Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity

by Devon Price

My social isolation was a way of rejecting other people before they could reject me.

LOL OUCH

or find socially acceptable ways to get our energy out, such as long-distance running

lolwhatthefuck

Bobbi was sarcastically complimented quite often, not just for their hair, but for how they carried themselves, spoke, thought, and for the comfortable, practical ways that they dressed. As they grew older, they began to figure out what was expected of them, and shifted their gender presentation to be more feminine so they could be seen as fully human.

Oh!

But Crystal genuinely didn’t know what role x played in a linear equation. She didn’t understand what “show your work” meant in a math context, so she’d write long paragraphs explaining her thought process in words, and describing exactly which buttons on the calculator she’d pressed.

STOPPP I DID THIS

When an Autistic person is flooded with upsetting sensory information for too long, they enter a state of sensory overload. Sensory overload can look like a temper tantrum or a crying fit, it can take the form of a shutdown or meltdown, or it can present as the Autistic person becoming confused and responding to questions in routinized or nonsensical ways.

Oof the responding to questions bit

In high school I’d black out drunk during the day sometimes, slipping vodka into my Gatorade in the high school parking lot

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!