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I’m lost.

Angie97797

Angie97797

Member
I’ve been diagnosed autistic since I was 9. So It’s sad that there is still so much I don’t know about it.

So I joined this forum in the hopes that I might learn about it.

My parents aren’t really accepting of it. They know I’m diagnosed, but they still won’t educate themselves on it, or help me understand it. My teachers are no help either. I feel lost when it comes to this.

Like I was scrolling through Pinterest and I saw a post saying that you aren’t supposed to say your suffering with it anymore but like 85% of autism is a struggle! I’m sorry if this comes off as ignorant, but frankly I AM ignorant about this stuff because no ones ever explained it to me and I was never able to find the right resources!

Can someone help? Like just point me in the right direction or something. Please?

I feel so alone in all of this. I know there are so many people that have it to but no one ever wants to talk about it.

I mean I don’t even know how stimming really works! I don’t know how to to it! Just recently I used a fidget for the first time and I felt as if I were in heaven! Hell I just learned there’s something called Under-Stimulation apparently?? I’m so confused…
 
Rest quite assured the world isn't going to end, the sky is not going to fall. Do some homework on autism speak with a decent doctor or other reliable sources. If the folks don't want to learn then learn yourself because ignorance is not a virtue.
 
risk said:
Rest quite assured the world isn't going to end, the sky is not going to fall. Do some homework on autism speak with a decent doctor or other reliable sources. If the folks don't want to learn then learn yourself because ignorance is not a virtue.
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I know ignorance isn’t a virtue, not to sound rude but that is why I posted here in the first place. I also am unable to talk to a doctor as interacting with medical professionals as a minor requires parental consent. Or at least I think it does? Do you perhaps know of any online resources I could take a gander at?
 
Angie97797 said:
I know ignorance isn’t a virtue, not to sound rude but that is why I posted here in the first place. I also am unable to talk to a doctor as interacting with medical professionals as a minor requires parental consent. Or at least I think it does? Do you perhaps know of any online resources I could take a gander at?
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Depending on were you live you can likely speak to a doctor with or without parental consent. But taken with a grain of salt and cross referenced Wikipedia is a decent source and to an extent so is Youtube. That being said take everything you read and see with a grain of salt and compare sources. But broadly speaking if at all possible seek and favour a professional opinion.
 
I have a daughter your age. Learning you are on the spectrum can be the best thing in your life, because finally you don't have to "fake it" anymore. It's okay to spend time in your room reading, doing crafts, and playing games. It's okay to have an imaginary world. It's okay to only want to spend time with one person at a time, and then take a few days break from them to enjoy time on your own. You can be as quiet as you like. You can explore any wonderful special interest and become an expert on any subject.

Aspergers is the genius gene. Enjoy it.
 
Just realize that we are all different. I was only diagnosed late in life but my ASD when I was your age was about social communication and delayed social maturity . . . I did not know how and sometimes suffered isolation that I did not want. I was intelligent enough that people thought me normal and it hurt that people thought my avoidance of the social was a choice and was hurt not to be included in some way.

I wished I knew how to ask for help as social counseling may have been valuable for me. If this is something you may need reach out to your school counselor or others who may be able to get you the right help. Sad that your parents don't seem to want to educate theirselves.
 
Here, I've got a potential video resource for you:

https://www.youtube.com/user/neurowonderful

She does videos about the subject of autism in general explaining a variety of different aspects... for anyone who either was diagnosed and doesnt know much, or who is neurotypical but just wants to start to understand a bit of it. She does a good job of explaining. Specifically the videos you're looking for are her "ask an autistic" series. I think they're pretty well done, albeit simple.

Anyway.

Here's the thing: Chances are you know more than you think you do. You just dont know what names to apply to the different elements.

Fidgeting for instance is just a form of stimming, regardless of what it is specifically. It could be someone tapping their foot, biting their nails, twirling their hair, or it could be something like rocking back and forth or making noises or who knows what. It can vary quite a bit from one person to the next, and most people do it to some degree, not just those on the spectrum. Chances are, you'd done it plenty of times without really realizing. Of course, getting something that actually assists with the process, often called a stim toy, can help a lot.

I could ramble a lot about what stimming is specifically but the girl who does the channel I linked to does it better (and her first video in that series is about that topic).

Also "under stimulation" is exactly what it sounds like. Not having ENOUGH sensory stimulation to the point where that lack becomes a problem. Often this results in heavy stimming for awhile when it happens. Of course many of us also experience sensory overload, which is even less fun. Both of these are things that are very hard to explain in a deeper way to someone who isnt already experiencing them.


Overall, whatever you want to learn about, you can ask on this forum here. Post about it by making topics that ask the question, or even talk to a user via direct messaging if you find someone you want to interact with. Generally everyone here is friendly and whatnot.

You're not alone, I can say that much. You found this place...
 
Misery said:
Here, I've got a potential video resource for you:

https://www.youtube.com/user/neurowonderful

She does videos about the subject of autism in general explaining a variety of different aspects... for anyone who either was diagnosed and doesnt know much, or who is neurotypical but just wants to start to understand a bit of it. She does a good job of explaining. Specifically the videos you're looking for are her "ask an autistic" series. I think they're pretty well done, albeit simple.

Anyway.

Here's the thing: Chances are you know more than you think you do. You just dont know what names to apply to the different elements.

Fidgeting for instance is just a form of stimming, regardless of what it is specifically. It could be someone tapping their foot, biting their nails, twirling their hair, or it could be something like rocking back and forth or making noises or who knows what. It can vary quite a bit from one person to the next, and most people do it to some degree, not just those on the spectrum. Chances are, you'd done it plenty of times without really realizing. Of course, getting something that actually assists with the process, often called a stim toy, can help a lot.

I could ramble a lot about what stimming is specifically but the girl who does the channel I linked to does it better (and her first video in that series is about that topic).

Also "under stimulation" is exactly what it sounds like. Not having ENOUGH sensory stimulation to the point where that lack becomes a problem. Often this results in heavy stimming for awhile when it happens. Of course many of us also experience sensory overload, which is even less fun. Both of these are things that are very hard to explain in a deeper way to someone who isnt already experiencing them.


Overall, whatever you want to learn about, you can ask on this forum here. Post about it by making topics that ask the question, or even talk to a user via direct messaging if you find someone you want to interact with. Generally everyone here is friendly and whatnot.

You're not alone, I can say that much. You found this place...
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Thanks for telling me about the channel and giving information! This was really helpful! I hope you have a nice day :)
 
Hi and welcome to the forums :). There are many Youtube channels on autism and that is a good place to start. There are some TV series with ASD characters including Atypical (Netflix), Love on the Spectrum (Netfix) and Everything is going to be OK (Freeform). There are many films too. If you want to get together with the ASD community, AANE has Zoom online groups for teens Events Archive – The Asperger / Autism Network (AANE)
 
tumblr_nk3uufo5py1tarqlxo1_400.gif


Welcome!
 
Angie97797 said:
I’ve been diagnosed autistic since I was 9. So It’s sad that there is still so much I don’t know about it.

So I joined this forum in the hopes that I might learn about it.

My parents aren’t really accepting of it. They know I’m diagnosed, but they still won’t educate themselves on it, or help me understand it. My teachers are no help either. I feel lost when it comes to this.

Like I was scrolling through Pinterest and I saw a post saying that you aren’t supposed to say your suffering with it anymore but like 85% of autism is a struggle! I’m sorry if this comes off as ignorant, but frankly I AM ignorant about this stuff because no ones ever explained it to me and I was never able to find the right resources!

Can someone help? Like just point me in the right direction or something. Please?

I feel so alone in all of this. I know there are so many people that have it to but no one ever wants to talk about it.

I mean I don’t even know how stimming really works! I don’t know how to to it! Just recently I used a fidget for the first time and I felt as if I were in heaven! Hell I just learned there’s something called Under-Stimulation apparently?? I’m so confused…
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Welcome. You are lucky. At least you know about your autism young enough to do things about it. I was only diagnosed at age 60. You will find a lot of us here like that. You will find the forums here a great help. You will find bits of yourself scattered around among the various members, but always remember NO TWO EXAMPLES OF AUTISM ARE EXACTLY ALIKE. That is part of the problem. Autism is not a single spectrum, but several other spectra crossing the main one. I once worked out four dimensions of characteristics and gave up. Learn about your own flavor of autism and how it affects you.
 
Welcome to the autism forums! I hope you can find the answers you seek. There are lots of different people here, all drawn to this forum because of being on the spectrum. Have a look around, read the resources, and maybe you might want to look for quizzes about being on the spectrum, just for fun!
 
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Google Scholar and PubMed are sources of actual scientific journal articles. Type in the search bar "autism and ______",....basically whatever you want to research within the context of autism.

autism and dopamine
autism and glutamine
autism and tinnitus
autism and oxytocin
autism and thalamus
autism and cerebellum
autism and melatonin
autism and functional MRI
....the list goes on and on.

There are scientific lectures given by autism researchers that can be found on YouTube.

Autism research centers at Cambridge, UCLA, Duke, and others can be found on-line, and have good information, research links, etc.

Autism Speaks has a web site full of general information that can give you further ideas for research.

Hopefully, you've learned in school how to source out good information on-line. Stay away from general articles written by lay people who mention studies,...most people interpret what they want to interpret and often miss the details. Opinion is the worst form of information. Blogs often have a bias and are often a source of disinformation. I generally stick with peer-reviewed studies,...which means you need to read quite a few of them to get a handle on the topic. There are scientific journals that have good reviews on a specific topic, as well.

Some articles and abstracts will give you links to the PDF that you can download onto your computer. Other times you will find that some scientific journal articles on-line require some sort of payment to gain access. Don't be discouraged. If your school or community has a library, they can often get it for you for free. Just show them the article,...it will have an ID# that the library uses to gain access,...they will get the article and send the PDF to your e-mail. I use my hospital's medical library for much of this,...again, free,...in a few days, you've got your article.

Happy hunting.:)
 
Welcome to the forums.

Looks like you have found some good video and resources already.
I wasn't diagnosed until in my mid 50's.
Wish I had known sooner so I could have learned from it and about it.

Most everyone here is glade to answer some specific questions. Just ask.
When I found the forum, I was asking all types of questions from posting here
and talking with the psychologist who diagnosed me.

One of the subjects I had a difficult time understanding was on empathy.
Psychs in general will say we have low empathy. Our test scores are usually very low on
the empathy sections also. Yet so many here express a high degree of empathy.
It was confusing until I learnt there are different types of empathy and what each one means.

The on-line tests are fun and also helpful.
It may take some time, but, you'll now start to understand yourself better than ever. :)
 
Crossbreed said:
One of their goals is selective abortion of autistics. :mad:
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Interesting. Really? Is that on their website? I can't find any reference to that.

I don't know, I guess I haven't found any of their posted information or research links from the past few years to be of any controversy. Just seemed like general information,...at least what I was looking at.
 
Neonatal RRT said:
Interesting. Really? Is that on their website? I can't find any reference to that.
Click to expand...
It is not stated in so many words.
  1. They are looking for genetic markers for autism.
  2. They consider autism (the whole spectrum) to be a defect rather than an expression of neuro-diversity.
  3. It is believed by the autistic community that that is how those markers will be used, if discovered. (A parallel can be seen with Down's Syndrome...)
 
Angie97797 said:
I’ve been diagnosed autistic since I was 9. So It’s sad that there is still so much I don’t know about it.

So I joined this forum in the hopes that I might learn about it.

My parents aren’t really accepting of it. They know I’m diagnosed, but they still won’t educate themselves on it, or help me understand it. My teachers are no help either. I feel lost when it comes to this.

Like I was scrolling through Pinterest and I saw a post saying that you aren’t supposed to say your suffering with it anymore but like 85% of autism is a struggle! I’m sorry if this comes off as ignorant, but frankly I AM ignorant about this stuff because no ones ever explained it to me and I was never able to find the right resources!

Can someone help? Like just point me in the right direction or something. Please?

I feel so alone in all of this. I know there are so many people that have it to but no one ever wants to talk about it.

I mean I don’t even know how stimming really works! I don’t know how to to it! Just recently I used a fidget for the first time and I felt as if I were in heaven! Hell I just learned there’s something called Under-Stimulation apparently?? I’m so confused…
Click to expand...
Ask away on here, I am sure me and plenty of others will do our best to answer your questions.

Welcome to this forum.

The fact that your parents aren’t really accepting of it, and won't educate themselves, is their problem, at least you had the sense to come online to seek information - knowledge is power.
You can be more independent and equip yourself with knowledge on the subject.

We are all different, as in those on the spectrum, as in we have different sensitivities, quirks etc.

I am the sort who likes specifics, so I am happy to answer any specific question. That is to say, a question such as "what is autism like?" would be too vague for me.

Whereas you asked about stimming.
Stimming is self-stimulation done to calm. I rock back and forth when I stim. Others do other things, all sorts, so long as it calms them.

Whoever said you aren’t supposed to say your suffering with it anymore but like 85% of autism is a struggle, is either talking cobblers, or they mean that Autism isn't something we suffer from, some see it as a blessing, as we have higher sensitivity, higher intelligence etc.

It's ok to admit ignorance, if more people did, the world would be a better place, it's good you are showing an interest, it will pay off for you down the line.

You are walking in the right direction by coming here, but, as above, for me, I will answer any specific question like the one you asked on stimming.

If I were to talk generally about the spectrum, I would write an essay.

Sorry you feel so alone in all of this.
No one ever wants to talk about it?
Well, I am talking about it.
Except for unexpected situations like trying to tell an NT friend I am too embarrassed to go in a shop for no reason they can see.

I am glad you liked the fidget.
I used to get scolded for fidgeting as a kid, now they accommodate us by manufacturing these fidget toys which is good, yet, we still need much more education, even in this day and age as I don't feel my friends understand me.
I went into the shop I was embarrassed to go into, rather than take the time trying to find the words to tell the friend why I was embarrassed, as I didn't even know why I was.
In the end, I mumbled aspergers, but friend wanted me to go in to buy me something, that wasn't the reason I was embarrassed either.

I also don't know why I suddenly felt, in the middle of Tesco supermarket, that I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole, before I finished getting my shopping, I just wanted to get out of there.
I knew I felt shame, and I knew it was because parts of me had been humiliated in the past, but that was it.

Sorry I cannot explain under stimulation, my guess is that an intelligent person on the spectrum is bored and needs more challenges and creative activities, but google is your friend.
I hope that helps.
 
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