Autistic Hedgehog
Month
Definitely worthy! Pass it on, fellow hedgehogs.
Well, we have various stims, but a lot of people have tics, and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. I can only speak for myself, but I don’t tend towards a lot of tics.
Anyone else wanna weigh in?
Saw this on the Autism tag. “Look out Autism, we’re going to deal with you!” Okay, first off, don’t these people see how immature they sound? Like, “We’re going to fight you big bad Autism doo doo head!”
I think growing up being expected to behave socially appropriate by the schools I went to, has given me no tolerance for adults who cope the way toddlers do. Autism is a developmental disorder. It’s not the boogeyman, or the monster under your bed. A child shouldn’t have to deal with a parent, who refers to their diagnoses like a scared toddler. Finding out your child has Autism means you need to be more of a parent, that means helping your child, rather than calling “Autism” bad names as if you’re going to scare it off.
A lot of consideration should go to those of us with Autism who try to understand your situation. It’s like helping a 2 year old get over their fear of the dark. Adults with Autism shouldn’t have to come and tell you it’s going to be all right, because your sniffling over your child having a difference.
I’m sure I’ll be getting over dramatic responses about how, I don’t know what it’s like, and “You’re MEAN!”. Autistic people have a right to existence. They have a right to be treated as any other child would. That means not having to parent their parents, because their parents age regressed when they found out the diagnoses, and wanted to hide under their blankie and suck their thumb. How can a child have a childhood, when their parents hear the word Autism, and collapse into a self-pitying crying jag, or start chanting that they’re gonna beat that big bad Autism.
I am not exaggerating, on one of the Autism Every Day videos, they had the parents call on the “Powha of voodoo” to save their children from Autism. Autism Speaks is leading self-pitying martyr parents in a kindergarten sing-a-long. That is pathetic. Meanwhile Autistic children have to deal with the real world, while their parents go on Tumblr and other sites communing over how the big bad Autism ruined their lives.
So why should Autistic people be expected to function, when so many NTs have shown they can’t. No, I don’t have slack of empathy. I just reserve it for parents who act like parents. Not parents who woe is me over their child’s diagnoses. Not parents who go to one of Autism Speaks open house kinder care for parents with a child with Autism group “Everyone gets a hug because they helped their child today! Yay!” sessions. I reserve my empathy for adults who act like adults. Don’t tell me or anyone else with Autism they have functioning problems, while you’re dealing with life as a small child does.
[Autistic Hedgehog meme: Pokemon player slams on players who has ASD and autism. Apparently forgot that the creator of Pokemon has Asperger’s.]
Nothing makes me prickly like people who equate autism with mental retardation.
mod note: I didn’t know that about the creator of Pokemon but ohmigod that makes so much sense! It’s such a very autistic sort of thing, if you guys know what I mean. Also, Pokemon FTW.
It also kind of annoys me when autistic people talk about MR/ID as if it’s an objectively bad thing worthy of ridicule. Submitter, I don’t know if you meant to do that, but if you did, it was kind of shitty. Especially because I believe there are autistic people who also have a diagnosis of MR/ID.
I didn’t mean it that way, and I see what you mean. I may have been lost in definition. “Autistic” is thrown around just as much as “retarded” nowadays when there is nothing wrong with being either; it is implied that we are all severely mentally deficient (I think that might have been what I was shooting for) or “stupid”, because we are not neurotypical, with the term used as an insult towards anyone who suffers a momentary lapse in judgement or tact. I apologize if I offended anyone.
To clarify, I had figured this was what gryblogs meant in the first place. Maybe it’s just the years of experience, but I know autistic people in general have a tendency to say things straight and blunt without thinking deeper about how other people might perceive it. I just thought about what my brain would mean in the situation and went from there.
But obviously, that won’t always work. I want very much to give my fellow autistics the benefit of the doubt with what they say (something allistic people have rarely given me) but I don’t want anyone to end up feeling unwelcome here, either.
Please, if you submit something, absolutely don’t be afraid to explain what you mean in detail. This form of meme means that misunderstandings can happen pretty easily. As well, I’m wondering: Would anyone mind, in the future, if I contact you about a submission if I feel there may be something that could come off offensive and would like to get further clarification on what was meant?
It is, indeed, horseshit. Those tests are always a bit iffy because it’s difficult for them to adequately cover nuance and reality. This one was the worst one I’ve ever seen.
Yeah, I’m afraid she did. (If you’d prefer not to visit That Site, you can also see it here but the first link is straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.)
I’d like to hope she isn’t actually informed on the situation and was just choosing “children’s” charities, but…even that isn’t ideal.
o.o Thank you. I mean, I really love some of the autism memes on tumblr, but seriously, thank you! :)
This is why I didn’t take his autism spectrum quotient test, even though there is one. I had a feeling the sheer stupidity of the questions would make me headdesk more than the human skull is meant to bear.
That’s a bit of a tough one for all of us to figure out, I think.
I’m a non-worker, so most of my experience with burnout is of a slightly different kind. But I generally try to make sure, if I’m burnt out on people, that I have time to myself every day. Even just an hour, even if it means I have to tell people not to bug me for that time. Sometimes knowing that I have Me Time can help.
Certain relaxation techniques, like yoga (you can find yoga routines on Youtube), can also help. I know that sounds a bit cheesy and cliche, but it is something that might help and I’ve had a bit of luck with it myself.
Anyone else got some advice? What sorts of strategies do y'all use to recover from passing burnout?
…and I know P!nk has donated to A$, but I really couldn’t resist. Honest. Poor impulse control.
(For anyone wondering, the lyric I um, modified for this is from U and Ur Hand by P!nk.)
I mean really, research peeps. It took you this long to figure this out? It’s 2012. I am so not impressed with your capability levels, guys.
(I have to be flippant about this right now, or I will break. I will break, I will break, I will break.)
It’s a hobby
not a Special Interest.
[Why is it that everything and anything an autistic person shows interest in, or proficiency for is a “Special Interest”? I know the difference between my perservations and my hobbies and general interests, thankyouverymuch.]
This morning I was feeling upset and prickly about pretty much the entire world, and I kind of wished I could combat it the way a hedgehog would: Curl up and let my spiky bits do the rest. Sadly, I don’t have actual physical spiky bits.
Still, it gave me the idea to start Autistic Hedgehog. There are already several meme tumblrs and other tumblrs for things like allistic privilege and autism confessions, but I’m hoping to provide a place to blow off a little steam–perhaps with a bit of humor. You can be angry. You can be sarcastic. You can be facetious.
(That’s a joke, obviously. I would never eat allistic people for breakfast or any other meal. I don’t know where they’ve been.)
Here is Autistic Hedgehog: http://memegenerator.net/Autistic-Hedgehog
I’ll try to make sure I get a sidebar link for that.
Anyway, I’m crap at introductions, so there you have it. Feel free to submit something or ask anything.