Autism
April 18th: Talk about identity. Is being autistic an important part of your identity? What does being autistic mean to you? Which do you prefer: identity first or person first language and why? Being autistic is an important part of my identity. It’s a part that informs all of
Autism
April 17th: How do you feel about terms like “special needs”? I think they’re kind of ableist. While I can appreciate the use of a positive adjective, the idea that my needs are so outside the pale that they need to called something more than just “needs” is pretty
Autism
April 16th: What did it feel like when you interacted with other autistic people for the first time? What does the autistic community mean to you? How important is it? I still remember this moment of joy when I was with another adult who had recently been diagnosed and I
Autism
April 15th: Do you work? If so, what is that like for you? Are you open about being autistic at work? Alternatively, how open are you about being autistic? Do you tell a lot of people? Or just a select few? How do people normally react when you tell them?
Autism
April 14th: What do you like about being autistic? This question has come up a couple of times lately, and I haven’t been sure how to answer it. As a late diagnosed adult, I feel like I have spent more time identifying the problems and weaknesses in my life
Autism
April 13th: How much preparation and planning do you need before doing new things, or even for familiar things? Do you need to be totally prepared ahead of time or are you more comfortable with being spontaneous/just going for it? Does it vary for you depending on the thing
Autism
April 12th: Is there anything you find hard to do because of being autistic? Is there anything that you find easy? Talking on the phone is really hard. Calling to make an appointment or place an order or do something with customer service I just dread and put off. I
Autism
April 11th: What are your thoughts/feelings about masking (a term for when autistic people hide their autistic traits)? Do you mask? Yeah, I masked for so long. I would go into pretty severe depressions burning out from masking. It’s weird, because I didn’t have the autism diagnosis
Autism
April 10th: How important is representation to you? Is the representation that is out there generally good or bad? What is your favorite piece of representation? What you like to see more of in autism representation? What would you like to see less of? I would like to see the
Autism
April 9th: How has the pandemic impacted you? Has it changed routines? Do you like or dislike masks? What do you wish allistics and neurotypicals knew/understood about how the pandemic is impacting autistic people? Well, on one hand, the pandemic didn’t really affect me that much because I
Autism
April 8th: Talk about friendship. How important are friends to you? Do you find it hard to make and maintain friendships? Are your friends generally supportive? Is there anything about having friends that confuses you? I’ve gone through periods with lots of friends, and periods with no friends. I’
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April 7th: How are you with sarcasm and/or metaphors/figures of speech? Do you interpret things very literally? How well do you deal with sarcasm and metaphor? I do pretty well, most of the time. Autie-J — 30 Days of Autism Acceptance 2021