Search results for tag #autism
I got the formal diagnosis for #autism last month and after reflection, here are some thoughts...
Nothing fundamental changed about who I am (or how I am) because of a formal diagnosis; I've known nearly 5 years now how my mind works. What it does is allow me to forgive the failures of my younger self. To forgive the times I wasn't enough or wasn't able to live up to my own standards. (1/3)
This is the most delightful little blog post, and from a site about funerals. 😮 THIS is an unexpected #glimmer! 😀
https://funeral-notices.co.uk/blog/beyond-the-headlines-why-the-world-is-kinder-than-you-think
#Autism
#ADHD
#AuDHD
#neurodiversity
#neurodivergence
Alt...
The Power of 'Glimmers'
You may be familiar with the term "triggers," but have you heard of "glimmers"? Coined by experts in nervous system regulation, glimmers are the polar opposite of triggers. They are tiny moments of awe, micro-moments of safety, or brief flashes of joy that signal to our brains that the world is okay.
A glimmer isn’t a life-changing event; it is the way the morning sun hits a steaming cup of tea, a nod of recognition from a neighbour, or the sound of birdsong in the garden. Finding positivity isn't about ignoring the news; it’s about intentionally balancing the scales by training your brain to notice these glimmers. When we prioritise these small joys, our overall outlook begins to shift.
@emily_rugburn @autistics
.
What if the question were, What do you THINK about it? You can probably identify thoughts first and then feelings. NT folks seem to skip that step, having all these feelings about things they haven’t processed at all. I think you have to know what’s going on before you can know what you feel, and if you work through the mental part, what it MEANS, then you’ll maybe find the feelings for it?
.
I’m sorry. Like in all things, I don’t like the popular versions, definitions. “Alexythemia,” is maybe the norm and instant emotional reactions are the disorder. It’s sure what I thought as a child, with some volatile siblings. 💜
.
#ND #ActuallyAutistic #Autism
Neuroscientists find evidence that autistic patients have trouble understanding others' intentions
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
> A study from MIT neuroscientists reveals that high-functioning autistic adults appear to have trouble using theory of mind to make moral judgments in certain situations.
@KatyElphinstone
.
Thing is, when I as an Autistic blame someone or something, I’m just identifying the causal chain of events - there’s nothing “moral,” about it.
.
It’s a “moral,” matter when you’re planning to punish who or whatever caused the problem. As a lifelong God’s fool sort of Autistic, that isn’t automatic, in fact I try to never punish anyone for anything.
.
So “blame,” is a word that means different things to different neurotypes, making these tests faulty from the start. We’re suppose to lack empathy because for them, blaming Sally means hurting Sally, which it doesn’t for me.
.
Worse, their version includes punishment, and they think that’s Human Nature and true for everyone so they don’t even try to compensate for that confound.
🤨😇💜
.
#ND #ActuallyAutistic #Autism @autistics
I came across this article in a post and wanted to share with the group. I'm really digging how the #Māori view #Neurodiversity and #Autism! @autistics
More Than a Diagnosis: Reclaiming Neurodiversity in #TeAoMāori
Aug 28, 2025 by Aroha Tamihana
"Neurodiversity is often framed through a deficit lens, defined by what someone lacks or what makes them 'different' from the so-called norm. But within te ao Māori, there’s a growing movement to reframe takiwātanga (Autism), aroreretini (#ADHD), and other neurodiverse traits as taonga: unique ways of being that carry their own mana, strengths, and gifts."
Some reo Māori terms:
- takiwātanga / takiwaatanga – Autism (from tōna anō takiwā – “in their own time/space”)
- aroreretini – ADHD (“attention goes to many things”)
Read more:
https://maimoa.nz/blogs/news/more-than-a-diagnosis-reclaiming-neurodiversity-in-te-ao-maori
Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
The “jellyfish” study (2011) was influential in this, as it concluded that autistic people lacked Theory of Mind & capacity for moral reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Sally tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
⬇️
#Autism #Empathy #Neurodiversity #Psychology #TheoryofMind #ActuallyAutistic
RE: https://flipboard.com/@cbcnews/politics-2qr4m137z/-/a-FDDQSY6CTg2JLoNlTOk3dA%3Aa%3A107108217-%2F0
#ElectionsCanada gets an object lesson on why it is essential for organizations whose work demands procedural exactitude to hire workers and leaders whose #neurodivergence makes them specialists in that aptitude.
Election workers; nuclear reactor operators; scrub technicians, EVS technicians, and MDRTs; pharmacists; aircraft mechanics and engineers; avionics maintenance technicians and QC inspectors; financial auditors; regulatory compliance officers; quality control inspectors; laboratory technicians; occupational health and safety officers; software quality assurance testers; powerline technicians; environmental and industrial inspectors: All these and many more occupations draw on common (albeit neither universal nor exclusive) distinct #Autistic strengths.
Organizational diversity is strength. Neurodiversity (meaning, variety of neurotypes) is one essential dimension of which. Of course, inclusion is necessary and insufficient. Ensuring sensory, psychological, and social safety of these workers ensures organizations attain the most benefit from their work.
Cost of any NT leaders not being ableist trash: free. Cost of leaders not allowing NT colleagues to be ableist trash: a few hours' training, several minutes' feedback per week, and a few sometimes momentarily uncomfortable conversations. Cost of procedural errors in these industries: millions or billions of dollars, and very often, human lives.
AodeRelay boostedSupreme Court invalidates Liberal MP's election win by a single vote
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/terrebonne-tatiana-auguste-supreme-court-result-9.7088850?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypubPosted into Politics @politics-cbcnews
I had friends who supported me against bullies. These students should be lauded, not suspended!
#Maine high school suspends 19 students who stood up to alleged bully targeting #autistic student
Story by Peter Rubinstein, 2/11/2026
"Veronika McKenney, mother of one Oxford Hills student who was not part of the suspended group, maintained that the group was nonviolent. 'They kept their hands off. They used their words,' she told WGME.
"Other students began to follow, eventually forming a crowd around the alleged bully. Only one person in the group spoke to the student accused of kicking the autistic student, the suspended student added.
"When school staff noticed the crowd, they intervened and removed the alleged bully from the middle. Administrators identified the students that had gathered and began notifying their parents.
"Their suspensions ranged from two to five days.
"The story quickly caught attention among school parents on social media, many of whom defended their children's presence in the crowd and condemned the school's decision to suspend them."
Hot take: Refusing to adapt to AI/LLM mirrors a lack of patience for autistic & neurodivergent persons. If you can't handle an AI, you can't handle a person. I'm talking communication & treatment, not Copyright. Refusing explicit context reveals bias.
#jouRapNal #book18 day 60
202600211Wed
#3goodThings #autism #school #support #threeGoodThings
Alt...
(illustration of a small tech clam)
Ma&Az are getting chrome books for school & we will meet with psychologists to craft an independant education plan for each
Yt in gym played a game with 4 nets - one in each corner - when the 1st 2 teams were eliminated Yt convinced them to help Yt's team win
WTF! I said they would be coming for #Autistic folks (and services) next...
In Case You Missed It: Dr. Oz Puts #Mills on 30-Day Notice Over MaineCare #Autism Billing
By Jon Fetherston, February 9, 2026
WASHINGTON – "Maine is back in the national crosshairs after CMS Administrator Dr. #MehmetOz publicly warned late Friday that Gov. #JanetMills (D) has 30 days to answer federal questions about MaineCare billing tied to autism services, and that 'CMS is ready to take action' if Washington isn’t satisfied with what it sees."
cc: @autistics
Mills: Oz's fraud allegations pull from 'malicious playbook' for targeting #Trump's political foes
Maine Public | By Steve Mistler
Published February 9, 2026
"Gov. #JanetMills says the #Trump administration is using findings from a routine social services audit to drum up allegations of fraud for political purposes. The governor's comments follow threats from a top #Medicaid official to cut off the state's federal funding.
"In the past several days, Centers for #Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator #MehmetOz has made allegations of widespread fraud in Maine's social services programs, at one point drawing comparisons to the scandal unfolding in #Minnesota.
"In a recently posted social media video, the former celebrity TV doctor suggested that Maine could lose its federal Medicaid funding.
" 'If we don't like what we see, CMS will work with Maine to put their house in order. And if we're not satisfied with their progress, we reserve the right to cut off their payments entirely,' he said.
"Those threats follow a recent audit by the Office of Inspector General that found the state made $45.6 million in improper payments to providers for #autism services. That review, initiated during the Biden administration, did not allege fraud, which is different than improper payments. However, the state may have to pay back $28.7 million to the federal government.
"Mills, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, said in a statement Monday that Oz's statements mark another example of the Trump administration's 'malicious playbook' of targeting its political opponents.
" 'Let’s be clear about what this is: Maine is facing a political attack from a president who uses allegations of fraud as a pretense to send (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and other weaponized federal agents into states led by Democrats with devastating consequences,' she said in a statement."
cc: @autistics
Is Autism something to be cured? Or are we people to be eliminated? TBH, I wouldn't believe a word the current administration says about Autism. Especially the way their goons treated #AliyahRahman !
What RFK Jr.’s Unproven #Autism Treatment Could Mean for #Autistic Patients and Their Families
RFK Jr. has stated leucovorin will help "large numbers of children who suffer from autism." Many experts are skeptical about that.
By Ed Cara
Published February 7, 2026
"Last September, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump made a big announcement: The federal government had supposedly uncovered a clear link between autism and mothers taking acetaminophen (Tylenol) during their pregnancy. The proclamation was swiftly lambasted by scientists outside the administration, yet it’s only one facet of the Trump administration’s concerning new approach to autism."
Hi y'all ,
I'm currently working on my thesis about autism questionnaires and how they can be improved, and I still need participants for my survey!
(You can participate if you're 16+ and speak English. See info below!)
Currently I'm especially looking for autistic people (self- or prof diagnosed), but non-autistic participants are also very much appreciated and needed!
Please lmk if there's questions, comments or feedback :)
Edit: #autism #actuallyautistic #survey
https://maastrichtuniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_86szgfkwCOBJchw
Alt...
Blue information flyer with a graphic of a person holding a note block, and a QR code.
Aha!
Will I use this certificate ever for anything useful? Nope. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Do I believe anything of those certifying bodies? Nope, they probably are made up.
It gave me the groundwork to figure lots of personal stuff out.
#Neurodiversity #Coaching #Autism #ADHD
@duckduckduckfrog avoid like the pest. You can get the full EXACT outline using ChatGPT which is on itself a very red flag.
Did I make the most of it? Yes.
Can I recommend it? Nope.
@hmm_cook I can't imagine my life in 20 years. The 19 year old me would not have predicted 39 year old me. The 29 year old me, would not have predicted 49 year old me.
Inverting this, I would tell 29 year old me, to stop chasing dopamine through work addiction. It's too stressful, which will lead to burnout and/or depression. A bit late by then, and I wasn't listening to others telling me. Go back to sports and start the gym. Help find alternative outlets to get that high.
"The FDA removed a webpage that warned consumers about potentially dangerous products and therapies marketed as autism treatments.
An archived version of the page said the agency had warned or taken action against companies that made improper claims that their products could treat or cure autism or autism-related symptoms."
Why is it that I lament that I rarely get phone calls from friends.... and then when they do call I get annoyed that they did?
Is it because they take so long between reaching out (I used to reach out all the time, but stopped when I noticed it wasn't reciprocated), or is this an #autism thing?
Honestly, I don't know everything about how my brain works, so this is an actual question, and not a rhetorical one.
PSA: Severe or profound autism DOES NOT exist. It’s autism + co-occurring conditions!
A few different resources about this subject, there are so many, check especially the first one!
https://neurodivergentrebel.substack.com/p/when-i-said-theres-no-such-thing
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10500663/
https://lemonandlively.com/severe-autism/
https://neuroclastic.com/calling-level-3-support-needs-severe-autism-blocks-self-advocacy/
I haven't seen this particular video for years, not since I lost my link to it. So I was very glad it popped up in my feed today. It remains one of the most powerful representations of what it can mean, at least for this autistic, to be non-speaking. It is essentially told in two halves, using her language and ours and whilst she is sadly no-longer with us, this remains as a hell of a legacy and almost a must-see for autistics in my opinion.
Is there a website as thorough as the German The ADHD compendium (available in English, which is how I read it if course) but for Autism or AuDHD instead ? Please boost for reach
The ways I work the most comfortable had a lot more to do with autism than with ADHD. I do not require novelty, I require routine. In fact I hate novelty at work and prefer structure and continuous building up and progressing over a solid foundation.
When people keep moving that foundation or the thing I should be focusing on, work becomes a nightmare and start to burn out.
When the sweater starts to feel like a thousand spiders crawling all over your body, that's pajama time.
My body hates me, it wants to kill me. My immune system has been attacking me ferociously for years. It ate my thyroid, it bites at my guts, my skin, my brain. It thinks I'm afraid of dying, but he doesn't know that if he kills me he'll be doing me a favor. Or maybe he does know...
#actuallyautistic #autoimmune #autoimmunedisease #autism #hashimoto #psoraticarthritis #psoriasis #ibd
I am crying after reading this initially shared by @acratopege (and sorry for the incoming notifications).
Thank you Rob and Dianne. ❤️
——-
We invited a man into our home at Christmas and he stayed with us for 45 years
I hate not being able to actually tell the truth about why I need to skip an in office day.
What manager on earth is going to understand that I'm nearing a meltdown/shutdown because I was so overstimulated due to a team lunch on Wednesday? It was threatening to ruin my entire week.
If I'd gone in on Thursday I wouldn't have gotten anything done because my brain would be short circuiting all day. And today I'd be catatonic, which is kind of happening anyway. I fell asleep on the couch sitting up after breakfast this morning for instance even though I slept for 9 hours last night.
Ran across a Facebook page with this photo comparing a High Definition Fiber Tracking brain scan of Temple Grandin to an NT brain. It's what I envisioned when people talked or wrote about #autism having a more active brain than others. It's confirmation bias to see it, but it makes me soooooo happy.
Alt...
This is a brain scan of Temple Grandin, left, compared to someone without autism. Grandin's visual output area is much larger than a typical person's.
Is there anything more unbearable than company happy hours? I’ve like truly connected with maybe 3 co-workers in 20+ years. There’s nobody I’d rather drink less with than co-workers.
And alcohol, while dulling my autism in the moment, does not eliminate it. In fact it’s like it builds an anxiety dam that breaks when I sober up so drinking around people usually ends with me having a panic attack later.
So instead of going to happy hour I’m getting a lift in. At home. Alone. Then watching one of the shows I’m catching up on and going to bed on time.
New research bolsters evidence that Tylenol doesn’t raise the risk of autism despite Trump’s claims
A new review of studies has found that taking Tylenol during pregnancy doesn’t increase the risk...
https://apnews.com/article/trump-autism-tylenol-adhd-a9854203a8474c58654313ba93e48a67#uspol #autism #research
I will be at LEICESTER comedy festival on 17 th February
https://events.comedy-festival.co.uk/events/robin-ince-let-the-quiet-ones-rise/ #comedy #poetry #leicester #adhd #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #autism
Lancet study: Tylenol use during pregnancy does not cause autism
> Findings rebut top U.S. health officials’ claims that acetaminophen is possible cause of the disorder https://www.statnews.com/2026/01/16/tylenol-autism-lancet-study-finds-no-acetaminophen-link/ #MAGA #ConspiracyTheories #DonaldTrump #Autism #RFKjr
Reader, I lived it: a restaurant I go to all time have added an ingredient I hate to my favourite meal.
This is objectively the worst thing that has ever happened.
I'm looking into books not just about #ADHD, but specifically about the use of #psychostimulant drugs to treat it. I was hoping to find professional reference books. Instead, what I'm finding, overwhelmingly, are strident denunciations of #ADHD as unreal, and of the drugs as tools of diabolical mind control. The atmosphere of this discourse, the vibe, absolutely creeps me out. It's dismaying. It's worse — much worse! — than anti-addiction drug-war literature; many of THOSE people are surprisingly positive about what they see as responsible, legitimate use of scheduled drugs under prescription. Instead, the anti-#ADHD-drug literature is more reminiscent of the intensely toxic atmosphere of two other social pathologies we've become wearisomely familiar with: #antivax, and the "#autism overdiagnosis" school of thought that tries to deny the very reality of our identity.
Indeed, I suspect that at bottom the motivation behind all three social movements — #antivax, anti-#ADHD, and anti-#autism — is the same: denial of the Other. Whether it's plagues or neurodivergence, these people want above all to deny the reality of anything that would force them to make drastic alterations to their lifestyles. It's one step away from wishing other ethnic groups didn't exist.
#FDA deletes warning on bogus #autism therapies touted by #RFK Jr.‘s allies
For years, the #FDA provided an informational webpage for parents warning them of the dangers of bogus autism treatments, some promoted by anti-vaccine activists & "wellness" companies. The page cited specifics #scams & the "significant #health risks" they pose.
But, under anti-vaccine Health Secretary RFK Jr.—who has numerous ties to the wellness industry—that FDA info webpage is now gone.
Private equity firms acquired more than 500 autism centers in past decade, study shows | Brown University
“It's all about the financial incentives,” Arnold said. “I worry about the same types of revenue-generating strategies seen in other private equity-backed settings. I worry about children receiving more than the clinically appropriate amount of services and worsening disparities in terms of which children have access to services.”
https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-01-07/private-equity-autism-centers
(If he were truly convinced that paying taxes is an indicator of a citizen's usefulness to society, the thing RFK jr should want to prevent isn't #autism but the billionaire class.)
@andrewducker The conclusion is spot on!
“Most critically, they failed to ask autistic people about their inner experiences. They studied autism without genuinely listening to the autistic perspective. For decades, science examined autistic people through a lens of pathology and deficit, rather than dignity, comparing us to animals while missing our humanity. But autistic people don't lack humanity. Research just lacked the humanity to see it.“
#MentalHealth #MentalIllness #Depression #Anxiety #cPTSD #Autism #ActuallyAutistic
Alt...
myriadsubtletiess
The worst part about having mental health
issues is that you're seemingly required to
have a breakdown in order for people to
understand how hard you were trying to
hold yourself together.
Dissolving Internalized Ableism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpcwD02SgjY
#Autism #autistic #ActuallyAutistic #AutismAcceptance #Acceptance
As an autist, reading all the comments about mansplaining on @emilymbender threads make me wondering how many people commenting know the difference between mansplanning and infodumping? I’m sarcastic because I know that non autistic people have usually no idea. 🙃
For those not knowing, we are A LOT on Mastodon (it’s the only part of the Fediverse that I know), and so infodumping is telling someone a lot of information about a exciting subject, and many of us can’t avoid of doing it. 🤷♀️
I know that it’s probably not the best explanation, so dear neurokind feel free to infodump about it. 😋
Here's my argument for why we're not just getting better at detecting autism and ADHD in the kids - the actual occurences of these neurodevelopmental disorders are also on the rise.
And we're the cause.
Maybe there’s been some progress made. And maybe a few minutes of feeling like myself is all I can honestly hope for at this point.
I at least have something I can maybe go back to now. And maybe there will be more there over time.
I don’t really know what I’m trying to say.
I don’t feel very hopeful that this is any big step forward but it was a nice few minutes where I didn’t feel like the worst person on the planet for once and I’d like experience that feeling more often.
/end
Last night I feel like I connected with myself in a way I haven’t for at least 15 years, maybe 25.
I can literally just be that 17 year old kid in my bedroom at 2am. Even though that 17 year old was suicidally depressed and anxious, there was something there in that memory. Maybe a little bit of me that was real and authentic before it was beat out of me by a neurotypical world.
I’d like to feel the way I felt last night more often. I do feel like I actively shut down moments of self connection because life has taught me that my authentic self is not wanted anywhere outside the walls of my house.
4/?
#autism
I realized I have zero actual identity. I have what people have projected on to me over the course of my life. Those projections have always felt false in at least some ways.
But since everything about my natural behaviors was always EXTREMELY unacceptable and still is honestly I only ever had those projections to form an identity around.
I actually welcomed someone’s external projection at times because it meant I had a comfy role to assume for a while and I could direct my nervous energy toward playing that character.
3/?
As a high masking autistic I struggle heavily with identity. By default I will mirror you or morph my own personality into something pleasing for you to interact with.
This leads me to times where I adopt attitudes, opinions, and likes/dislikes of whoever I’m around. I will also absorb everyone’s emotions around me subconsciously which is partly why I find office work so intolerable because everyone seems to at least passively hate their job in some capacity.
After realizing these chameleon behaviors have doomed every relationship I’ve been in, and feeling a need to try to be more authentic…I was at a loss.
2/?
I’ve always been a bit of a home theater and audio nerd.
Even back in high school I had an insane AV setup in my bedroom.
Last week I hooked up the “last” speakers I wanted for my home office as a Christmas present to myself but last night I really tried them out on the music front for the first time.
It was a little after midnight, and I’m leaning way back in my desk chair, enveloped in a dense shoegaze guitar riff and was immediately 17 again. Half finished PC build on the floor. Taking a Mountain Dew break and relaxing at my desk.
1/?
What's it like to be bipolar type 1 + 2, autistic, and gifted?...
Well, today, trying to understand myself (I have a lot of alexithymia), I managed to write this to explain to my wife and daughter what happens to me with people in general and why am I often bitter and unpleasant to people...
Well...
I know very well that many people dislike me; they perceive me as unpleasant. Almost certainly nine out of ten find me unpleasant, but I don't think they understand why.
It's because I behave unpleasantly towards them. And why is that? Because I dislike them. In other words, if you dislike me and find me unpleasant, it's because I dislike you, and I don't do anything to hide it; in fact, I'll let you know with my shitty behavior.
If you think that's wrong, inconsiderate, and lacking in empathy, let me tell you that's the most compassionate thing I can offer. All other possible reactions are much worse, and most would land me in jail, or at the very least in a police station with black ink on my fingers.
😒😒😒
#bipolardisorder #autism #giftedness #neurodivergent #actuallyautistic
I think maybe the hardest thing for me about dealing with autism at this point in life is knowing I could make my life easier by going back to a higher level of masking but not being able to physically tank the exhaustion of doing that anymore.
Like I can see the script rolling on the teleprompter in my head of how to guide an interaction to a better place but I can't make myself read the lines anymore.
Why unexpected phone calls are so stressing for me, example 2341. It was short and quick, thankfully I already had the info so for this one I check only the first three of the list below…
For context: I just got a reminder phone call for a medical appointment next week. Yes, I know, I could have let it to the voice mail. But, I had so many phone calls related to medical appointments and voice mails (so I had to call to back) the weeks before Christmas that now I answer to any phone call because it makes things “easier“... 🙃
Why Your Autistic Loved One Doesn’t Pick Up the Phone
https://www.thearticulateautistic.com/why-your-autistic-loved-one-doesnt-pick-up-the-phone/
I did a poll here for a week. 141 people responded. I was interested in #mastodon users' preferred categorization of the term "neurodiverse." The results generally confirmed my a priori predictions but had some surprises. Some takeaways for me, right now:
- Autism was in a tie for top position, unsurprising as, in my experience, autism was the first condition to be labeled "neurodiverse" or "neuroatypical", and is, I suspect, something of a prototype for the category.
- ADHD was tied (given the sample) with autism. I was mildly surprised. I think a few years ago this would not have been the case; ADHD awareness, activism, and acceptance have increased dramatically over the past few years.
- Schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and #bipolar disorders were the next group. The inclusion of anxiety disorders surprised me; I suspected it would be tied with depression disorders.
- Personality disorders being endorsed at the same rate as depression and intellectual disability was a mild surprise.
- Psychopathy being tied with depression and intellectual disability was a pretty big surprise for me. This poll was largely about opinions and preferences, so stigma is (IMO) a big part of it. "Being a psychohpath" seems to be less stigmatized (in a specific way) than I thought... it's also possible the results would change if I'd used the word "psychopath" instead of "psychopathy."
- Intellectual disabiity (until pretty recently labeled "mental retardation" but, you know, the euphemism treadmill) was a wild card for me; I didn't know where it would end up. I would like to do a different survey sometime, with a different response format, so I could see the variability in responses. I suspect this condition (and a few others) would result in a lot of variability.
- Pedophilia was of particular interest to me. The results confirmed my strong a priori hypothesis, and this (plus psychopathy) was a major reason for wording the poll as I did, prompoting for preferences instead of a more objective assessment of the research-based fitness of each condition for the "neurodiverse" category.
More about #pedophilia: a nice, big mountain of research strongly suggests that it is a condition of altered brain development; in fact, it is probably a sexual orientation. A better survey than this simple poll might assess participants' understanding of pedophilia in addition to the question I did ask. I suspect many people confuse pedophilia with child molestation/abuse (nb: pedophilia is a pattern of attraction, not a set of behaviors, though many pedophiles have also abused children).
Both the left and right political meta-groups in the USA have latched onto "pedophile" as a label for child molestation--usually of post-pubescent children, where pedophilia is very specifically a pattern of attraction to prepubescent children. There was flirtation during Trump's first term with the more correct(ish) labels "hebephilia" and "ephebephilia", but I think the need for a stronger, more dehumanizing label won in the end, and "pedophile" packs a bigger cultural/emotional punch than "child molester."
Anyway, thanks to everyone who participated. This is fascinating enough for me that I might even do a real survey sometime. If I can get my dean to stop giving me extra classes for calling him out on his anti-labor nonsense.
Notes:
- I phrased the question as *Which of the following conditions do you personally think should be included under the #neurodiversity umbrella? * instead of asking which conditions would be classified as neurodiverse, etc. for reasons noted above.
- I chose "neurodiverse" instead of "neuroatypical", believing that the latter would produce more restricted categorization.
- This is not (I hope) research according to federal definitions. It's a demonstration of a concept and I won't be trying to disseminate these results in scientific journals or at science conferences.
#neurodiverse #neuroatypical #poll #adhd #autism #schizophrenia #anxiety #bipolar #PersonalityDisorder #psychopathy #depression #IntellectualDisability
Alt...
This is a graph, so it is difficult to summarize. The main findings are noted in the post, and here are the data as (I hope) a readable table. The first numerical column is the percentage of respondents who endorsed the condition in that row. The next two numerical columns are the lower and upper limits of the 95% confidence interval for that value.
condition Percent I_lower CI_upper
---------------------------------------------------
Pedophilia 3.7 0.6 6.8
Intellectual_Disability 40.7 32.6 48.8
Depression 40.7 32.6 48.8
Psychopath 40.7 32.6 48.8
Personality_Disorders 44.4 36.2 52.6
Bipolar_Disorders 51.9 43.7 60.1
Anxiety 55.6 47.4 63.8
Schizophrenia_Psychosis 55.6 47.4 63.8
Autism 92.6 88.3 96.9
ADHD 96.3 93.2 99.4
On this Christmas Day, as I prepare for my night work shift — my inpatient pharmacy workplace is, as it should be, open 24/7/365! — let me take a moment to mention that I'm continuing to work my way through @alice's wonderful bibliographic article on #autism. It's my intent eventually to read every academic paper and blog post linked from it. One of the most recently read and interesting ones: "A mixed methods study of barriers to formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in adults" (Lewis 2017). I can relate to the barriers Lewis describes; I had written off formal diagnosis as useless. But the most interesting part to me was "Impact of diagnosis" early on. The reported benefits of formal diagnosis are remarkable — enough to lead me to wonder whether it might be worth it after all!
A word to those of you who might be new, or thinking about following me.
Whilst this place obviously runs on algorithms, it doesn't have one to push content onto your timeline. To this end, this place is all about being active. You have to go out and find the content you want. In terms of following the accounts of those whose posts you want to see and also in terms of following the various hashtags that interest you. There are also groups, who solely boost anything posted that tags them, such as @autistics a group for all autistics and even those who think they might be and not just those officially diagnosed. Follow enough of these things and your timeline can quickly fill, with all that interests you.
However, this is an ongoing process. People come and go. The nature of what they post might vary and no longer interest you. For this reason, unfollowing someone is not a cardinal sin here. Unlike other places, where how many people following you determines your reach, here it really doesn't do anything. Other than affect the quality of your engagement and how many boosts, which do determine reach, and favourites any given post of yours may have.
There are also, always, new people you might want to follow. Or new hashtags that you become aware of that interest you. In fact, over time, you can quite easily end up with an unmanageable timeline. Learning how to use lists, can help you here, separating your various interests into more manageable chunks. You can also hide the boosts of anyone you follow, so that you only see their posts, but not the huge amount of other stuff they might be prone to boosting. But, even with these things, there may come a time when you realise that something has to give and that you can't follow everything. Or, that what you are following is not quite right and that you may need to refresh everything with new follows.
It is, as I said, an ongoing and active process being on here. Both of weeding out the old, or unwanted, and in tending the new. It therefore requires an amount of constant work that puts some people off this place, but which, for most of us, is the beauty of it, once you get the hang of it.
To that end, I therefore do not automatically follow back everyone who follows me. It may be a trick people have learnt in other places and even considered good behaviour because of that. But, as I've explained, it doesn't do much here, where it's all about managing and curating your own timeline. So, if I don't follow back, please don't take offence. I, almost exclusively, wander the #autism spaces and simply like my timeline filled accordingly.
Following discussions elsewhere, I'm interested in who we think is #neurodiverse. Which of the following conditions do you personally think should be included under the #neurodiversity umbrella?
(one billion hashtags to include relevant communities and individuals)
#mentalhealth #psychology #autism #intellectualdisability #adhd #anxiety #depression #bipolar #schizophrenia #PersonalityDisorder #psychopathy #pedophilia
| Autism (all flavors): | 0 |
| Intellectual disability (formerly "mental retardation"): | 0 |
| ADHD (all flavors, including "pure-inattentive" ADHD): | 0 |
| Anxiety disorders (all flavors, including OCD): | 0 |
| Depression (major depression, dysthymia...): | 0 |
| Bipolar disorders (including BPII, cyclothymia...): | 0 |
| Schizophrenia (and other psychosis): | 0 |
| Personality disorders (bipolar, histrionic, narcissistic; not antisocial): | 0 |
| Psychopathy (a.k.a. antisocial personality disorder): | 0 |
| Pedophilia: | 0 |
Is autism self-diagnosis valid? Yep. 💜
Hey all, after reading dozens of research papers, and meta-analyses, and living through it, I made a thing!
I'd love it if you'd check it out! 🥰
https://codeberg.org/alicewatson/asd-self-dx/src/branch/main
---
Update: I replaced the header image, now people can complain about the actual research instead of the thumbnail.
Also, before any more guys respond with gatekeepy opinions about my conclusions, try reading the paper first.
---
@actuallyautistic #ActuallyAutistic #Autism #ASD #Trans #SelfDiagnosis #SelfDX #SelfDxIsValid #Research #Codeberg
Alt...
AI painting of maze-like pathways through a forest, representing obstacles to getting a formal autism diagnosis.
"Autistic people may be less vulnerable to the framing effect, which is the way that context can influence choices. Advertisers use this concept to sway consumer purchase decisions." - https://psychcentral.com/autism/why-people-with-autism-are-more-logical#autism-thinking-styles
""The most "rational" subjects- those who were the least susceptible to framing effects- showed enhanced activity in a frontal area of the brain that is implicated in combining emotion and reasoning to guide decisions. Remarkably, the "rational" individuals were not those who showed the strongest neural evidence of conflict. It appears that these elite participants were (often, not always) reality-bound with little
conflict."" - *Thinking fast and slow* pg 366 - Kahneman
Interesting.
“Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
My response to this quote:
For those of us who struggle with our minds and have trauma, life is less about instantly replacing fear with understanding, and more about chipping away at fear in manageable doses while honoring our limits.
Many people on the internet think having #autism is some sort of cute, quirky personality trait. My oldest son is non verbal & severely autistic. He’s chill most of the time, but he’s been responsible for a variety of things including but not limited to:
-Broken doors, cabinets, windows and walls
-Broken car windshield (from the inside)
-Broken car touch screen
-Ripped up carpets
-Broken toilet tank lids
Consider the reality of autism before you describe it as a good thing
Oil painting titled "Happy Autistic Person with Kittens" - 2015
(If you know nothing about art and oil painting, please don't contradict me) 😌
#actuallyautistic #autism #autistic #kittens #cats #catsofmastodon
Liam Neeson, who thinks he's a doctor, has a very particular set of skills—skills he recently lent to a new #antivax documentary that glorifies the rise of HHS Secretary #RFKJr
The actor (yes, that is what he is), known for Schindler’s List and the Taken franchise, narrated the film, which includes interviews with Kennedy and other prominent anti-vaccine activists
Plague of Corruption: 80 Years of Pharmaceutical Corruption Exposed features a bevy of discredited claims about vaccines, including that they cause #Autism and aluminum toxicity, and frames Kennedy’s leadership of U.S. health policy as 'hopeful'
https://www.importantcontext.news/p/liam-neeson-narrates-anti-vax-pro
Been in meetings for almost 4 hours and I'm not sure I'm going to be functional the rest of the day now. Its like the awareness of my masking now makes it even more exhausting.
My partner's webinar on employment support for #autistic folks is tomorrow!
Please boost and share with anyone you know who might benefit!
Mind the Gaps: Adapting Employment Support for Autistic Individuals!
Learn about factors often missing in employment training and supports for Autistic individuals.
Thursday, December 11
4-5pm PST, 5-6pm MST, 7-8pm EST
https://aidecanada.ca/resources/events/details/aidecanada_11_dec_2025
Direct signup: https://vimeo.com/event/5522044/register
When Your Brain Is The Butt Of The Joke: SNLs Sunday Supper Sketch
It is not a reflection on loneliness, but it reinforces what CAUSES loneliness.
Archive: ia: https://s.faithcollapsing.com/rn9c2
https://ideatrash.net/2025/12/when-your-brain-is-the-butt-of-the-joke-snls-sunday-supper-sketch.html#craft-of-writing #neurospicy #television #writing-the-other #adhd #audhd #autism #comedy #punching-down #representation #saturday-night-live #snl #writing
Alt...
When Your Brain Is The Butt Of The Joke: SNLs Sunday Supper Sketch
"Fifteen of the UK’s leading mental health charities have warned the government that the vile single sex only rules could significantly impact the mental health of trans and nonbinary people."
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/12/08/trans-rcp/
#Autism
#ADHD
#AuDHD
#neurodiversity
#neurodivergence
#transAwareness
Good news! My 18yo son, now a "grown-ass adult," as he marvels, has finally figured out how to swallow pills. I'm so happy. It makes him much more independent, since he can now take his meds himself instead of having me measure out the liquid and some OTC stuff to cover the taste a little.
I know how it is. I was in college before I figured out how to use my abs to do crunches. I only did them as punishments or for class requirements, and I powered through with leg muscles. And I am never in a situation for which crunches are required anymore - pills will be part of his optimum health for perhaps life. He's been keeping up with his medications, and that has made all of our lives better.
#Autism, man. It makes things hard in ways you might not expect.
i hate noise!!!!#rat #rats #ratsOfMastodon #ratsOfFediverse #rodents #adhd #adhdMemes #autism #autismMemes
Alt...
a rat covers their ears, looking frustrated with their tail straight up. text reads, "noise sucks!!!!!!!!!!!" (with an unreasonable amount of exclaimation points)
Alt...
For cosplayers:
[Screenshot of an ad for breastplate with text "Literal breastplate will give you a cosplay-ready, anime class bust in seconds"]
1st reply: I'd rather not be deceived... Kill it with fire XO (three exclamation marks).
2nd reply: I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news but nothing you see on cosplay is real. That fur suit has a human inside it. The elf ears come right off. No one actually has purple skin. Sorry, man.
AN AUTISTIC URBAN HERMIT
(you may not understand if you are not autistic)
For many years, I've been a very curious person. I've learned many things and done many things that I found interesting: science, art, computer science. Like a voracious animal, my mind has consumed all kinds of information, eager to understand everything around me and everything I experienced. Soldier, doctor, monk, musician, hacker, etc. Until one day, staring at the ceiling in the bed of a psychiatric hospital where I was hospitalized, I asked myself: "How did I get here, to this?" And that night, 17 years ago, another part of my life began. I began to die and be reborn, to discover how and why I had gotten to that situation. I discovered that I have high abilities, that I am bipolar and autistic. But for every limitation I discovered, I also discovered the limitations of the world and the human society in which I live.
Today I know that nothing has meaning and that life doesn't need to have it; that what many see as progress and evolution, I see as barbarism and brutality, and that humanity is the stupidest species on the planet, not the best. I don't have goals anymore, I don't need them. But I do have a compass, a kind of direction without needing to get anywhere. To live as peacefully as possible and need very little, being aware and critical of everything. A peaceful dwelling isn't just my house tucked away in the middle of the city, but also a peaceful inner life, without the noise and clamor of the lives of "normal people," without socializing more than the bare minimum necessary for survival. And this isn't because of autism; it's because of a kind of purge, a psycho-spiritual hygiene. The forced social being I often was is dying. Until a few years ago, there wasn't so much exposure and socialization; it wasn't mandatory or essential to living and working in this world. With all the technology and supposed progress, there is increasing misery, hunger, war, and violence everywhere, which makes me think that it's more of a trigger than a solution.
Being overly intelligent and being autistic is a fatal combination that guarantees the death of the social being and the development of the inner hermit that every gifted autistic person potentially is. I'm slowly retreating from the world to my quiet inner abode, where a very narrow door filters who enters and who doesn't. Just my small family group and a minimum of kindness toward a few people is more than enough.
I thought a lot about sharing what I'd learned, about helping, but I realized that idealism and the romanticization of compassion are useless when the sufferer doesn't understand the root of their problems and isn't willing to do their part. Human nature is to be a soulless son of a bitch, held back only by fear of punishment, whether from human law itself or some imagined deity. It's better to live in full awareness of the suchness of things. I myself can be a compassionate genius and in the next moment break your head for being rude and treating me badly.
We live in the worst of all possible worlds, and with that, we are warned that the worst can always happen. Knowing that, any good thing that comes or appears is a gift, a bonus track.
I don't give unsolicited advice, but if you want some, it's this: "Step away from the world as it is and watch it burn from a distance."
(An autistic person becoming an urban hermit.)
#actuallyautistic #autism #autistic #gifted #giftedness #zen #society #humanity #hermit #philosophy
"Streeting orders review into mental health and ADHD diagnoses"
What do you think is motivating Streeting to order this review?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8q26q2r75o
#MentalHealth #ADHD #Autism #UKPolitics #WesStreeting
| Improve quality of mental health care: | 1 |
| Deny benefits to people with mental health issues: | 48 |
Closed
I am very happy every time I hear my book Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal has connected with readers and listeners - thank you https://cosmicshambles.myshopify.com/products/normally-weird-and-weirdly-normal-robin-ince-signed-pre-order #adhd #reading #books #autism
Alt...
5 star review from Audible
Alt...
5 star review from Audible
RE: https://toot.wales/@alexisbushnell/115663503191350556
This is tomorrow and I am definitely not still writing my workshop for it...
Those of you who've attended my classes before; you know how I usually go "Knowing how your body and brain work... is absolutely key in kink. I will not be covering how to get to know yourself in this class"?
Well I will be covering it in this class along with some anecdotes from my own life 🫚
Streeting really is a tit. He's suggested ADHD and Autism are 'overdiagnosed' and then says later: 'We must look at this through a strictly clinical lens to get an evidence-based understanding...'
Perhaps, wait for the evidence then, before coming out with a sweeping and - very possibly - wrong generalisation.
‘[Streeting] has asked leading experts to investigate whether normal feelings have become “over-pathologised”, the newspaper said, as he seeks to grapple with the 4.4 million working-age people now claiming sickness or incapacity benefit.’
When this is your starting hypothesis that you bleat as Health Minister to the media…are you really hoping the review you have instigated will be about caring or understanding the science behind why there has been a huge increase in #autism and #ADHD?
The West Coast Health Alliance continues to strongly recommend vaccines to protect our children, noting that rigorous research of millions of people in multiple countries over decades provides high quality evidence that #vaccines are not linked to #autism. The Alliance is deeply concerned about inaccurate claims to the contrary recently posted on the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
#RFKJr also tends to imply that questions he raises have not yet been studied, when in fact they have been. #Research has shown definitively, for example, that #vaccines do not cause #autism, despite
Kennedy’s long-running efforts to stir that fear.
In similar fashion, Kennedy is now using his post as the highest-ranking #US “#health” official to spread the claim that psychiatric drugs are a key cause of #MassShootings at the nation’s #schools & beyond.
On failing to “fit in” and on overlooked autistic women #books #reading #autism #adhd #neurodivergent #psychology
I am not autistic - at least, as far as I know - but I am good friends with someone who is, and our friendship has now lasted for 13 years (which she frequently notes "is a rarity").
I have learned a lot from her - among other things, that I should check my assumptions on how the world "should" be navigated at the door. While we have common ground, there are also a lot of differences in what is and what is not easy to do for either of us.
I can tell her what _I_ do in any given situation, and she has found that useful often enough (for instance, I am regularly sharing copies of my grocery store receipts with her, which is apparently very helpful with her own food and budget planning), but I have learned to refrain from suggesting that she should do things the same way as I do.
(02 Dec) “Nobody Is Normal”: The Convenient Narrative Used to Silence Level 1 Autistic Adults
https://s.faithcollapsing.com/msfq7
#autism-actuallyautistic