Autistic Hedgehog
RSSPosts tagged with "asks"
Do you know of any autistic people who do vlogs? I've tried searching on Youtube, but I've only ever found videos done by parents of autistics, not autistics themselves.
Anonymous
I’m not really a Vlog watching kind of hedgehog, but I did do a little Googling and came up with Arman Khodaei. Now I don’t know anything about him, but Googling on him doesn’t reveal anything immediately negative and it sounds like he’s got his head on straight, but my followers may know differently.
If anyone else knows of vlogging autistics, let me know.
I have an assessment for Autism on the 30th and I'm extremely nervous. Any advice? :/
Anonymous
I myself had my assessment when I was only nine, so I don’t remember much about how it works, I’m afraid. I know some of my followers have had assessments much more recently than I have, though. Anyone got some advice for our fellow hedgehog to help them on their way?
Re: autistic characters, I prefer them when the writers didn't write them as autistic, because usually characters written to be autistic are very stereotypical (and also mostly male characters).
I prefer characters that are obliquely autistic -- where the medium doesn't say it explicitly and leaves the viewer to their own conclusions. I get anxious when a character is described as autistic, because so many of those portrayals are all about *how hard it is to deal with autistics* or about *magic autistics* instead of being interesting stories about interesting people.
I think that’s a little bit of a double-edged sword, as it often is with a character of any kind of minority status. Because people will make assumptions, like how if a character of color isn’t in some way explicitly stated as such, white readers will assume the character is white.
At the same time, there are stereotypes and other problems to deal with when a character is explicitly autistic. Currently I think media representation is largely a lose-lose situation; either the representation is loaded with stereotypes, or it’s not explicit and therefore it’s questionable whether it truly counts as representation.
I'm not your last anon. I just wanted to say thank you for being open to sharing your experiences; I know it's not particularly easy. This part I connected with especially: "But my gift, my talent, is words, communication. I don’t communicate well in spite of my autism, but because of it." I'm a writer too (specifically poetry), and your experiences with reading/writing are similar to mine. Reading was my solace, and I starting writing when I found ways to describe my emotions. Again, thank you.
Aw, y’all are just so great. I’ve been so moved by all the support I’ve gotten since that post. I haven’t gotten to all of my mail—my neck and back pain have flared up and there’s some things I need a little time to consider my answer to—but I’m honestly touched. A little saddened, also, to know that so many of us have dealt with similar, horrible circumstances, but glad we have each other.
Re: autistic characters - To be honest, I quite like seeing autistic characters (although obviously I get annoyed if they're just perpetuating stereotypes). I don't know, I guess I like being able to relate to them. :)
Hi. I just saw the answer you wrote to the person who said that you don't seem like you have autism because you're good with words. Your answer was one of the most amazing things I've ever read. I also admire how you kept composed, when I would've totally blown up on them. Cheers for that
Thank you. :) I’m actually not entirely sure how I kept my composure. I honestly wouldn’t blame anyone for blowing up in a situation like that.
You seem to be very knowledgeable about autism so I was wondering if you could help me disabled representation in general? My... I'm not sure what the term for it is? Well-bodied? My well-bodiedness leaves me ignorant even though my boyfriend has aspergers and I really don't want to be offensive at all, I really just want to learn and bit and I wonder if you'd be willing to lend me your ear. If not its totally 100% okay and I don't want you to think I feel entitled to your teaching.
Just for reference in the future: I know some people don’t like to answer questions, and it can be tiring to educate others, but as long as I’m approached politely, without prejudice or assumptions, I’m always willing to answer. Having weighed it against the alternatives, I’ve decided I’d rather answer a thousand questions than let groups like Autism Speaks answer even one.
It’s really good that you want to know more. I’ve dealt with a lot of significant others who couldn’t be arsed, and it’s very disheartening. For starters, I actually answered a question about advice for dating autistic people about a week ago, with some basic tips, which you can find here. It’s sort of “Dating Autistics 101.”
Anything else you want to know, I’ll do my best to answer (and some of my fellow hedgehogs may chime in too, if they’re feeling like it). Since you care enough about your boyfriend to ask in the first place, I’ll do my best to help you learn what you need to know.
Curiously, does anyone else get triggered watching movie/tv shows with autistic characters? I watched Temple Grandin when it first came to DVD, and I struggled to breathe (that happens when I have a sensory fit).
Anonymous
That’s an interesting question. I haven’t watched anything with characters that are acknowledged in canon as autistic, or about real autistic people, so it’s not one I can really answer.
Anyone else?
Just read the articles you linked to about autism in France. It's horrifying. Incidentally, I've got an official Asperger's diagnosis, and a year in Paris as part of my degree. Eeeeeeep.
Yikes. o.o Just make sure you do whatever you need to in order to keep yourself safe. Hopefully it won’t be too bad, but France definitely doesn’t sound like a haven of understanding and acceptance. More like a hive of scum and villainy.
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