I think that this video has helped me develop some insight on how to spot high-masking autism, not just among women. I found a lot of the material covered in the video relatable even though I am male. Maybe that has something to do with our elevated rejection of established gender roles as a whole. Regardless, I like how rather than listing concrete signs, he gave a list of patterns that would be common to masking autistic women (I believe all genders, really) in a manner that could still be easily noticed. This also helped me understand that the cause of some autistic traits are not fundamental, but rather a result of masking. 🤯

Aside from the signs of masking autism, the ending hit me emotionally. He validates something that no one has really validated for me. I've been told my entire life that I was too much, not enough, or purposely trying to violate rules and norms out of some moral or character failing. It's like I wanted to be careless/offensive or a loser. However, when he covered how much effort we put into masking and that it takes a lot of energy to do, I felt a validation I don't remember ever experiencing. It's like someone said, "I believe you're doing your best."

He also elaborates on the impact of when we tell someone that we're autistic or have difficulties in certain areas and they invalidate it by saying that we're not autistic or that we function normally. He then posits that when we unmask, we need others to validate that experience. I think that statement was not only directed at us, but others that have autistic people in their lives. I plan on using that to guide who I continue to allow in my life. If I need to mask or am invalidated by someone when I unmask, then they're not a good fit for me, so I will interact with them less.

[post is about autism diagnostic in germany, so is the language]

Moin ihr lieben,

ich bin gerade auf der Suche nach einer ASS Diagnostik für Erwachsene in Deutschland. Den Wunsch das in und um Hamburg herum zu finden habe ich schon aufgegeben, da die Wartelisten bis minimum 2025 geschlossen sind. Meine Idee war dann, dass ich meinen Suchbereich ausweite und hoffe auf diesem Weg Anregungen zu bekommen, wo es Ambulanzen oder Kliniken gibt, die vielleicht etwas weniger Wartezeit haben. Ich bin ohne Frage gewillt auch dafür quer durchs Land zu fahren.

Viele Grüße

I'm really needing new headphones to drown out the noise when I'm out on Public transit or just at home during panic attacks.

Very small requirements for anybody that has some they enjoy.

Bluetooth and works with android devices (preferably without a app aka natively). Has good noise cancelling and can block out most sounds but doesn't have horrible ringing in them (I'm using from the super cheap kinda noise cancelling?) doesn't have to be good with music but preferred though.

In ear or over idc about that

Has to be under 100.

If anybody has recommendations it would be awesome.

Fyi new to Lemmy so forgive me if I don't do some proper "etiquette". Also autism :p

Occasionally I have these days where I don't feel like doing work or chores. So I'm thinking, why not just enjoy myself, do something that interests me?

But then I don't find any motivation to do anything really. Not even the things I normally enjoy very much.

Typically I would then waste time browsing or watching videos, but that seems to make it worse. How to snap out of this?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16132498

How was this show made

Why can't I just be normal. Why do I have to be so zoned in. Why does my attention never go beyond my own skin.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/13942739

Sometimes I look back on my life and wonder exactly how much of my life and current personality is purely due to the autism.

How does this play for you ? I identify as spectrum, what used to be Asperger's, and have to work really hard to get to visual phantasia, but I can. Also worked hard to remove aural phantasia? via meditation because of negative self talk. Do you see 'aphant' as a useful designation? Thoughts, Ideas?

from the puzzle solving and maths questions to answering of questions

I fell asleep from the mental exhaustion after I got home

I have a very powerful sense of smell.

I prefer Claude.ai

the people I know don't listen and often hear the opposite of what I say. That's why I have to repeat myself a lot.

I've been like this ever since I quit school.

cross-posted from: https://literature.cafe/post/10359040

Scientists Pinpoint Main Cause of Sensory Hypersensitivity in Autism

This study has identified the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as a key area in the brain responsible for sensory hypersensitivity in autism spectrum disorders. Utilizing a mouse model with a Grin2b gene mutation, heightened neural activity and connectivity in the ACC was observed. Suppressing this hyperactivity normalized the sensory hypersensitivity, offering new insights into treatment options

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-024-02572-y (open access)

I'm looking for online programs that help us navigate the world as autistic people. It could be anything, such as learning about autism, neurotypicals, social settings, identifying your emotions, self-care for autistic people, common terms related to autism, autistic love languages, etc...anything that helps autistic people live life.

If you have completed any programs related to being autistic, what were they and what did you think about them? Were they helpful?

The 60s and 70s (for me) had no awareness of my problems. Only now am I discovering that I did what I could, but I wasn't equipped to deal with people well.

It's too late for me, but I'm glad kids today have more resources, although the problems are just as hard to navigate.

God bless you all.

I'm not the kind of 'trendy' bipolar, although my cunt of an aunt believes I have 'convinced' myself of that, despite being to the nuthouse twice (50 days total) and several psycho-shinks having diagnosed me with several other mental disorders; the very first nuttyness I got diagnosed with was of course, ADD/ADHD. I was given Ritalin. I still take Ritalin though, 2 kinds of it (36mg extended release and 20mg regular type),

So given that I have had a natural birth, the flow of oxygen could have been cut off to my brain. So could I also be 'on the spectrum' as they say?

I am not a healthy person. I am very obsessive with shit nobody cares about. But that's the funhouse version of 'autism' that media shows. Plus it could be from Ritalin use.

How do I know that I am 'on the spectrum' without relying much on any external sources? Is it like bipolarity where they give you pills? What does exactly happen when you are known to be an autistic person?

Is it even necessary if I get diagnosed? I already know my brain is not right. So what's the use in getting the double.

But honestly I have some obsessions that could signal a bit of on-the-spectrum-y-ness? Like why do I hate Rust and all Rust programmers?

I don't do well socially either. Again I realize these are 'funhouse' and 'stereotypical' things people say about people on 'the spctrum'. But I get annoyed even if people use the apostrophe ' incorrectly!

I could just be an obsessive asshole. I am also a druggie but that's a whole other story.

My family is chockful of bipolar people btw, but not many autistic people. My second cousin, son of my first cousin once removed, is autistic. As I understand chief reason for this is your mom and dad being old. Like my first cousin once removed was 40 when she had her son, her husband was in his 40s too.

On the other hand, my mom was 21 when she had me, and my dad 26. It's a known fact that the younger humans are, the healthier you are. I am not trying to troll anybody, this is just a fact. Two things ruins chances of a healthy off-spring, one is consanguineous relations, the other is age. I live in one of those retarded countries where it's still not proven to people that fucking your cousin is bad actually. My parents were from different cities, different races even. My dad was brown-skinned and green-eyed, my mom is white-skinned and brown-haired. Both are ethnically Persian though. Although my dad's grandmother was a gypsy, these gypsies are not the ones you find in Romania, these are the gypsies who stayed behind closer to the place of origin. We call them 'jatts'; and that's how anthropologists know gypsies come from India (if people close to India call them 'jatt', and there's a group of people in India called 'jatt' then, put two and two together I guess! You are smart, your parents weren't brother and sister, or were they?)

Thanks for your help.

I'm still on my journey of understanding the differences between autism and other. My focus today is eye contact, so let's have a discussion!

Guiding questions:

• What do you think is the underlying difference that causes autistic people to use less eye contact than others?

• What does it feel like for you?

• How do you interpret other people's eye contact?

• Do you avoid it, use short glances, or maintain NT-levels of eye contact?

• Does it vary by situation?

• Anything else you would like to discuss regarding eye contact?

Question is open to anyone. If not identified, then the assumption is the user is autistic. Otherwise, if you're NT or other ND, please state so 🙂

My partner and I just had a talk about it. Basically, she celebrated her birthday today. I was on her party, and it was fun, but I left after around 2 hours to get home and relax a bit. After I arrived, a friend of mine texted me and asked me if I wanted to go to a lake and see the sunset. I agreed, we went to the lake and went swimming in it; it was really nice. Later, after arriving at my partners, she talked with me that it hurts her that I went out with someone else on her birthday, doing a romantically coded activity.

To be honest, I realize that I don't have a single clue what is coded as a romantically coded activity. For me, this was something completely okay and appropriate, because it is for me clearly a friend-thing; but my partner explained to me that the combination of going out with another person on her birthday and going to a sea, which is a secluded place, just heavily connotates it in a romantic way.

I understand that what I've done here wasn't right, and that I have responsibility here. Even though I didn't want to hurt my partner, it is still my responsibility to inform myself here on romantically conmotated things you shouldn't do in a partnership. So, dear people of Lemmy, what does constitute a romantic moment?

Edit: I've left out some information which seems to be important for the whole picture . I've copied it out of my comment and adding it here:

Me and my gf got together in August of last year, so basically 8 months ago; we were friends for half a year before that. She got cheated on in her long distance relationship before.

The friend who invited me to the sea I actually know for almost as long as my partner, from the beginning of Uni. She had a breakup from a three-year old relationship a few months ago, and I was there to support her. I didn't clarify before though if she was okay with me cuddling with people or not; I assumed it was with her, because it was okay in her LDR before - which was wrong of me. I overstepped the boundaries of my partner here.

The friend in question kissed me at the neck while I was at hers. I talked with her about it and let her know that I wasn't okay with it, to which she reacted quite hurt. She then told me that we shouldn't be friends, but two weeks ago she collapsed at Uni and I brought her home. Now we are meeting again.

While I'm writing this down, I'm actually starting to notice that there are a lot of other factors playing in why my partner is upset here. She has been cheated on in the past, which definitely leads her to feel uncomfortable about my actions, even though I obviously don't want to cheat. I broke a societally unwritten rule of not meeting people in romantically coded settings on your partners birthday. And I overstepped the boundary of my partner before by cuddling with the friend without my partners consent.

I want to be more respecting of my own sensory needs, and notice certain fabrics are incredible uncomfortable, as opposed to others. I've also noticed loose clothing feels more comfortable for me, then tight clothes. Cotton feels good, polyester does not. I understand this may potentially vary for each person, but wanted to ask about it anyway.

I think it would be interesting to share lessons we've learned about socializing that didn't come natural to us like they do for NTs.

• What social difficulties did you have, and what did you learn to compensate for them?

• Also, since there's a difference between autistic and NT cultures, what lessons did you learn about socializing with NTs and in NT environments?

Infodumps are welcomed! 😁

If you have, how well has it helped? Did different colors, such as those driving yellow tinted ones, help more? I have some transitions glasses, but that only helps outside. I saw on at least one site rose colored migraine glasses and am thinking about getting a pair.