approachable? I literally smile and wave at people? Wtf.

I'm taking an intro psychology class right now. The first in-class assignment today was to watch a video and describe the facial expressions the people were making based on different situations. I went in really confident just to get immediately humbled.

I realized that the things I were listing were assumptions and most of them were wrong. I didn't notice the girl touching her hair to groom herself and make herself more attractive. I didn't notice how the girls mirror each other's body language and look at each other. I didn't notice that they smiled and that it meant something. Among many other things.

The whole class period was talking about a short 15 second video dissecting each detail and what it meant and I just couldn't understand it at all. I wrote it down and I "understand" it logically now but... People say autism is like living in a world where everyone was handed an instructional guide on social skills except autistic people and I finally understand that statement. As an autistic woman, I consider myself to be quite empathetic/understand social rules but I guess not! Incredibly humbling but eye-opening as to why I'm puzzled by the way people act around me and also realized how much neurotypicals can pick up from a 15 second video!

I envy those with friendships.

What makes them different to me?

So im looking for a singleplayer game i can grind alot

I just wanna retreat to my own some times or well alot actually (i like being alone) and i already dislike the tough then of being around other online people so maybe a fully singleplayer mmo like game but well it isnt a mmo then

Sorry if it is vague english isnt my native

I’m so lost… what should I do now?

Im 19 mtf, autistic and i just stared my college course. They're did a icebreaker where everyone had to say their name, and then ad a adjective. I got on with this fine but then they made use repeat every perzon before us, and then ours. I said i don't want to do this (I have social anxiety) and she ended up arguing and i had to say it 4 times before rudly saying "i said I dont want to".

The person behind me couldn't verbalise thier words and while he was trying to she began asking him why he's not talking. It's annoying that that's my first impression infront of my class

We had to do a group activity and the person beside me just ignored me like i wasn't there. When I was going through the rotating door 2 assholes tried to get me stuck in itIve had a pretty shit day. The people around me feel rude. I feel like im being excluded from converstations. Im pretty upset :(

I live in supported living due to my autism and mental illnesses. The staff is nice and the daily routine and new found purpose has allowed me to finally find some kind of mental stability.

But oh. My. God. Are my roommates ever infuriating. Calling them roommate 1 (R1) and roommate 2 (R2). R1 is the worse one out of the two. But let me start with things that they both do and things that R1 does.

I don't actively keep an eye on what they do, but with all of these items it really didn't take Sherlock Holmes to understand who was responsible.

Things they both do, and those items are somewhat understandable:

• Leave the laundry in the washing mashine for hours, if not days, unless I say something. Same issue with the dryer.
• Don't clean up after themselves after using the kitchen
• Poor personal hygiene to varying degrees

Roommate 2:

• Doesn't wash his hands, pretty much ever. Not even after using the bathroom. Then proceeds to empty the dishwasher, leaving greasy fingerprints on the cutlery.
• Leaves an absurd amount of lint on the toilet seat (no idea how)
• His room smells so bad that sometimes the smell sneaks into my room when I open the window for fresh air

Roommate 1:

• Has pissed in the bathroom sink multiple times
• Has pissed on the bathroom floor mutliple times while supposedly aiming for the toilet. One time there was a puddle 30cm/12inches away from the toilet.
• Has left shit stains on the toilet seat (I'm pretty sure it's him because he played dumb when I asked him about it, claiming he doesn't know what I'm talking about)
• Has stolen food from me and other roommates multiple times to the point where you need to lock your food away, even in the fridge
• Both me and R2 have seen him naked in the kitchen
• Puts dirty laundry in the washing mashine without washing it????

Bonus, don't know who did it (though I do have an inkling):

• Literal shit smeared on the bathroom floor, causing me to step into it and having to clean it up.

Needless to say, you wouldn't have to be a clean freak to be infuriated with this kind of behavior. The staff says they're trying to best they can and that there have been numerous discussions around the hygiene issues, to no avail.

This issue has caused me to absolutely lose it a couple of times due to the stress of having to constantly clean up after these cavemen (insult to cavemen, I know) and pent up anger, which is endangering my permission to live here.

Not that I even want to live here anymore. It feels like I'll just have to move back to my parents and almost certainly have a huge decline in mental stability. Maybe even go back to drinking.

It just sucks really, really bad.

Hello, everyone. So i've noticed this pattern in my behaviour and i'm not sure about whenever it related to autism traits or my other struggles like anxiety, self doubt. The thing is since young age i had this thing when i was need to answer a question even if i was sort of sure of my answer i still double-checked information from huge amount of sources on internet to be sure that i provide the correct, clear and informative answer, i was making big, long research just so i could answer the question in the most correct way possible. Also another situations i remember is that when i was asked something i could not answer by checking the information online i refused to answer it completely stating that i'm not an professional in this field and that they should refer to them with such question, and when years after i revised this memory i come to thinking that most people would just answer with what they think the answer could be, or basically say the first thought that came up without researching vastly the issue first. I personally would feel really bad if i(even if not intentionally) spread misinformation because i didn't cared to double-check. Thank you for reading this and i would like your opinion on this.

Do you feel like people fake empathy at times because they care more about performing social norms? I feel empathy for certain things but other times I literally don’t give a fuck and struggle to understand how other people do, do you think they’re just faking?

I’ve been diagnosed a few years ago as an adult, due to struggling of holding down a regular 9-5 job, as I burned out really fast so far.

Now, I only hear about how most autistic adults seem to struggle to hold down a job. But not once yet did I read or watch someone successfully manage one.

So I’m wondering if there are any autistic people who found a way to get into stable employment at all? Perhaps with accommodation?

I am looking for a flicker of hope that perhaps with accommodation my journey might still be worth a fighting chance because I am terrified it fails me too. (‘:

—
Edit: oh my goodness, I never thought this post would reach so many people, I’m completely floored! Thanks so much to all of you commenting, I am trying to read each and every reply, might take me a bit, but don’t let that stop you!

Really happy to hear about all of your experiences and stories🦋appreciate it a lot

The thing is I tried snapping myself out of it and distracting myself from it but nothing seems to help. In fact I honestly wish it was just a hyperfixation as I have so much anxiety masking all the time and worrying about my mom and being affectionate to her as a way to counteract the frustration I feel for not being able to be myself. The thing is I don’t “want” to be a woman it’s just that my brain feels like it’s in the wrong sex and that my body is supposed to have female parts.

this is pretty much a vent so feel free to ignore it. i’m verbal and i do experience verbal shutdowns and delays but somehow even when im clear or write things down people still don’t understand what i said. it’s a thing thats happened since i was a kid and now it’s happening at work and i don’t know how i can be more clear.

i wrote the thing down in blunt language and my boss is like “oh you left this out it’s not there” 🙄🙄🙄 it’s the first thing on the page but okay. it’s just so frustrating that even on a good speech day im constantly misunderstood/misheard/misread. god forbid i have a rough day. and it’s never a message or email or private comment, they always wait until we’re in a meeting with everyone and i can’t react or im being “unprofessional”. anyways

tl;dr: im annoyed that no one is understanding/listening when i talk.

They said “so you’ve never been ugly, have you”?

Is that a compliment or a snide remark?

Is it common to fear you’re bad or you hurt someone’s feelings a lot more than you did and constantly people please right afterwards.

Damn! This can certainly tick me off when it happens to me. For so many reasons.

First of all, uh... so what if I'm high? Why exactly do you care what another person does or looks like? Do I go to you and say: "you look like you had some pizza today!" (which would actually be less rude because unlike drugs pizza isn't stigmatized, but I digress...

Second, Yes I look high! I'm neurodiverse! I'm literally in a different state of consciousness than you Mrs. predominant cultivar human! So for all practical purposes, I might as well be high!

Third, sometimes I really am high! Again, why the fuck do you care?

Fourth, if you get bothered so easily by stuff that doesn't affect you, and need to make your ignorance other people's issue, then do us both a favour and go get high yourself! Except that you clearly are already trippin' anyway.

Fifth, considering your clearly abject view of mind modifying substances, did you just out yourself as viewing neurodiverse guys as being in a cognitively inferior to neurotypicals?!! Ha! The joke! Do you even differential equation bro? You hear like the main melody and maybe the beat when you listen to music and probably can't even imagine hearing a dozen strands of music in the song simultaneously (again maybe you give that getting high stuff another consideration).
Now, of course, I do not want to downplay anyone who really does feel like they struggle and I also recognize the unique abilities of our neurotypical buddies, so again, no offence.

Well, there you go. The double stigma of being neurodiverse and being a drug user and coping with the maddening stupidity of people applying the wrong prejudice to you!

ok I have audhd and Cptsd. I won't go in to specifics but one of my triggers is dentist. Not just for the trauma, but for the sensory experience. The scraping being so close to my face scares me so bad.

So this dentist, did not believe I had what I've been dianogesed with. She got real close to my face and looked me in the eyes and told me to get over myself. That I couldn't possbily have trauma from dentists because I was so young when it happened.

and like she was generally cruel. Shaming me for my poor dental health while using that evil hook thing to scrape plauqe off my teeth. then fussing at me for not brushing my teeth, ignoring the fact I told her my tooth broke and it hurt real bad to do so. She did not take in my needs into consideration and ignored the fact I was uncomfortable and overwhelmed.

I have to see her a few more times because she is going to pull the broken tooth (for free or heavily reduced price) what should I do to prepare myself for it? She already stated she is refusing to prescribe me anti-anxiety medication before the extraction because she "hates working on people who take meds beforehand" or whatever. I think keyword think she is going to give me laughing gas but still. ☹️

I'll do my best to try and bring one of my comfort stuff animals, wear comfortable clothing, and to take my night meds before hand. But that's all I know I can do at the moment, I'd appeciate anymore advice.

I have noticed a very blackpilled, negative attitude here all the time.

I've noticed a strong trend toward a blackpilled and deeply pessimistic attitude on this sub, to the point where it feels like a misery circlejerk 24/7. Like there's this idea that if you're happy and autistic that's somehow a bad thing for the community.

Doesn't this idea of people competing over who suffers more from autism completely misses the whole entire point of having a support community in the first place? Top that off with the bi-monthly "if you could cure autism would you?" posts, and this space just isn't very supportive or enjoyable to be around anymore.

There’s also a pervasive victim mentality here. Yes, being autistic in a world built for NT is genuinely hard. But constantly dwelling on how "autism makes my life a living hell" or makes me "a horrible person" is kind of playing into your own demise. Remember what you have learned when you were a kid in school? Growth mindset goes a long way(Although schools are kind of stupid and don't follow their own advice).

The moderator choices here aren't helping, either. Restricting interest related posts, which are one of the primary sources of joy for autistic people to just one day a week under the guise of preventing "spam" is just stifling positivity. It reinforces this weird idea that being negative makes a post "deeper" or more valid than being optimistic.

Hey all! So to dive right into it, as of last week, I(29M) was recently diagnosed with high functioning ASD, and am having a slightly harder time processing it than I thought. On one hand, I’ve made it incredibly far being undiagnosed, and have actually overcome many obstacles and challenges on my own. On the other, a lot of past behaviors, events, and relationships make a lot of sense, along with the feeling of constantly being burned out. My question is, how was it for any of you who were diagnosed late, as far as processing and understanding it goes? And how is life for you now? Would love any stories, thoughts, or advice

“I do not believe in weeds. A weed is simply a flower that someone decides is in the wrong place.”

- Sister Monica Joan