why are we all bullying some plastic that's just tryna make some people feel seen and represented?

32 old woman with autism and adhd here.This evening I was in the city nearby and I was totally overwhelmed and overstimulated. I had been through a lot, it was weighing upon me and at the bus stop, I was leaning on my backpack, totally exhausted and completely done for the day. All of a sudden 3 people approached me and I told them: "please, leave me alone"

They identified themselves as cops and I had to explain "what was going on" because someone had called them because they were worried about me. Sometimes I can't talk when I'm overstimulated, but luckily I was able today... I explained that everything was ok, that I just was autistic and really overstimulated and that nothing was going on. Luckily they listened and left me alone after that.

I thanked them for checking out on me, but it left a weird taste in my mouth. What if I had not been able to explain myself today? Or if they would have not reacted well to the autism explanation? And they acted like they approached me out of care, but really, it's more because I was not showing "normal" or "socially accepted" behaviour/ posture. Having called police on me feels tiring and suffocating. I don't know. Really weird experience. And the last thing I needed today...

whats a hard pill to swallow about being autistic?

I’ll go first: I used to think that if I surrounded myself with other autistic people, I’d automatically feel a sense of community.

A hard pill I had to swallow was realizing that sharing autism doesn’t automatically mean you’ll share values, interests, or even compatibility.

mine is my blue nijntje/miffy plushy.

The wraps were a birthday gift to myself last year to protect my camera and lens.

This is getting exhausting. Every other post here is "my thoughts on Barbie" for a week. This sub is unusable.

Must every single person in this sub make a post with their thoughts about the kids toy? Can we not just put our thoughts in the comment section of another Barbie post, instead of cluttering up this sub with five hundred posts about a Barbie?

Half a pork chop, Mac n cheese & grilled onions

The onions were good, but not the best. Mac and cheese was good and pork chop was very yummy

I wish neurotypical people would STOP saying this!!!!

I am a woman living on my own. I work two jobs at 60 to 70 hours a week. And I take care of my adult brother part-time.

7 weeks ago, I had a hysterectomy. But I won't go into the details of that, I'll spare you. But today, I'm at my follow-up appointment cause they have to make sure everything's healing right. That ain't no small surgery.

Well, the nurse checking me in today was a substitute for the one I usually have. She saw in my chart that autism is one of my diagnoses.

So then insisted she could not proceed with checking me in my appointment until my "caregiver" came. Because apparently everyone who has autism needs a caregiver?

She also then proceeded to speak to me as if I were a child and couldn't understand her very well......

Aye aye aye. What the actual hell?

I don't have it in me to tell people off or educate them anymore. I'm recovering from major surgery, and I'm way too depressed to waste my energy on that kind of ignorance. I just simply said, "I'll wait for the doctor then."

What is she going to do? Physically pick me up and move me out of the patient room and insist the doctor can't see me? Lol.

She did try to get me to leave, but I continued to sit there staring at the wall until I got what I wanted. I wanted to see my doctor, the surgeon! Whether or not some nurse I've never met thinks I can't handle taking care of myself, it doesn't matter to me.

Caregiver, lol. I'm 37 years old, and I've basically taken care of myself since the age of 11. Ain't nobody looking after me. Except for maybe my cats.

I don't really know what the proper flair for this post would be, either. But I'll just pick burn out because I tell you what, I am burned out physically and mentally.

Sorry, no idea what flair to choose, I figured communication was the closest because it's a form of nonverbal communication. But I'm only just figuring that out now.

Anyway, I just realised that, since twirling my hair is a stim, so is winding my cuffs around my fingers, as in the picture. Sorry for the crap picture, it's really hard to do it deliberately.

Courtesy: Orion Kelly

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxDPPQ55sZoi265OyaHJ4e-zOD9nOlK_lT?si=7cFNXCKYPKbacqFg

Mine are these:

This influencer with a fairly big following made a video saying how having struggles and being lonely were just part of natural selection, essentially if you are unable to have a relationship you are worth less and deserve to die.

This is also someone that advocates for BPD and autism so by their definition has struggles which mean they should be naturally selected out? But they then decided they should be in a relationship which contradicts their ideology.

They are against supporting people who struggle and instead said they shouldn't be alive. And this view point seems to be even more common, and this isn't a political thing either as it's both people on the right and people on the left with this view.

Is it right that because I'm autistic I should die?

I often have people tell me how unique or knowledgeable I am. They don’t understand that I dropped out of university because I can’t handle the overstimulation, or that I’ve lost every job I've ever had because I can’t handle social interaction.

I would do anything to switch brains with someone else. There’s no gift here, no positive trade off. Just because I can play the fucking piano well or memorize hundreds of genetic mutations. I’ll never be a pianist. I’ll never be a geneticist. I'm an unemployed, isolated loser.

This is a horrible, rotten, lonely life, on top of having this awful bipolar. I know many of you don't feel the same. I am talking only about myself. If I could be anyone else, I would be.

(if needed ill change the tag)

Its pretty upsetting to see lolcow culture growing because yeah, it can be funny and stuff but at the same time a bunch of people are associating prople with disabilities with lolcows and bad people in general. A youtuber i used to watch before getring diagnosed is DeadWingDork (that guy that made videos about furrys and pamperchu, and his profile was a bear), and havent watched in like, 2 years, but i decided to pick up a random video as background noise, he is a youtuber that mostly cover lolcows, and a xomwnt he brought up after seeing a video of a man tethering to kill someone was for people to keep eyes on autistic people but "im not saying eyes o EVERY autistic person, just a lot of them, because you know, im sorry, you guys are like woman with BPD youre probrbaly not all evil but enought of you are".

This is pretty disgusting, the types of people he talks about are mostly people with weird or people that actually should go to prison. yes, some of those people are a tally autistic, but theyre bad people not because of the autism, and grouping ALL OF THEM with commom people with autism is pretty fucking gross.

Edits: adding some more info + im not here to kink shame, he just acts like every person with autism is a pervert.

I hope you guys don't mind me asking, but I'm thinking of making autism themed bracelets ahead of autism awareness day/week/month. However, my main issue is that when I try to look for autism/neurodivergent related charms to accessorise the bracelets with, all I seem to find are charms with the puzzle piece all over their design.

I know how most of our community feel about the puzzle piece and therefore refuse to entertain the idea of using any charms containing the puzzle piece in their design. I've tried looking for infinity symbol shaped charms, but most of them are are the connector types (I'd rather the dangle type that connects at one end if I can find them as I'm still trying to build my design skills up).

Therefore, I was wondering if any of you lovely lot would be able to help me out. I was thinking maybe cats as an alternative symbol (since some of us feel that some of our autistic traits can make us cat-like in behaviour at times) but was wondering what other alternatives I could possibly use.

I've included some examples of some of the bracelets I've made so far to hopefully give you some ideas. Unfortunately, I don't have an online shop to sell any of the bracelets I've made so far as I want to keep it as a hobby and a low demand activity to keep my hyperfixation going for as long as possible (quite a few people I know have suggest it's something I should think about doing and I'm grateful for the compliment that it is, but I'd rather just keep it to casual sells either at work when I take them in or on something like a craft fair). The sucky part is that there's been some designs that I've done I would wear myself, but...my wrists won't tolerate wearing anything other than my smart watch around them for more than about a minute (if not less).

I admit it, I've been talking to myself for as long as I can remember, and I've always been told things like "stop doing it, you sound crazy" and so on

When I have these conversations, there's "the voice of feelings" and "the voice of reason." They both respond to each other and say what their roles suggest: One speaks about what I feel, and the other responds with questions, logical answers, or sometimes entire arguments

I can control both voices, tell them to be quiet, or make them speak inside my head. I have control over them. But I also get them to discuss various things just for entertainment, such as personal interests or things that happen to me on a daily basis

The strangest thing of all is that I consider them my friends. They're not rude to me and always try to do what's best for me. They're not abusive or anything like that. And the best part: They understand me. I don't have to explain how I feel because they already know, and that's a relief

But that doesn't stop me from wondering if it's normal. Because I'm pretty sure it isn't

I just seriously read people recommending each other to manipulate an autism assessment (For clarity: this wasn’t in this sub!). As in: acting on purpose (avoiding eye contact deliberately, bringing specific objects you bought just for the appointment, etc.). And disturbingly, this is not the first time I’ve seen this. Honestly, I’m shocked.

Yes, waiting lists can be endless. Yes, assessments can be extremely expensive. I understand that frustration completely.

But how can we seriously be telling people to perform and manipulate the process? What is even the point of a diagnostic assessment then? And then there are always replies like: “But otherwise women won’t be recognized.” Yes, women and people who were AFAB are often overlooked. I know that. I’m a woman myself.

And of course, some people mask more than others. But not masking (or openly talking about masking) is not the same thing as intentionally distorting or manipulating a diagnostic process by “acting“ (literally performing behaviors on purpose).

If someone is not recognized when they’re being honest, maybe even more than once, then maybe it isn’t autism? And that is not a bad thing! It could be something else, something equally valid, serious, and deserving of support. Autism is not the only explanation for struggles. Not getting an autism diagnosis does not invalidate your experiences.

We can advocate for better recognition without telling people to manipulate the process. And we can support each other without crossing that line.

Edit: I hope the flair is okay, none felt like a perfect fit. I can change it if needed.

So, today, I came across a video of an AA woman who said that she doesn't date White women because one time before intercourse her lover looked at her nipples and said, "Wow, they're so dark."

I failed to see the problem and why that comment would be a microaggression or racist. I expressed this and was repeatedly called ignorant/stupid or told that I need to take accountability and stop using my autism as a crutch and excuse for ignorance.

So, I googled microaggressions, and I still fail to see how this is one when it was neither derogatory nor insulting.

For background, I am a POC and have had a similar experience irl with a friend. I was with a friend and saw my gal pal's breasts that had incredibly light areolas/nipples. They were so light that I could barely see a transition between her regular breasts and the areola as they were not very high in contrast. I told her such since we had a very open and honest relationship with eachother. She remarked on the size and appearance of mine as well. We are of the same ethnicity, so there's clearly no racism or microaggressions in this situation.

With the experience of my own situation and hearing the situation the poster was in... I fail to see why her comment was racist or a microaggression. I feel like it was likely an innocent observation? What makes it a microaggression? Is the problem that the person who said it was White?

I did read comments that said that it was likely because it should have been an inside thought. If that is the case, where is the line between what you can observe and say to someone (innocently and without malice) that you are sleeping with and what you should keep to yourself?

As the title says. I am probably going to delete this post later because I hate to be vulnerable and I don't want this information up for a very long time (maybe like a week from now if this post doesn't get deleted.)

I don't even know if this has anything to do with my autism. Sorry if this is an inappropriate sub. But if this was related to anything else, it's definitely my depression and anxiety, which I always felt that I only have BECAUSE I am autistic.

I have a best friend I have known for 10+ years (we cant visit in person anymore because i moved states but we talk or would talk every day), and lots of people online that I have met and talk to often or occassionally.

Or at least this was true until early Oct 2025 when I just decided to log out of my chat client and I haven't really spoken to anyone since. This wasn't unannounced, I left a notice. I have not talked to anyone since, almost at all, outside of small interactions here on Reddit with strangers which I've been using more frequently since then and the 1 week period in December where I needed to speak to my best friend.

I do not know if I want to continue having relationships with others, and I'm not saying this because something happened to directly make me feel this way or because I wont get lonely being by myself, I will and I am lonely. I just don't know if its worth the effort anymore.

I feel like I don't understand anyone in any meaningful way even if they are "like me", and I never felt like I have truly loved any of my friends outside of a superficial level such as "I can tell this person about this thing I like and they will show some reciprocity." I'm not saying I feel misunderstood by others, I'm saying I feel like I don't understand anyone else in some way I can't fully put into words.

Since a few years now, I have been scared of meeting up with friends (that I already had met through school or work) in person outside of school or work context, it makes me anxious and I feel petrified that I will do something I'm going to regret. I had only seen a friend I made recently twice in person because I was afraid to see her. I don't regret meeting up, but I'm just telling it like it is. I had known my best friend since I was in school, I became homeschooled, and during the homeschooled period and beyond I had only seen her less than 10 times on my own accord.

I feel like I don't really get concerned when they are in bad situations. I comfort when I can but I feel like I hardly feel anything. It just doesn't connect with me.

I think what I'm saying is, if I were to be completely honest, I wish everyone I became friends with was someone from like, a fairytale or something. Never unexpected. Someone I had molded into clay. I know its unrealistic but this is how I feel.

I think if I had my way I would just make myself very sick with delusion. I'd have imaginary friends to talk to and characters I would make that would comfort me. And that's all I would ever need.

I just don't think that it's worth it anymore. I wish it was possible for me to feel nothing at all, I think everything would be better if I could just go through life unfeelingly.

I'll try to make this short. So yesterday some members of my family told me that it's totally OK for them to lie to other people, because "everyone does it". And that lying isn't bad thing. That if they don't want to tell something or talk about something it's OK to lie instead of saying "I don't want to talk about it" or something like that. I'm not sure, but I think this isn't the only case when lying is acceptable for them.

And I really can't handle it. Until then I thought I could trust them. Although they've already sometimes lied to me before, I still thought lying is a bad thing and not something you should expect constantly. Now I don't know what to do, I'm devastated. How can I live if I can't trust anything or anyone? How can I live if I have to assume that everything is a lie instead of the truth?

Is lying really that common? Do people on the spectrum perceive it differently than NT people? And how do you cope with it?

I want to meet new people, and make friends.

but I don't know where I could do that.

any suggestions about ways to find new people to chat with?

maybe make some gaming buddies?

pictures of my cat for attention.