My post about autism and cPTSD from yesterday seems to have caused a bit of confusion, so here are a few points of clarification.

cPTSD is complex trauma that results from many, repeated traumatic experiences over time. These experiences can be big, but are often (seemingly) small.

The main thing is that they happen consistently, which causes the trauma to compound (and increase) over time.

7 internal autistic experiences I wish more people understood...

(These are not universal, but extremely common)

1. We rarely meet people with the same interests and struggle to find things to talk about with them 2. We don't know what's considered socially "appropriate" and when we try to act "appropriately" we never quite hit the mark

3. We often end up with our "foot in our mouth" and have no idea how we got there or how to stop it from happening again

Autistic people don't lack empathy. We do experience it differently, though. And I think this misconception needs to be cleared up. (1) First of all, lack of empathy is NOT a feature of autism. In fact, the word empathy is not mentioned once in the autism section of the DSM. Not a single time in all 22 pages of it. (2)

11 signs you might be an introvert, according to WebMD... and why they can also all be signs of autism... (PART 2)

7. Introverts prefer to write rather than talk Many autistic people have a fear of being misunderstood (after frequent misunderstandings have led us to severe negative social consequences).

So when having real time conversations, we want to be as precise as possible to avoid misunderstandings.

11 signs you might be an introvert, according to WebMD... and why they can also all be signs of autism...

(Based on how autism is diagnosed, scientific research, and my own lived experience as a level 1 autistic person...) 1. Introverts need quiet to concentrate

This is often also true for autistic people because sensory sensitivities can make noises distracting and overstimulating. And sensory sensitivities are one of the main criteria of autism.

Autistic people often struggle with decision-making, and I want to talk about why... because discovering the research behind this blew my mind. According to a study (link below) autistic people often struggle with decision-making because we tend to collect and analyze all relevant information in an exhaustive decision-making process in order to identify what we consider to be the best possible outcome.

So, I've known for a while that self inflicted oral lesions (cheek/lip biting) are more common in autistic people, but something I didn't realize is that it's technically a form of self-harm. And I think this is worth discussing in the context of higher and lower support needs... For me, as a lower support needs autistic person, chewing my cheeks and lips is a stim I've had most of my life. And it's been for self soothing purposes...

If you're autistic and have...

- temperature regulation issues
- sleep issues
- difficulty drinking plain water
- difficulty regulating and managing your emotions, and/or
- have a higher or lower than average sex drive

There's science that could explain this. A research study conducted on autistic children and teens found reduced gray matter volume in the hypothalamus of the autistic participants.

The reason this is so significant is that the hypothalamus plays a major role in keeping the body's internal functions balanced...

I don't know who needs to see this, but stomach issues are EXTREMELY common in autistic people.

Some studies have found that up to 91% of autistic people have stomach issues (like constipation, diarrhea, and abdominal pain). And while not all studies reported as high a prevalence as 91%, research HAS consistently shown significantly higher rates of stomach related issues in autistic individuals as compared to nonautistic individuals.

If you're looking for a way to explain autism to a kid, this post is for you...

Autism makes a person's brain work differently than most other people.

It makes them understand the world around them differently... So they react to it differently too. In ways most people don't expect and aren't used to...

Sometimes you can't see their autism at all... and sometimes you can.

Yesterday I made a post saying that if you strongly suspect you're autistic, chances are extremely high that you are... and I was asked for evidence to support this. So, here it is... A research study was conducted on self diagnosed autistic adults and compared them to formally diagnosed autistic adults.

The study found that every manifestation of autism that showed up for the formally diagnosed group... ALSO showed up for the self diagnosed group.

If you've heard the term "autistic meltdown" but aren't quite sure what it means or what it actually looks like, this post is for you...

I think most people hear the word "meltdown" and envision a person kicking, screaming, and thrashing around... usually a child. But adults can, and do, have meltdowns too... they just look different.

Before I get into how adult autistic meltdowns can look... especially when we've gotten really good at internalizing them so we don't look "crazy"... I want to talk about when and why they happen.

5 signs you might be autistic: Girls and women edition (part 1)

1. You're a people pleaser. You try to avoid conflict by saying yes to everything... even if it means disregarding your own needs. This strains you both socially AND emotionally. 2. You've become an expert at mirroring others by studying those around you who seem to be especially well liked. So you're able to blend into most social environments extremely well, but only because you're using mirroring and scripting to get by.

5 reasons autism is so frequently missed in women and girls

1. Social skills: Many autistic girls learn from a young age, usually after being bullied & harrassed for their differences, that they need to mask to fit in. So they learn to mirror & mimic others as a coping strategy. 2. Sensory sensitivities: Autistic girls and women often learn to "suffer in silence" and be in extreme, sometimes excruciating, discomfort without saying a word about it because they've been told countless times that they're "overreacting."

Why girls and women are so often overlooked as being autistic and frequently misdiagnosed with other conditions...

This is still a HUGE problem, even with all the progress made in recent years. So for autism awareness month, I'm going to talk about why this happens... First, the staggering statistic.

As of 2022 boys are diagnosed autistic 3-4 TIMES as much as girls according to the CDC.

Why?

Here's how the DSM explains it...

Neurodivergent Storytime...

This one's an example of how Neurodivergent people in Corporate get punished and mistreated for not understanding unwritten and unspoken rules. So, this goes back to a time when I was working for a large company. I had been working there for about 5-7 years when what I'm about to share happened.

Why so many autistic adults are unemployed / underemployed and what we can do to fix it...

For autism awareness month I want to take a few minutes to talk about autism in the workplace.

I'll start with the statistics... Though they vary widely, the research estimates show that between 38% and 85% of autistic people in the US are unemployed or underemployed... as compared to 4.5% of the general population.

Even if you're looking at the lowest number, that's still an astonishing difference.

10 signs you might be autistic... workplace edition

1. You cry easily when confronted, even about something small, and have a hard time holding in your emotions

2. You ask a lot of questions when being shown how to do something or when trying to understand expectations... 3. You have a hard time modulating your voice, so people around you often hear your personal conversations

4. You are either too hot or too cold, and there is nothing in between...

A recent study found that "mild" stress is enough to trigger PTSD in autistic individuals. Think about that. MILD stress triggering PTSD in autistic individuals. And not enough people are talking about it. This is a SIGNIFICANT finding, if you ask me.

So let's talk about it... The journal article stated that "A single mild stress can form a traumatic memory" for autistic people.

What I want to talk about is what "mild stress" means because I think this is actually one of the most misunderstood aspects of autism.

If you're autistic and get extreme and overwhelming anxiety from physical touch, but have a hard time explaining this to others, I have an explanation that might help... Research has found that autistic brains don't filter touch information the same way as nonautistic brains... and can trigger the parts of the brain related to PAIN, fear, and survival.

Preparing for an autism evaluation (as a high masking autistic person) is a bit like preparing for a job interview. You can be the most qualified candidate, but if you don't present your "case" well enough, you won't get the job. For an autism evaluation, you can BE autistic, but if you don't present your "case" well enough (and on the spot), you won't get diagnosed.

Just like you shouldn't try to wing a job interview, don't try to wing an autism evaluation. ESPECIALLY if you ARE actually autistic.