Autism additionally co-occurs with …

Echolalia
Echopraxia
Dyspraxia
Dyslexia
Hyperlexia
POTS
Dyscalculia
Synesthesia
Dressing for warmer or colder weather than everyone else
Sleep Disorders
Misophonia
OCD
Inexplicable Phobias
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Great Taste in TV shows

https://twitter.com/autismsupsoc/status/1738664315794686242

Echolalia

This is the (relatively) involuntary repetition of sounds that a person has heard.

It can be words, phrases, animal sounds, beats, environmental phenomena, etc …

It is understood to also cover the involuntary rapid acquisition of accents.

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is an impairment in the *processing* of spoken language and frequently co-occurs with Autism.

Many Autists grow up confused by how well they do on hearing tests but repeatedly have difficulty “hearing” what people say. The nuance of APD is that you may be able to *hear* the *sounds* of language but the actual issue is when your brain is *translating* the sounds of language into the *words* you *know*

Autism co-occurs with …

- ADHD
- Babyface
- EDS & hypermobility
- Plurality
- Sexual Divergence (Ace, Demi, Hyper, etc …)
- LGBTQ+
- Kink
- Sympathetic Animism
- Otherkin
- Non-right-handed
- Face Blindness
- APD
- CPTSD
- Furry
- GI issues
- Toe walking
- Awesomeness Non-Right-Handed

This is inclusive of multiple states of hand dominance including:

Left Handed
(left hand dominant)

True Ambidexterity
(no hand dominance)

Mixed Handed
(Dominance of Left or Right hand varies based on task)

One of the questions we frequently get when we talk about the fact that Autism is genetic is

“Can it ‘skip’ a generation”

And that question always confuses us because it’s basically asking …

“Do genetics function like genetics traditionally function?”

The answer is “yes” This question also demonstrates a lack of understanding of the what is known about Autism and mingles it with other hard to quantify concepts …

And it basically shows that people are “missing the forest for the trees”

We often get asked “How do I prove to [insert person [usually parent]] that I am Autistic” …

This is really pretty much impossible from any kind of “here is the proof” approach …

Because there is literally no objective proof that a person is Autistic … so … yeah … One of the things we really try to stress is that you can’t really *prove* to another human being you are Autistic … it’s … the nature of Autism … you are still a human being … just one that is has traits more intense than is typical for others …

Gentle Reminder …

Please don’t erase Allistic Neurodivergent people by equating Autistic and Neurodivergent.

Someone who is not Autistic is Allistic.

Someone who is not Neurodivergent is Neurotypical.

When you talk about “Autistic or Neurotypical” you exclude multitudes. Please take special note of that “*Non-Exhustive List”

Neurodivergent is a subjective term that means *any* brain that operates atypically to a hypothetical typical.

Neurodivergent is inclusive of intrinsic divergence (born that way) and acquired divergence.

due to the chaos of ADHD I found myself unexpectedly watching Star Trek: TNG S2E3 "Elementary Dear Data" and *not* *surprisingly*, I have some notes ... about an episode of a show with an Autistically coded character (Data) playing an Autistically coded character (Sherlock) and a quick note on the chaos ... this was a total ADHD accident ...

I loaded up TNG to find the moment that the Tursiops Crew Facility showed up ... and accidently left it running ... for several hours ... and saw Moriarty, and was like ... why not.

https://twitter.com/autismsupsoc/status/1677834994650324992?s=20

Star Trek: Lower Decks joins the long list of Autistic themed shows that have a plural character.

Sam Rutherford is a mixed system plural (median & headmates) with dissociative disorder coding.

Spoilers clearly follow #Pluralgang Rutherford might actually be the single best example of a verifiable median in media.

A median is a subtle form of plurality that is relatively common for Autists.

https://twitter.com/autismsupsoc/status/1528314591066865665?s=20

#AskingAutistics. Please look at the attached image and do the "visual projection" exercise it presents.
Then fill out the poll in the next tweet. #AskingAutistics
Which image is closest to what you where able to "see"?

I feel sick and trembling and have a sensation that I can only describe as my brain feeling like it’s going to vomit in my skull.

I executed a act last night that has been a struggle to complete for five to six months.

And now the mental damns have all collapsed

https://twitter.com/autismsupsoc/status/1665610966606786562

The truely intens and overwhelming thing is that what finally pushed me through my transient language impairments, analaysis paralysis and other disabilities to turn anything in is others demanding intensely more from me than I can navigate.

So I have to rebuild immediatly

- 100% Accurate Autism Test based on Our Experience with Autistic People - - Chapter 1 -

The established self test for the spectrum of phantasia (ability to visualize with your "mind's eye") is to describe how well you can picture an apple.

- Hyperphantasia (1) is indistinguishable from reality.
- Aphantasia (5) is an inability to picture anything at all. Some individuals who experience hyperphantasia or near it report being able to superimpose their visualizations over their perception of sight, akin to what is demonstrated in the Iron Man films.

I highly recommend to my Neurokin to try soaking in warm-to-hot water with cool air blowing on your face.

The majority of you may hate it, but some of you are going to weep with a profound sense of bliss. If I was forced to explain the phenomena that was being evoked I would say that:

- the water places pressure on the body, squeezing it and reducing the weight of it.

- the temperature of the water is warm enough not to chill.

- the cool air keeps you from overheating.

If you are questioning if you are Autistic and you *need* objective professional third party validation so you can *know* we *highly* recommend you seek out a Neurodiversity Affirming MHP first rather than rushing into attempting to acquire a DX of ASD.

https://twitter.com/autismsupsoc/status/1663602639421186049

Neurodiversity Affirming Mental Health Professionals embrace that Autism and other intrinsic Neurotypes are healthy and valid and have significantly less stigma towards them and tend to have a much broader and deeper nonpathologized view of Autism (often due to lived experiences)

Autistic Lexicon

Skill Loss

The sudden and otherwise inexplicable loss of an established skill.

This is potentially a form of dissociation and a trauma response.

It can be one of the symptoms of Autistic Burnout Autists often have difficult with moderation and knowing when to stop pushing themselves.

One possible interpretation is that in an act of self preservation, a part of your brain stages a coup, goes on strike, and literally denies access to specific skills.

(pst! … Hey … you … Only Autistic people can see this tweet 💛) (Or near enough as makes no difference)

This is controversial but true and despite the slings and arrows bears repeating from time to time.

Neurotypes exist in people.

Diagnosis in the DSM are evolving subjective constructs intended to catalog challenges people face for use by systems that use them. You will not find “left handed” or “hyperlexia” or “hyperphantasi” or any of these things in the DSM because they are not considered “(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of) Mental Disorders”

Autistic Lexicon

Dissociation

“Disconnection and lack of continuity between thoughts, memories, surroundings, actions, and identity.”

Often inappropriately conflated with catatonic. Dissociation is a key component of many Autistic experiences and it’s impact is often misunderstood.

The ease with which Autists dissociate is one of the core differences between Allists and Autists.

One of the most disabling experiences I have on Twitter this paralyzes me is:

Me:

Tweets a broad and easily verifiable statement.

Them:

Tweets reply asking if general statement made is true.

I honestly don’t know how to respond to that situation. Part of the complexity of this is that I interact with a lot of uncertain and vulnerable people.

My instinct is to just say “Yes”

And sometimes people are genuinely grateful for that.

And sometimes they get super aggressive that I only said yes.

Autistic Lexicon

Demisexual

A person who does not experience primary sexual attraction (based on *initial* sight, smell, sound, touch, taste, etc…) but does experience secondary sexual attraction (literally anything not primary)

Recognized as a state of Asexual and Queer. Polls repeatedly demonstrate that a significant proportion of Autists are Demisexual.

Many Autists are shocked to realize that the majority of people experience primary sexual attraction.

https://twitter.com/autismsupsoc/status/1572759596502228994

Autistic Lexicon

Canonically Autistic

A character in which a source of authority on the character has stated that the character is Autistic.

(Note that opinions vary on who/what constitutes a source of authority) twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Note that Canonically Autistic characters are very rare relative to Autistic Coded characters.

One reason for this is that if a character is Canonically Autistic then the content creators face social pressure to accurately, responsibly, and authentically present Autism.

https://twitter.com/autismsupsoc/status/1662822110400757760