I totally get the mimicking thing…its a necessary developed skill without a doubt. I also get the social thing at work. One of my jobs is as a cheesemonger….Knowing about cheeses and being a chef is also one of my obsessives as an aspie…so even though I’m seemingly social telling the stories about food and interesting facts and such…really I’m selfishly feeding one of my obsessions BUT I have to be careful too because I’m rarely talking to people as much as I’m talking AT people which of course causes awkward oversharing and sometimes make people uncomfortable that I’m a seeming “know it all” and a bit pretentious. But the social cues and facials are huge if I’m telling somebody something about a cheese I really like….I never know when to stop and I rarely know when I’ve totally lost my audience and the kicker to all of this is that I do it table side (like a waiter) so I’m just standing there rambling on and on over people’s food when really all they want me to do is go away so they can eat.
Autism Education Trust - Helen’s film
I’m learning about loads of different experiences of autism at the moment, and I’m especially interested in proving wrong the concept of functioning levels.
This is one example of someone who articulates themselves quite well through writing, and so would appear high-functioning on the internet, but who is non-verbal and has serious problems with sensory overload, and so would be seen as low-functioning by allistic people IRL.
There are more examples of paradoxes in functioning levels on the Tumblr What is high-functioning? There’s a more articulate argument against them here and here.
I have asperger’s syndrome and severe ADHD. My jobs require me to be very social and my parents encouraged my to socialize as often as possible but I without a doubt have some very real symptoms of both of these issues combined. When I engage people at first glance they rarely see my autism. When I tell them about it generally the first thing people say is “But you function so well I never would have known” I then never know how to take this…I never know then if they’re asking me to prove my disorders or if they’re glad I’m not drooling all over myself like they expect autistic people to do or if they’re just happy for me that my experience isn’t as hard as other people’s. So I stare blankly at them nod my head until its too awkward to keep standing there and then I run away. I would love to chat about functionality its all very confusing and at the same time interesting to navigate.
You basically just described my life. I also have Asperger’s and people are always surprised to learn I am on the spectrum. I also feel like I have to try to justify or prove my Asperger’s because I have learned over the years to mimic some of the ways NT people do things, with varying degrees of success. The only difference is that I am unable to hold down jobs with a lot of socializing because I often don’t come across as personable and I have trouble reading facial cues, plus I do not enjoy eye contact with people I do not know and tend to not look at them when they are speaking to me which I guess makes them feel as though I am not paying attention. I have actually been fired before for “not being friendly enough”. I also get very anxious when there are a lot of people and noise and most jobs don’t let you go outside for a break whenever things get too overwhelming.
(Also, this video is rad and that girl is awesome.)
Autism Education Trust - Helen’s film
I’m learning about loads of different experiences of autism at the moment, and I’m especially interested in proving wrong the concept of functioning levels.
This is one example of someone who articulates themselves quite well through writing, and so would appear high-functioning on the internet, but who is non-verbal and has serious problems with sensory overload, and so would be seen as low-functioning by allistic people IRL.
There are more examples of paradoxes in functioning levels on the Tumblr What is high-functioning? There’s a more articulate argument against them here and here.
I have asperger’s syndrome and severe ADHD. My jobs require me to be very social and my parents encouraged my to socialize as often as possible but I without a doubt have some very real symptoms of both of these issues combined. When I engage people at first glance they rarely see my autism. When I tell them about it generally the first thing people say is “But you function so well I never would have known” I then never know how to take this…I never know then if they’re asking me to prove my disorders or if they’re glad I’m not drooling all over myself like they expect autistic people to do or if they’re just happy for me that my experience isn’t as hard as other people’s. So I stare blankly at them nod my head until its too awkward to keep standing there and then I run away. I would love to chat about functionality its all very confusing and at the same time interesting to navigate.
(via adailyriot)
npr:
So yeah…this is a thing.
A chicken n’ waffles flavored latte coming to a café near you. There’s are also a bacon flavored syrup too apparently.
Any takers?
Not in my coffee. But as a chef…so many ideas
I was just thinking about when my dad will touch me in ways I don’t like to be touched like putting his arm around me or putting his arm on my back. Without having a clearly defined rubric, I guess my deal is that with most people, what I want from physical contact is something brief—really tight hug and let go, squeeze hand and let go. I don’t like to have to go a long time with someone’s arm around me, especially if they are bigger than me.
Sometimes I have just sat in movies having my enjoyment of the movie dampened by my dad’s arm on my back. Sometimes I have managed to come up with excuses to move away supposedly to do something else but really just to get away from contact. And sometimes especially lately I just immediately move away, stiffen to an extent that my dad can’t ignore, pull my shoulders in away from his arm, or shrug him off. When I do those things, it’s obvious that I am saying NO.
What I think is interesting is that when I do things that say NO, a)my dad looks offended, and b)my mom tells me, “That was mean.”
Even though I am disabled and a woman and those are two groups of people who aren’t supposed to say no to touch, I don’t really think this happens because I am disabled or a woman, I think it’s really normal. But it’s kind of messed up and I think people should think more about touch!
Should someone have to accept touch that they don’t want, especially for a long period of time? Is it mean to display nonverbally that you want someone to stop touching you? I don’t think so.
This is a problem for me too and I’ve offended many family members because I couldn’t really explain the discomfort and my reasonings seemed insensitive. “normies” aren’t always going to understand how uncomfortable, distracting, and almost painful this is. The thing I have to remember which I didn’t learn until I was an adult was that often this need for affection isn’t for me as much as it is for them. For instance I don’t always feel like cuddling or holding my girlfriend but I know she needs affection from me to feel safe and secure so I try to show her affection and a attention in ways that are comfortable for us both. When dealing with parents it may be your parents are starting to see you’re independence and they see you’re lack of affection as pulling away. I encourage you to show your parents you’re present but that touching you this way is uncomfortable. Perhaps give your dad’s hand a solid squeeze as you remove his hand from your shoulder aknowledging his affection and your appreciation of his gesture while still doing your best to make everyone comfortable.
Color photos from the depression
Source
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/148072/20110518/rare-color-photos-from-depression-era.htm
