Autistic Hedgehog
RSSPosts tagged with "autism"
Speaking from personal experience, a therapist who isn't an "autism specialist" but who is willing to see an autistic patient is better than an "autism specialist" who agrees to see you for your other issues. Non-"autism specialists" haven't spent however many years in school learning what autism SHOULD be like, and are more willing to work with YOU and YOUR situation and symptoms to find a solution that works rather than what "SHOULD" work for an autistic.
![[“Stop. That’s weird. People can see you.”
Yeah, well people can fuck off.]
Telling that to me is only going to make the stimming worse. Also, thanks for hurting my confidence.](http://40.media.tumblr.com/2f043d90f666ef2facced6df6b26ade8/tumblr_mljfv6OSpA1rfhms3o1_400.jpg)
[“Stop. That’s weird. People can see you.”
Yeah, well people can fuck off.]
Telling that to me is only going to make the stimming worse. Also, thanks for hurting my confidence.
Apparently, I can't be autistic because my therapist thinks being able to describe how my depression feels and understanding emotions makes me "allistic". Being able to talk about emotions, explain them, describe them is a thing only allistics can do now. I'm just triggered by the whole thing and I feel as if all of my other symptoms don't matter anymore, they were actually ignored (like my sensory problems) because I could TALK about my emotions. The worst part is she's an autistic specialist.
Anonymous
Honestly, if at all possible, it’s time for you to find a new therapist. This is a woman who has no place calling herself an “autistic specialist;” she ought to be fired.
She’s wrong. Full stop. She’s ignorant and she’s doing you actual harm, and really, if you’re seeing her for things like depression, then it will only get worse with her treating you like that. You’re not in any way in the wrong here. She, however, is incredibly shitty at her job.
Hi - I'm allistic and I don't want to be invading this safe space, so please feel free to ignore or delete this if you want! I recently moved from my mum's to live with my dad and my older sister who is autistic. I have some questions that are specific to our family, but I know a lot of autism sites are really problematic. Can you recommend any places for me to ask questions? (If you're happy to answer questions from allistics that's great, I just don't want to barge in without permission!!)
Anonymous
I’m always happy to answer questions to the best of my ability here at Autistic Hedgehog (and sometimes my hedgehogs help out too).
There are also organizations like the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network that can prove information, and the askanautistic tag right here on Tumblr where you can find actually autistic people willing to answer questions.
Just remember to be polite and you’ll find there are people (here or elsewhere) who are willing to answer your questions.
![[Things about Autism that are a spectrum:
1. Everything]
I wasn’t going to do much on AH today, on a count of getting down roughly 4k on my WIP today (I’m on a roll–Sonic the Writing Hedgehog right here).
But…lately there’s been an awful lot of kerfuffle involving autistic people trying to police other autistic people about how they should behave, feel, and/or identify, and I can’t help but think, is it any wonder that I often get questions along the lines of “I do X/don’t do X, does that mean I’m not autistic/am unusual in some way?”
Maybe you stim a lot. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you talk about your stims, embrace them and enthuse about them; maybe they’re not meaningful enough to you for that. Maybe you identify as an autistic person or a person with autism or an autist or an Aspie; maybe you don’t bring it up as part of your identity at all.
Maybe you have meltdowns or shutdowns or neither. Maybe you love sarcasm or maybe you can’t stand it. Maybe you’re terribly literal or maybe you’re not. Perhaps you’re a STEM major; perhaps you prefer the arts or humanities. It could be that you love to cuddle or hug, or that you turn into a ninja anytime anyone tries to hug you.
Perhaps you’re averse to numerous food textures, or maybe most food textures don’t bother you but fabric textures get, well, under your skin. Maybe you prefer non-fiction and think fiction is silly and hard to swallow; maybe your shelves look like mine, with so much spec fic that more than half of it has to be stored in boxes in the basement. Maybe you cry during sad movies; maybe you never shed a tear.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe none of the traits you regard as part of your autism are even listed here. That’s fine too. Because autism is a spectrum, and everything we do and everything we are that is at all related to our autism is also on a spectrum. We have some traits but not others. Some of us can make phone calls and some can’t. Some of us hate loud noises; some of us love fireworks even if they’re loud. We are people who live, inherently, on a spectrum and there is nothing wrong with that.
But no one gets to tell other autistics how they get to be autistic. We may not all agree exactly on everything, but that is a perfectly human thing. Our choices are our own. Often we have so little power, so little autonomy, to make our own choices, and there are people in this world who want to take what little we have away. The last thing we should be doing is trying to take our choices away from each other.
tl;dr: We are a spectrum, y'all, and not just that, we are spectrum of spectra. Embrace the rainbows.](http://40.media.tumblr.com/d899ab160e4e0bfdaeec463ef8ec0cf3/tumblr_mligmatCEo1rfhms3o1_400.jpg)
[Things about Autism that are a spectrum:
1. Everything]
I wasn’t going to do much on AH today, on a count of getting down roughly 4k on my WIP today (I’m on a roll–Sonic the Writing Hedgehog right here).
But…lately there’s been an awful lot of kerfuffle involving autistic people trying to police other autistic people about how they should behave, feel, and/or identify, and I can’t help but think, is it any wonder that I often get questions along the lines of “I do X/don’t do X, does that mean I’m not autistic/am unusual in some way?”
Maybe you stim a lot. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you talk about your stims, embrace them and enthuse about them; maybe they’re not meaningful enough to you for that. Maybe you identify as an autistic person or a person with autism or an autist or an Aspie; maybe you don’t bring it up as part of your identity at all.
Maybe you have meltdowns or shutdowns or neither. Maybe you love sarcasm or maybe you can’t stand it. Maybe you’re terribly literal or maybe you’re not. Perhaps you’re a STEM major; perhaps you prefer the arts or humanities. It could be that you love to cuddle or hug, or that you turn into a ninja anytime anyone tries to hug you.
Perhaps you’re averse to numerous food textures, or maybe most food textures don’t bother you but fabric textures get, well, under your skin. Maybe you prefer non-fiction and think fiction is silly and hard to swallow; maybe your shelves look like mine, with so much spec fic that more than half of it has to be stored in boxes in the basement. Maybe you cry during sad movies; maybe you never shed a tear.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe none of the traits you regard as part of your autism are even listed here. That’s fine too. Because autism is a spectrum, and everything we do and everything we are that is at all related to our autism is also on a spectrum. We have some traits but not others. Some of us can make phone calls and some can’t. Some of us hate loud noises; some of us love fireworks even if they’re loud. We are people who live, inherently, on a spectrum and there is nothing wrong with that.
But no one gets to tell other autistics how they get to be autistic. We may not all agree exactly on everything, but that is a perfectly human thing. Our choices are our own. Often we have so little power, so little autonomy, to make our own choices, and there are people in this world who want to take what little we have away. The last thing we should be doing is trying to take our choices away from each other.
tl;dr: We are a spectrum, y'all, and not just that, we are spectrum of spectra. Embrace the rainbows.
![[ <insert generic bronies/Pokemon fans/MRAs/Minecraft players/geeks are autistic “joke” here>
Oh, just go fuck yourself off the nearest cliff already.]
Done. I am just. so. done with this kind of shit.
Being a brony is not a “form of autism.” Being a Pokemon fan is not a “form of autism.” Being an MRA is not a “form of autism.” Playing Minecraft is not an inherently autistic trait. Being a geek =/= being autistic.
And to the ableist fucks who keep making these “jokes” I say:](http://40.media.tumblr.com/20b58888d8ba20319dbb9bcf159daa57/tumblr_mlgvkcJoen1rfhms3o1_400.jpg)
[ <insert generic bronies/Pokemon fans/MRAs/Minecraft players/geeks are autistic “joke” here>
Oh, just go fuck yourself off the nearest cliff already.]
Done. I am just. so. done with this kind of shit.
Being a brony is not a “form of autism.” Being a Pokemon fan is not a “form of autism.” Being an MRA is not a “form of autism.” Playing Minecraft is not an inherently autistic trait. Being a geek =/= being autistic.
And to the ableist fucks who keep making these “jokes” I say:
Because I have more of the urge to block things out and run away, I see myself as more of an autistic armadillo than a hedgehog. I still get mad though.
For some reason my brain wants to respond to this with a macabre and inappropriate sense of humor. Please ignore my brain, it’s an asshole sometimes.
That aside, an armadillo works pretty well. I mean, holy crap, they sure can sound cranky.
How old are you and how do you get a living? I'm quitting school soon, it's just too much to handle, having a meltdown everyday isn't very 'healthy'. The problem is, I've worked 2 times during holidays (student job), but I had to quit because it was even worse. Any tips / advice what I can do? Thanks
Anonymous
Unfortunately, I’m not a very good person to ask for this. I stay home and work on my writing; we live off my husband’s (pretty darn good) salary, something we can get away with in part due to living in a country with universal healthcare and stuff. I’m very lucky that he’s supportive like this, because I’m not very well equipped for working. I never learned any good coping strategies.
But I know some of my hedgehogs have jobs or have held jobs, and have some experience with this sort of thing. If anyone has some advice they’d be willing to lend, please don’t be afraid to chime in.
I notice in a few of the asks you've answered, you talk about autistic people not wanting to cuddle. But I really enjoy and feel a necessity to cuddle... Does this make me unusual/atypical among autistic people?
Not necessarily. We all have differing feelings about cuddling and touching. Some of us like it a lot, some of us hate it pretty much all the time, some of us fluctuate.
I’m very much a fluctuation type myself. Generally, I don’t like being hugged or touched much, but I usually don’t mind if it’s my husband. But even then there’s times I just don’t want to be held or hugged in any way, or times when all I want is to cuddle and be close.
Like everything with us, it’s a spectrum. :)
I love this blog and love the hedgehog, and I'm sorry if you've already answered this, but why the hedgehog specifically??
It’s been a while, I think, since someone has asked about the hedgehog, so I don’t mind explaining.
I think a hedgehog is a good animal for representing autistics. Hedgehogs might look spiky, but if you treat them right, they can be very sweet and affectionate—something a lot of people never grasp about autistics. At the same time, treat a hedgehog poorly, scare it or make it angry, and it curls up in a tight ball with its spikes out.
It reminded me very much of my own moods and on the day I decided to make AH, I was feeling quite prickly. I felt like a hedgehog was an accurate representation of how I was feeling, and when I brought the idea up to other autistics here on Tumblr, they agreed. Thus Autistic Hedgehog was born.
About Autistic Hedgehog