Oooo Okay this is a toughy because there's so many buuuuut (All from Balance because I still need a chance to listen properly to the other Arcs) in no particular order:
- Johann
- Garfield the Deals Warlock
- June
- NO-3113/Noelle
- Klarg
me and @nagahissteria yesterday learning we are the exact same person apparently
nagahissteria
Guys this is literally how it went down.
This is an eternal siblinghood now. @foxrockit I think we're the nonbinary autistic defenders of Waterfall now.
plum asked:tbh I've suspected I might be autistic for a long time but I dont think I have the social aspects that everyone describes and with adhd and anxiety it's hard to tell what is symptoms of those vs what is potentially autism? Also I've just got enough going on as it is that I'm kind of too scared to really look into it ya know
foxrockiti know what you mean, my family has both autism and adhd in it and the two get confused Often due to the amount of traits the two have in common. but my mom has autism without any of the social difficulty traits so like?? it's possible
i kinda think of autism spectrum traits as like. a salad bar. like it's the same wide array of different things but in different combos depending on the person u know?
amias-as-i-am
it's also worth noting that a lot of autistic people are forced to learn social cues really early on, and many don't realize they're masking until they have a meltdown/shutdown. i hear this especially from autistic folks assigned female at birth - they're expected to know how to communicate with neurotypicals and punished if they can't, so they do, even though it can be really confusing and damaging. it's definitely hard to pick apart what falls into what categories, but it's good to be aware that not everybody has the same signs, and other signs can be difficult to recognize even for the person living them.
nagahissteria
The different expectations placed on amab vs afab individuals are ridiculous honestly. It's made it so difficult for certain traits to get picked up on because they define certain traits as being specific to assigned sex at birth when they're not. My brother and I are both autistic and we share a lot of traits. The treatment we have each received has been vastly different. My brother is amab and was diagnosed at a very young age, because of this people underestimate his level of understanding. So many people I know refuse to listen to actual autistics and are still using functioning labels and brain age comparisons. This has kept my brother from learning a lot of skills because noone will let him try. I on the other hand am afab. The only reason I was diagnosed at all was because I went to a doctor about my depression and anxiety behind my parents' backs when I was 17. I went through school with no support and often got yelled at for not immediately knowing how to do certain "simple" tasks. This has hurt both of us massively but in very different ways. I know this isn't the situation for everyone, but I've heard so many stories reflective of this that it's hard not to start making connections.
foxrockitit's not easy being the only top on this entire website but that's life for you
nagahissteria
Bold of you to assume you're the only one.