@actuallyautistic#actuallyautistic One thing I’ve always struggled with is being made fun of for not singing during worship, or not being comfortable with public prayer. Knowing that these things are part of my autism, and not only are acceptable but just as honoring to God has improved my self-image tenfold. I would just like to encourage fellow autistic Christians on here that you shouldn’t let ANYONE tell you that your worship isn’t valid. Last time I checked, the haters aren’t God!
Die ZAKS GmbH (Zentrum für Autismus-Kompetenz Südbaden) muss nach den gescheiterten Verhandlungen mit den Stadt- und Landkreisen aufgeben.
Die Autismus-Therapie-Zentren (Freiburg, Bad-Säckingen, Lahr und Offenburg) und der ambulanten Unterstützungsdienst werden in den nächsten 2-3 Monaten geschlossen. Ob die Beratungsstelle eine Zukunft außerhalb der GmbH hat, ist ungewiss.
Diary of an ASD Squirrel. Day 244 , Friday 28/06/2024
A really rough & disturbed night last night, the windows were open to keep the room cool but there was a decent wind & that was making a din. The PF in my right foot decide that it was jealous of all the attention Geoff has been getting & played up all night!
Thankfully today has been a quiet day , no dramas , or need to interact with anyone .
Spent a chunk of the day in the Fediverse chasing the elephant. 😊
Pizza & Thatchers zero for tea & a bit of a Supernatural fest.
Final Thoughts.
Peace - the most elusive of gifts for the ND mind I think .
Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖
Joked with my work ND group. "So, who's watching the old cis white men going at it tonight?" My co-workers laughed, but then we discussed the failings of the current guy, but how we were all going to vote for him anyways -- because the alternative was just horrible! Especially for #ND folks who are #GBLTQ (which a lot of us are). @actuallyautistic #ActuallyAutistic#USPolitics#Logic
@actuallyautistic#actuallyautistic Another day of being told I’m “British” and “don’t understand U.S. weather” on social media because I don’t enjoy summer time and temps above about 72°F because of sensory issues. Have to school them right back by telling them I’m from the southern U.S. 😂
Diary of an ASD Squirrel. Day 243 , Thursday 27/06/2024
Up around 6am after a disturbed night.
Achieved a couple of things today managed to descale the coffee machine , I was gonna clean it but that is not one of my favourite jobs so I fixed the kitchen tap which has been sticking for a while instead.
I also managed to rearrange the appointment with Beth, the MH Practitioner.
The sock aid that the Occupational Therapist recommended arrived today, I am officially old !
It doesn’t help that I went for the one with the nice fleecy lining rather than the cheaper plastic ones 🤦♂️
Today the sock aid , next week the zimmer frame!
On the whole today has been a much better day than yesterday.
Final Thoughts.
Life is such a rollercoaster, the best we can do is hold on for dear life !
Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖
@actuallyautistic#actuallyautistic Just found out that NT people have REAL habits that happen basically on autopilot. This is news to me.
What most NT people think of as a "habit" I think of as a "task," even if it is a part of my routine. For example, brushing and flossing my teeth is a part of my daily routine, but I have to make myself think about each action separately. I wouldn't call them habits because I literally remind myself to do them every night. It isn't automatic.
Diary of an ASD Squirrel. Day 242 , Wednesday 26/06/2024
TL:DR Occupational Therapy, socks & being geographically challenged !
Up around 5:45 , for those of you wondering about Geoff he has slunk off for now, satisfied that there are not enough puritans in my diet to trigger him!
Spent some time tidying up for the incoming visitor - shifted all the junk to my bedroom, which it turns out he needed to see 🙄🤦♂️
So had the Occupational Therapist round this morning a young chap, who was friendly & patient with my rabbiting on.
There is not a lot that he can do to help, mostly because as far as OT goes I don’t need a lot. He is going to discuss my case with the community MH team to see if they can help ( I hope Beth - who I was supposed to see today , see below, isn’t in that meeting ! ) .
He did say that he could try & help get past the agoraphobia & then help me with some of the more crippling social issues.
He also got me to order a sock aid - because I don’t have full mobility in my right leg & putting my sock on is frankly flipping annoying! So we will see how the sock aid helps. The one I ordered looks like an out sized sling shot 😆
I was due to see the Mental Health Practitioner at 15:00 today , sat at my local surgery for an hour before realising that she was sitting waiting for me 3 miles down the road at another surgery ! 🙄🤦♂️
Classic lesson in ‘read what it says in the text’ as opposed to letting autopilot run the show!
So now I have to wait to see if she will call me to book another appointment.
In my defence no-one in my local GPs surgery had the faintest clue if she was in the building or not!
If nothing else one wonders what they would have done in a fire or emergency situation 🙄🤦♂️
So now I’m stressed to buggery about missing the appointment & wasting her valuable time & her being, rightly, pissed off at me!
I’ve had time to calm down now so I’m just berating myself constantly for being a plonker!
Final Thoughts.
One of the possible co-morbidities of being Autistic is anxiety - & boy was mine triggered today.
Another on is ones mind shutting down under stress - & leading one to make really silly mistakes.
Ah well tomorrow is another day!
Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖
I've never paid much attention to song lyrics. With repeated listening I might learn bits of it but for many songs I've got no clue what they say even after decades of listening. For me, vocals are just another instrument. Still, I've been the vocalist in several bands!
There's a big difference between Finnish and English lyrics for me. As Finnish is my native language, I find it way easier to decipher lyrics, unlike in English, even though my English is pretty good.
Now that I know about my auditory processing difficulties, I wonder if it's related to that. How about my fellow autistics? Do you pay attention to lyrics?
Diary of an ASD Squirrel. Day 241 , Tuesday 25/06/2024
Up around 6am as per , house elf duties have to be done.
Once again I get to around 10am & very last drop of motivation has been driven from me.
Today is bathroom cleaning day.
I put out new towels, which herself put thru the washing machine , I really don’t know what she does with them but they end up in the airing cupboard so stiff you could use them as offensive weapons!
You would think I would be used to this after 25 years, but no, it still triggers me.
Along with all the other triggers of stuff not cleaned , stuff not put away properly & overfeeding the cats .. poof all the plans for today have been eroded away.
Still I guess I should be grateful ,we have a roof over our heads, a car to take us places & food to eat.
Many have so much less.
Just had a call from an Occupational Therapist, they wanna come round in the morning & assess me … eeek!!!
Then I have to go see Beth , the MH Practitioner who first suspected that I was ND & set me on this path.
I left frustrated last time because she failed to understand how triggering Mrs S. is.
Final Thoughts.
I don’t know what it is like for other couples , but I REALLY wish Mrs S. would treat this as OUR house not HER house.
I am really stressed about tomorrow, a stranger in the house judging me, judging the fact that I have not been able to do so many things around the house that should have been done!
Roast Squirrel anyone ?
Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖
@actuallyautistic#actuallyautistic Wish more YouTubers and content creators added a toggle to their videos that could switch off background music. Idk about y'all, but so many videos have added music that is unnecessary, distracting, and overstimulating.
I have seen videos on YouTube where the closed captions settings have been programmed with a separate audio track with no commentary, so I know it can be done! Would probably be so helpful for so many people!
@actuallyautistic#actuallyautistic How did y'all discover which parts of yourself were masking and which parts are genuine? Or, figuring out when you are masking in the moment it happens? Sometimes I feel off in certain scenarios but I can never pinpoint what is masking and what isn't. Any advice or resources would be appreciated!
As an #ActuallyAutistic man, I wondered whether an employer could make me take a personality test here in the UK. It could (accidentally otter deliberately) detect #neurodivergence, which is a protected characteristic here: I'm not obliged to disclose my #autism to my employer, and my employer is not allowed to discriminate against me on the basis of it.
Diary of an ASD Squirrel. Day 240 , Monday 24/06/2024
TL:DR
Up around 6am having slept fairly well.
Sorted out the bins & various other chores & then settled down to catch up on Fediverse frolics!
So two things drifted across my mind today:
Firstly I was preparing salad yesterday & as is my occasional wont I mistook the tip of the ring finger on my left hand for a radish & merrily sliced into it with a very sharp knife!
Understand that this was not a deep or in any way heath threatening cut, it was a tiny cut that , after about 12 hours with a plaster round it is more or less healed.
My point is this , it hurt like buggery & bled like I’d hit an artery! What is it about ones fingers that this should be? I mean I know that I’m on blood thinners for the old Ectasia but really you see folks on ER with their limbs hanging off who don’t bleed as much as a when you cut the tip of your finger! Also I know that that ones finger tips are full of nerves but come on - a little sense of proportion wouldn’t go amiss !
Secondly Brits , like my good self, are renowned the world over for our favourite topic of conversation , namely the weather! Hey we live (currently) in a temperate climate & have a lot of weather!!
I say we converse, lets be honest here what we do generally is complain about it , we have mastered the art of chronic bitching in fact ! It’s either too cold , too wet , too foggy & rarely too hot!
For the last 2 days the country was nearly silent (apart from the footy fans , but let’s not go there!) why - because for 2 days we passed thru the eye of the storm (pun intended) & hit 20ºc , with sunny weather !
This is pretty much the ideal temperature for your average Brit, so we were, temporarily stumped! How could one complain?
Today the temperature continued up so normal service was resumed & we explored the unusual concept of hot , dry (if muggy) weather!
Struggling to concentrate on pastimes today again, I need to get back in there on the gaming front, the ‘Adrift’ NMS expedition needs completing before I run out of time !
Final Thoughts.
Summer is finally here, warm weather, salads & the sounds of the local brass band practicing in the background. Still there’s bound to be something to complain about 😆.
Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖
Happy Monday, all! New #InTheKaleidoscope podcast episode (Ep. 9) dropped this morning.
We have this great podcast producer who writes the introductory copy, so here's how she summarized it!
"In this insightful episode of "In the Kaleidoscope," Laura and Carrie explore the complexities of lying from both neurodivergent and neurotypical perspectives. Laura shares experiences with the concept of absolute truth and how Laura's autistic brain perceives reality, while Carrie reflects on her journey through advertising and the art of truth-telling. Together, they delve into the nuances of subjective reality, the impact of context on truth, and the challenges of understanding and detecting lies. This episode provides a deep dive into the multifaceted nature of truth and the importance of empathy in communication."
Sounds fancy, doesn't it? LOL. It's really just the two of us talking. Let me know what you think if you give it a listen.
Has anyone ever used the term "diminished perceptive filtering?
I just thought of it (or subconsciously picked it up somewhere, I dunno) and I think it makes sense to my experience. I don't believe I necessarily have heightened sensory sensitivity, it's more about not being able to adjust my levels of perception that well. Thoughts?
I survived a trip to the funfair, this time with my parents-in-law, my wife and the kid.
My father-in-law loves funfairs. He doesn't go on any of the rides (because nobody joins him). He just looks around, has some food and discusses the stalls and rides. Maybe he's reveling in childhood memories.
My mother-in-law and my wife don't give a shit about funfairs. They just want everyone to be happy. I didn't vote against the funfair – because it was a small-town funfair, so I assumed that we'd be done in half an hour, and mainly because I didn't want my wife to manage a potential conflict between her father's preferences and mine.
It was doable. We spent more like 45–60 minutes in the vicinity of the stalls and rides. Music was blaring. Lights were flashing. We had mediocre food at slightly elevated prices. The kid gave a high five to some poor person stuck in a costume.
I don't know why this is called a 'funfair' rather than a noisefair, but there are worse misnomers …
Diary of an ASD Squirrel. Day 239 , Sunday 23/06/2024
Got a decent nights sleep last night Geoff behaved himself which was nice.
Up initially around 4am , had a chat with a dear friend & then managed another hour or so snoozing , finally getting up around 8.
On the whole not a bad day.
So I get loads of notifications on Mastodon because I like to interact with as many folk as I can, it can take hours to catch up sometimes. I have the time most days so this is not a problem. Sometimes though it is hard for me to do more than just answer with a hug or a smile because it is hard for me to formulate answers that will not offend or seem glib or cutting.
My autistic mind makes me blunt, it makes me say things that lack social subtleties , it makes me see over familiar or too distant. So when I cannot come up with response that I feel will be acceptable I fall back onto smiles & hugs to show I care hopefully.
Also there are only so many hours in a day , when one has 200 toots to respond to then sometimes brevity is required.
I was criticised for being too brief today, all I can say is I’m sorry ,I’m only a small squirrel of Pooh bear like intelligence & I try my best.
Final Thoughts.
I was playing around with Mona (the Mastodon app I use ) today & have managed to lose all my user notes that I used to keep track of time offsets & nicknames , birthdays etc. Very frustrating because they were crucial;l aids for one such as I with the memory of a concussed goldfish!
Hey ho.
Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖
@actuallyautistic#actuallyautistic Another vent incoming about this faculty training course:
The instructions for everything are SO VAGUE! And on top of that, the tutorials for using the programs in Canvas, like SpeedGrader for grading assignments, don't even match how the programs look on my own laptop. I am, quite literally, floundering. Aye, aye, aye... :blobugh:
This essay somehow resonates in me. Since I can remember, I never understood genders. It's simply not a thing for me. Why should we be restrained and oppress ourselves with a binary choice? It doesn't make any sense in a world of diversity. It's a purely social construction that doesn't feet my view and who I am. We are all humans.
“Autistic people aren’t being fooled into being nonbinary. We see past the binary that fools you.”
@nddev @james@DoomsdaysCW@Autistrain@actuallyautistic@neurodiversity
Intriguing. Realizing that I was demisexual (by coming across the word, no less!) was a close second to having been diagnosed as being “on the spectrum”. Pieces didn’t really know existed fell into place.