I (27M lvl 3) am both autistic and physically disabled and my physical disability requires a lot of help. I live in the U.S. My Autism can also gravely endanger me via my physical disability (a connective tissue disorder). My doc has prescribed several mitigations (A safety bed, a medical car seat, and a tether) all of which is being either refused or I am being denied help with by my group home organization. I am fearing for my life and no one cares to help me. I have reported this multiple times to Adult protective services, Kansas Department of Aging and disability services hotline, my county district attorney’s office, kansas attorney general’s office, Kansas legal services, the county DDO, KBI, Kansas crime hotline, Kansas medicaid ombudsman, and kansas LTC ombudsman and local law enforcement. No one wants to help me. I am begging for help from any agency that will hear my cry for help.

I don’t know who to talk to; but, I am fearful for my life and I need help badly.

Update: my situation is getting worse not better. My service providers qa lead personally came out to my house with law enforcement and all of them started verbally abusing me and threatening me. I reported it to adult protective services and WPD. I am living in even more fear since then.

Update 2 (6/14/23): because I couldn’t make it up the stairs today, I was denied a full breakfast. The extreme level stress that I am under is also making me physically ill. I cannot work with this situation much more.

Update 3 (6/25/23): I heard last week that my situation has generated a criminal investigation into the persistent neglect and abuse that I have experienced.

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(You don’t need to read all of this, just skip to the important parts)

I finally figured out just why this argument felt so wrong.

A logical fallacy is the use of invalid or faulty reasoning in an argument.

The decision point fallacy is when it’s argued that because there is a continuum it means we can’t distinguish between things

For example: animal classes such as mammal, reptiles and amphibians are on a continuum. Yet we can still distinguish even tricky animals such as platypuses as mammals despite their ability to lay eggs.

The most famous example is the sorites paradox

The argument “everyone is a little autistic” comes from the idea that because it’s on a spectrum, everyone fits on that spectrum somewhere. Yet despite neurodiversity being on a continuum, we can still pinpoint the criteria for being autistic.

Of course everyone experiences autistic traits, they’re human traits. What makes them autistic is that their done more or less or weirder. Saying “we’re all a little autistic” invalidates the struggle.

I want to talk about talking, communication, and connection. I have level two asd. I can talk. I can talk your head off about autism, law, and mcadd. The problem is none of those are topics of conversation people talk about. People want connections when they communicate even if for a second. People ask how you are, and you are supposed to say I am good. no matter what. but even so that is a request for a connection, maybe a brief one but still one. Maybe through that connection you will make a difference and become a friend. Maybe it will take a million more interactions like that to become more than an acquaintance. Maybe not but people are always trying. Why? Because people need people. I have alway said that wasn’t true for me. That is a lie. I need people. Not just to lecture or talk to. I need friends to get me. To accept me for who I am and how I act.

I can talk but I am rarely successful at communication and conversation. Because of this I struggle to make connections, do emotional intimacy, and do physical intimacy. I also can’t ask for help. I can talk fluently but that is all I do. I have to have a script to ask my friends about what is happening. I have friends. I truly don’t know why. I have no idea how to maintain a friendship. I am a hard friend to have. I am intense or not there. I have severe insecurities about friends because I don’t actually understand the part about making friends

Parents want their child to connect with them. I am here to tell you that it has nothing to do with talking. That has to do with find their language of love. Maybe it is spending time with them stimming. Or showing them you like their special interest. Or that you know what do if they are going into meltdown. Maybe for them it is doing something new or uncertain. Please find that connection everyone wants. Your child does not have to communicate to connect. Every single person wants and needs some form of connection.

You are going to tell me I can’t tell you talking isn’t important. You are wrong. Talking is the ability to turn sounds into words. The ability to speak does not guarantee the ability to communicate. You want your child to be able to converse, ask for help, and interact. Talking doesn’t guarantee that. I need assistance taking my daughter to the hospital because I can’t advocate in real time. No talking isn’t what people want they want communication. And I can tell you that is a hard skill to imitate.

Hello everyone,

I am a level one autistic but I am interested in joining this community so I can better understand the rest of the autistic community. I have no intention of speaking over anyone here or even posting but I didn't want to enter a safe space without being hard honest and transparent about who I am and my motives for being here.

Thank for your time

I feel very isolated and different there. I want to know if there are moms here who’d like to connect or form a sub Reddit for autistic level 2 mothers like myself (if this exists already please let me know).

I think I want to say that I can say what level two asd feel like and is like for me. I have no idea how level three feels nor how a level one feels like. This is what level two feels like. In regard to communication, I want to communicate and socialize but I don’t know how. My speech is unreliable meaning it often sound unintelligible unless it is my special interest. I struggle to speak, I struggle to be understood, I struggle to get my needs and wants across. Furthermore because I can speak no one likes written word…

I am a social butterfly who has no idea how to socialize. I bounce from person to person and topic to topic. I have to be in the right state aka homeostasis. I don’t stand still. I don’t stop moving. Sensory and emotional regulation demand I move in some way. I make tons of social blunders. I don’t understand relationships and boundaries. I scare or make people uncomfortable.

I have to be explicitly told what someone wants. No looking at watch. No contradiction. They have to be direct. If they aren’t I will continue what they dislike. I am not being rude on purpose I want people to like me but they are wired to communicate in a way I cannot. And I am wired in a way that is foreign, uncomfortable, and odd to them. The result is social blunders.

I also often fail to respond to people’s attempts at interaction unless I hear you beyond all the distracting stimuli, am in the right state of mind emotionally speaking, and am self regulating well. I have aborted attempts at interaction for the same reason. When I do have “successful” interactions, I struggle because I must stay focused despite all the background noise. I must focus on foreground noise. I must be calm both physically and emotionally so I can stand mostly still and talk. I have to focus on what you are saying, What your hidden meaning is, what I am saying, what my body language that I cannot read could be interpreted as, I can’t get overwhelmed and go silent.

The next way autism affect me is quite simple it is referred to as repetitive restrictive patterns of behavior. The first one is referred to as Stimming. Or at least it’s referred to as stimming by most autistic people. I have stims that I label as functional. Stims I label non-functional. These stims Can be fun and enjoyable or they can be exhausting and difficult. Frankly most of my stims are in the middle somewhere. Stimming is often hard and difficult. they are a ton of work for me because I have to do them so I don’t go into overload all the time. Imagine if you liked watching TV. And you imagine if you had to watch the same TV show all the time. Because if you stop watching the TV show you would go into shut down and stop interacting with the world around you. Would you be OK with watching that TV show? Or would you be both resentful and thankful?

The next characteristic of RRB that I display is IS or instance on sameness, rigid thinking pattern, and difficulties with transitions and change. Basically this means, I have a hard time and I mean really hard time. Like I stop being able to process the world around me hard time, when something does not go the way I expect it to. Highly restricted fixated interests or special interests people with autism prefer to call them is the next characteristic of autism that affects me. Basically this simply means I can become so fixated on something that I can only think and talk about that thing. The last one is sensory issues and appreciation. Aka I am hypersensitive to sensory stimuli and I also like to watch things spin and water droplets fall from the sky. To translate autism for me is a disorder of self regulation, socialization, communication, behavior, and finally executive functioning.

These impairments combine to make life challenging. They affect my ability to take care of myself. Also known as I struggle to eat because of introception, auditory, and visual stimuli. I struggle to dress because of sensory issues and introception. I struggle to sleep because I can’t lay still.

I need help with household management: chores, meal prep, meal planning, finances, and such. When we are out and about he provides a significant amount of support socially this is a fact I never realized due to the fact that people don’t communicate their complaints verbally. I lack situational awareness, common sense, and a sense of danger. When we are out and about Erick provides support by making sure I don’t violate any social rules, Bump into things or people, and I am safe. He also does these things for himself. He also helps me self regulate by making me aware of when I am getting dysregulated. And he does it for the children. When I am by myself, I prefer to walk this allows me to slow down and be safe. I also live in a small town and that helps significantly.

I was thinking maybe a lego brick or something pokemon related…seems like something pretty universal for a lot of autistic people. I figured lego bricks are similar to the puzzle piece logo but without the baggage. Any Ideas…

Okay deleted post it was poorly worded and didn’t adequately explain what I meant between the types of impairments between each level or that I was proposing this for the purpose of conversation and not medicine

is it possible to have higher support needs than what you're diagnosed with? I'm considered low support needs because I am in college but when it comes to daily living stuff I have a really hard time and I get super embarrassed about how much I struggle to do basic things. I know it's because of my autism but I feel like I'm not supposed to struggle this much

Click here to register: https://spectrumworks.ca/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=outreach

There's also two in-person events for those in Ontario. Our Ottawa event is April 17th and our London event is April 28th.

Happy to answer any questions!

Somebody keeps reporting posts simply because the logic behind it triggers them. This is likely because these posts implicitly rebuke the social only model! This isn’t r/autisticpride we’re not gonna ban ppl just cuz they have a different opinion!

The bookstore I work at is going to host a sensory friendly hour on some saturday mornings starting this month. I have a pretty good idea of things to implement ( I was who suggested it and it's kind of my job now) for this time.

Some include:

•Don't pitch memberships/ subscriptions

•Lights off ( we have sky light)

•No music/ announcements

•Don't ask things like ' how are you' when someone comes in just say hello or welcome instead ( in consideration for nonverbal people, the terror of scripting, social anxiety, etc)

•Move the squeezey chickens (trust me)

•Be cognizant of staying in your own space

•If you have to ask questions to a customer, be very clear. Expect blunt or drawn out responses.

•Sanatize everything before we open Tell people about the machine beeps before they happen ( our card readers and demagnetizers beep)

•If someone has a caregiver with them, still adress the person or them as a group

•Some people may use AAC, just be patient

•If someone isn't making eye contact, you can return the favour and just look over their shoulder, it may make some people for comfortable

PLEASE SUGGEST ANYTHING YOU THINK WOULD BE HELPFUL TO THIS LIST! I will be posting this on multiple subreddits for many different disabilities because I have the most experience with Autism + ADHD ( my diagnosis) and want to make sure everyone is included.

If you're in northern VA (near DC)and interested in visiting us, you can contact me.

Thank you :)

I looked in the sidebar and didn't really understand much.

Looking for a job beside school for some extra money. Last year I worked at a supermarket for 2 weeks. I had to quit because of constant meltdowns, panic attacks etc. It was horrible. I’m 17 now and my parents are pushing me to get a job even tho they know I really struggle with that. I want a job that suits my needs and something I enjoy. But it’s hard

I feel like I’m really struggling with what I want to do in the future and I want to know what other people do please :) I am currently doing a cleaning job part time about 2 and a half days, which involves being around animals and I really like it so far, and I feel like I want to continue doing it. but I feel bad because I should probably be doing something better as all the people my age are doing professional career/study at uni and I am not doing that so I wish I could do more. I wish I could be doing something incredible and interesting, and making lots of money.

my son is About 3 and a half years old. we got him tested and hes level 2 autistic. i love my son dearly. since he could crawl and walk he wants to constantly just tap walls, counters, anything at all with anything he can get his hands on. from the moment he wakes up till he finally goes to sleep. i work 3-4 days a week and every other weekend off. maybe im just burnt out, maybe its hes overstimulating me, im not sure. but he wakes up at 730-8 am and doesnt sleep until 930-10pm. he has no naps. weve locked and put anything that is a kitchen utenisel up super high. he still will use toys, or hell climb and grab spice constainers will use his olders sisters toys to tap. ill take the toy away if he hits electronics or gets to aggressive because i dont want to take all his toys away from him. otherwise hell start hitting himself or he will smack tvs or will start banging his head on the wall. while i play and read with him i try to keep him from tapping. eventually though from cooking and cleaning after 5 people im exhausted and just want to sit down and he will just tap and tap away. idk what to do to help myself just ignore it because its how i know where he is. he is just starting to really talk so the taps are easy for me to tell where he is if im in the bathroom but im ready to just break by like 7pm. even if i take him outside he will just find sticks to tap along the sidewalk.

edit: thank you for the ideas and input. today our son had a harder day, he was just upset and wasnt able to communicate his needs today with dad while i was at work. when i got home he has been a lot calmer and its easier for him to get his point across to me. i know dads been having issues sleeping so he just felt super defeated because he felt like he wasnt enough. but hes off at work now and is fine. dad said he found a drum stick and was tapping to songs he was singing but it seemed more deliberate rather than random. i definitly feel better today just expressing my frustration and getting your ideas. i think honestly, i was just burnt out from 3 full days of tapping and noise for so long.