• autismdragon [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Every autistic person has heard this. Just like every person with dark hair and glasses has heard "you look like Harry Potter".

    • sovietknuckles [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      An ex of mine literally fetishized autism, told me I reminded her of Leonard. She did not like hearing that Sheldon was better than Leonard but that I didn't like BBT anyway. Months after we broke up, she posted a picture of Leonard on Facebook, saying how she wished more people were like Leonard

        • sovietknuckles [they/them]
          ·
          2 years ago

          They didn't understand the struggles of ASD at all, said "You're fine the way you are, why aren't you more confident about it? Just be yourself". Given that 80% of my social interactions are masking, that doesn't help me at all lol

          • ennemi [he/him]
            ·
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            You’re fine the way you are, why aren’t you more confident about it? Just be yourself

            for what it's worth, it's basically impossible to explain how the first twenty years of your life amount to getting violently punished every time you try to "be yourself" to someone who hasn't experienced that

            • Changeling [it/its]
              ·
              2 years ago

              One of my favorite things about having kids has been being autistic af around them and them returning the favor without blinking an eye. None of us round when we talk about the time. We make random stim noises at each other. We are very frank about our feelings and compensate for that by setting and enforcing explicit boundaries.

              My oldest told me last week, “I know there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing, but I’m finding it annoying which is a sign that I’m probably overstimulated, so I’m sorry to interrupt what we’re doing but I’m going to go take a break and come back when I’m more regulated. If I’m not back in 20 minutes, I probably got distracted, so can you set a timer to come check on me?” Reflecting on it now, I could sob. If I’d had that level of insight and communication skills at their age I would have saved myself a LOT of pain. It’s not their job to make me proud, but I am so proud anyway.

              • nohaybanda [he/him]
                ·
                2 years ago

                My oldest told me last week, “I know there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing, but I’m finding it annoying which is a sign that I’m probably overstimulated, so I’m sorry to interrupt what we’re doing but I’m going to go take a break and come back when I’m more regulated. If I’m not back in 20 minutes, I probably got distracted, so can you set a timer to come check on me?”

                :order-of-lenin:

                That is genuinely awe inspiring. Good on them and good one you for nurturing this.

              • crime [she/her, any]
                ·
                2 years ago

                That makes me so happy to hear, I can't imagine how much pain growing up in an environment like that would've saved me from

                My wife and I are both autistic and we do similar things to you and your family, it's really nice

    • ennemi [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I've also been compared to Hagrid, and as much I as I'm tired of hearing about those mediocre TERF YA novels I have to admit it's kinda true

      • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        The one thing I refuse to let go of from my childhood love of HP is my love of Hagrid tbh.

        And yeah, I'm sort of sporting a Hagrid look these days myself.

      • neo [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I have to admit it’s kinda true

        :shrug-outta-hecks: