Could we have a thread of #Autistic coded or canon characters who save the day by the sheer power of their pattern recognition? Anne of Greene Gables

As an Autistic psychotherapist,
I’d like to break down the diagnosis of autism through an Autistic lens.

Translating the DSM-5 language into Autistic experience really highlights the deficits 🙃 and bias.

#ActuallyAutistic 🧵 DSM🩺 1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.

Ways to say:
I respect you in Autistic, a 🧵

Feel free to lock yourself in, we won’t bother you

Take your time in nature, we won’t hurry you

Cover your ears, we can also turn down the loud

Feel free to text

I can explain why

Feel free to explain it in detail Self-identification is valid

I love your weird just the way you are

Tell me about your favorite things

Let’s share data/information

That IS a fun fact

What if I told you that so many things you think are bad or distasteful or need fixing in Autistics are actually neuronormative myths?

As an #Autistic psychotherapist, I can tell you that the following pieces of how we might be are actually quite fine and healthy.
🧵 Eye contact. Eye contact doesn’t make you a better person. It doesn’t make you honest or calm or kind. Eye contact isn’t culturally consistently polite. It doesn’t indicate mental health or connection. Ask my blind friends who do both those things just fine. Stop chasing my eyes.

I have a new special interest!
Ring the bells.
I’m currently fascinated by how #Autistic and #ADHD processing can create hoarding/difficulty letting go of items/excessive acquiring. 🧵 I’m not talking about taking away beloved special interest collections but rather those who want to have more space/less clutter/use of all areas/more ease in executive functioning in their living spaces and how neurodivergent thinking impacts choice indecision around objects.

If you deal with social gatherings by doing the dishes, making the table, blowing up the balloons, setting up the games/furniture/piñata/candles, playing with the kids,
sitting with the pets,
or any helpful activity besides socializing,
then you might be #Autistic. When interacting with neurotypicals these can make socializing tiring:
Finding how to join in group conversation difficult.
The double empathy problem/theory.
Our use of repetitive language.
How we rely less on body language. 1/3

You might be autistic if you’ve noticed that some mental health professionals pathologize and devalue autistic traits.

As a mental health professional who is also autistic, I’d like to share the difference between describing a “shared trait” and a neurotypified “symptom.”🧵 Symptom: Has difficulty answering questions directly and ends up talking around the subject.

Trait: It frustrates me when the question only allows a yes/no answer, but I see multitudes of possibility.