I don't have the bandwidth to fully get into what exactly got me here... But over the weekend I found myself back in the hospital with chest pains and was just diagnosed with stress-induced cardiomyopathy... a cardiac event caused by extreme emotional and physiological stress.

I have come to realize something important about the internal autistic experience that I think needs to become a serious focus of autism advocacy. Being misunderstood is not just an annoying side effect of being different for autistic people... It actually hurts us.

It just occurred to me that I've been using the phrase "I don't disagree" in conversation to communicate that I'm not about to correct the other person but that I'm also about to add important nuance that I want them to consider...

Getting diagnosed autistic and "suddenly" behaving more autistic is like spending your whole life with a 10-ton brick on your back, moving through life with the weight making everything harder but having no idea that's why everything feels so hard...

As a late identified, high masking, lower support needs autistic person, learning about your autistic brain can feel incredibly overwhelming and confusing. I remember the day I first started connecting the dots for myself...

Everyone is misunderstood to some degree... but I think autistic people are much more sensitive to misunderstandings because they often result in social consequences that our nervous systems encode as threatening to our safety. Misunderstanding literally feel dangerous to our nervous systems...

The research: Autistic people are bottom up processors and need details to make sense of the bigger picture. Also the research: Autistic people are systems thinkers who have a unique capability of seeing countless small details in the context of the larger system...

A few months ago I came across a fascinating study that I haven't stopped thinking about... It found that Acetaminophen (aka Tylenol, a pain reliever) reduces what it called "social pain" and associated emotional empathy¹.

Talking about things that disable you is not learned helplessness. Talking about things that disable you is not weaponized incompetence. Talking about things that disable you is not playing the victim. Talking about things that disable you is self-advocacy. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

The research: Autistic people are at a significantly higher risk of developing cardiac issues and heart disease¹ Also the research: Autistic people are significantly more likely to have sensory sensitivities that cause extreme psychological distress²

Autism exists in a person's brain. The next time you have the compulsion to tell someone they're not autistic and that they're just claiming to be autistic for attention remind yourself that there's literally no way for you to actually know that. That is all.

I was recently mocked by people in my own community for sharing how I believe the sound of a piccolo contributed to my stress induced heart event 8 years ago (they called it a heart attack in the hospital). Specifically, long-term continued exposure to the sound of a piccolo while I was working.

I predict that in the age of AI, incorrect punctuation, typos, and grammatical differences will become the new human signature. I recently realized that I've stopped editing my content for punctuation and slightly "incorrect" grammar because it's actually a sign that my writing is mine and not AI.

The world: Autistic people can't take a joke Autistic person: *Exists* Nonautistic person: *Makes a sarcastic, unfunny joke about autistic person* Autistic person: 😒 Nonautistic person: Oh come on, it was just a joke. You have no sense of humor!

"Everyone is claiming to be autistic for attention" and "everyone is using autism as an excuse" (for supposedly "unacceptable" behavior) are two extremely popular social media sentiments that have been making their rounds lately...

When you're undiagnosed autistic and you develop a sophisticated masking strategy to avoid negative social consequences and that mask eventually becomes fused with who you are but is somehow still exhausting to wear, so your mental and physical health start to decline...

Autistic person: *Does something that is deemed socially inappropriate* Other person: What on earth is wrong with you? What you just did is absolutely terrible. And that makes you a terrible person.

Autistic people process differently. That's autism. A processing difference. Numerous processing differences to be precise. - It's not rigidity - It's not defiance - It's not demand avoidance - It's not correcting others - It's not self-centeredness

The "lost generation" of adult undiagnosed autistic people: Exists The loudest people on the internet: Autism isn't real. It's overdiagnosed. It's an illness caused by toxins. Everyone is now saying they're autistic for attention. IT'S AN EPIDEMIC

I just realized something that's blowing my mind... Half the time when people think I'm correcting them, I'm actually AGREEING with them. 😳🤯 #autistic

The number of times I get accused of writing with AI because I am a careful and intentional writer whose brain actively rejects using imprecise language is troubling. I am autistic. I am not writing with AI. 🤦‍♀️

I don't think enough people understand that for many autistic people, context isn't just important... it's necessary. "Do this thing" "Why?" Is not insubordination, it's context.

The DSM*: OCD is a condition that manifests as obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors related to those thoughts Everyone: That's extremely good to know... but why do those compulsive behaviors show up?

The next time you feel like someone has completely twisted your words, motives, meaning, and put you into their personal box of "evil"... but at the same time they seem to fully believe every word they're saying, remember this...

I think wires are getting crossed about my recent critique of the DSM*, particularly my observation that it doesn't provide explanations for the autistic behavior it includes in the criteria, so I'd like to clarify by providing some examples...

If you've ever felt misunderstood or mischaracterized to an extreme degree... as in, the other person is saying things about you that are blatantly false... but they also don't sound like they're saying things they *know* are false...

To be clear, I believe the DSM* is absolutely necessary, even crucial when it comes to how we support autistic individuals at the systemic level. However, I also believe it contains a significant gap when it comes to defining what autism is in the first place...

The DSM: Autistic people have a hard time with social reciprocity Everyone: Ok, but WHY The DSM: The DSM: Autistic people have an unusual nonverbal communication style Everyone: Ok, but WHY The DSM:

I think I'm coming to the realization that for an autistic person, being misunderstood can feel as triggering as sensory overstimulation...

Does unsupported autism lead to acquired long term trauma in autistic people? This is the exact question I've been circling for several weeks in most of my recent posts.