Christine Condo on how the experience of being autistic is like being locked out of a glass room that she can see inside but can never enter.
If you have transient episodes of not being able to speak, or not finding the right words, you may think it’s selective mutism. Could it be autistic catatonia instead?
I am writing this to carve out space for myself in the socially-constructed version of the world. I don’t exist if I’m autistic and all autistic people who act the way I’m acting are masking.
Most people think that we are being stubborn or that we actually get to choose when we are able to talk or not. This is definitely not the case. Selective mutism is not an easy condition to manage.
I am autistic. The teen years are rough on everyone—there’s no question about it. Surviving them when you live with undiagnosed ASD and co-occurring, untreated major depression… well, speaking from personal experience, that counts as a special brand of hell.
A research article concluded that autistic people cared too much about others, citing inflexibility to be an issue by following moral code even when individual gains are high. In my personal opinion as an autistic person, I would argue that the non-autistic participants did not weight the negative consequences of their actions enough, and simply chose individual benefit over other people.
Being autistic and nonbinary gives me a unique experience. I don’t think I would’ve pushed against gender norms so much, if I wasn’t autistic.
They mention creating a “coaching process” using artificial intelligence, as if autistic people haven’t been “coached” enough into neurotypicality. Unfortunately, our entire lives are made up of neurotypical “coaching.” We often in fact, receive too much coaching in how to act or generally exist among other people.
RJ Brothers was arrested in Virginia Beach for marching for Matthew Rushin and against ableism. He could face five years in prison.
This neurotypical mother tried everything she could find for ten years to harmonize her household with autistic kids and an autistic husband. Finally, she discovered something that was better than better.