The title is self explanatory and right now I'm on the verge of sensory overload because the person next to me is chewing gum and making a clicking sound with their teeth that is just...god. why.
so anyway. My name is Ari, I'm turning 20 this October, I just started my sophomore year of college, and I'm a nonbinary person who uses he/they pronouns. I was professionally diagnosed with ADHD at 11 and began to research autism around 16. The reason for the latter is that I was in special education and heard a teacher explaining Asperger's syndrome to one of my classmates. It sounded like me, so I googled Asperger's and then eventually came across a list of diagnostic criteria that sounded a lot like me. I also found how heavily I related to autistic traits, like special interests, aversion to eye contact, sensory issues, being nonverbal/semiverbal, difficulty with social interaction and understanding social coding, meltdowns, burnouts, executive dysfunction, need for sameness, and empathy difficulties.
In terms of other disabilities, I have a lot of traits associated with borderline personality disorder, C-PTSD, and antisocial personality disorder. And I'm chronically ill and use knee braces to walk, but that's starting to not be enough.
Update: gum person left. hallelujah.
I can talk, but am nonverbal a lot of the time and have some issues with my hearing, mostly related to auditory processing, so in lieu of an AAC tablet, I'm learning sign language. Thanks to my job and lack of professional diagnosis and also the fact that ableism is a thing, I do have to talk sometimes and mostly rely on social scripts to get through those situations. I'm usually comfortable talking to people that I've known for awhile and they're also used to me not talking so the pressure to do so isn't as intense. When I do talk, I can't always control the volume or pitch of my voice, I stutter and slur words, and my speech might be too fast or seem garbled.
My special interest is social science, specifically 20th century US history, sociology, psychology, and cultural anthropology. My dream job is to work in an organization that rescues people from homelessness and violence.
I know my profile says 'Asperger's syndrome' but I loathe the dichotomy between Aspergers/high functioning and classic/low functioning autism. I think that classing people as high functioning mainly serves to dismiss the fact that they are still disabled and holds them to able people's standards while denying them the assistance they do need, and classing people as low functioning mainly serves to dismiss their agency and relegates them to subhuman status. I'd rather just be called autistic honestly.
Beyond disability, I was raised Catholic but have been a pagan for just under three years now and am starting to syncretize the two. I call myself a writer but rarely have time to actually do it. After this year, I'm moving to a local university and thinking of joining Greek life so if anyone has information on that I'd appreciate it. My favorite color is green, if I could travel anywhere it would be either Ireland (except I'm terrible with accents), New England, or the Pacific Northwest, and in five years I see myself with a professional autism diagnosis, fluent in ASL, on hormones, and living with my girlfriend in a studio apartment (to save money) while I finish up grad school. It's nice to be here.
so anyway. My name is Ari, I'm turning 20 this October, I just started my sophomore year of college, and I'm a nonbinary person who uses he/they pronouns. I was professionally diagnosed with ADHD at 11 and began to research autism around 16. The reason for the latter is that I was in special education and heard a teacher explaining Asperger's syndrome to one of my classmates. It sounded like me, so I googled Asperger's and then eventually came across a list of diagnostic criteria that sounded a lot like me. I also found how heavily I related to autistic traits, like special interests, aversion to eye contact, sensory issues, being nonverbal/semiverbal, difficulty with social interaction and understanding social coding, meltdowns, burnouts, executive dysfunction, need for sameness, and empathy difficulties.
In terms of other disabilities, I have a lot of traits associated with borderline personality disorder, C-PTSD, and antisocial personality disorder. And I'm chronically ill and use knee braces to walk, but that's starting to not be enough.
Update: gum person left. hallelujah.
I can talk, but am nonverbal a lot of the time and have some issues with my hearing, mostly related to auditory processing, so in lieu of an AAC tablet, I'm learning sign language. Thanks to my job and lack of professional diagnosis and also the fact that ableism is a thing, I do have to talk sometimes and mostly rely on social scripts to get through those situations. I'm usually comfortable talking to people that I've known for awhile and they're also used to me not talking so the pressure to do so isn't as intense. When I do talk, I can't always control the volume or pitch of my voice, I stutter and slur words, and my speech might be too fast or seem garbled.
My special interest is social science, specifically 20th century US history, sociology, psychology, and cultural anthropology. My dream job is to work in an organization that rescues people from homelessness and violence.
I know my profile says 'Asperger's syndrome' but I loathe the dichotomy between Aspergers/high functioning and classic/low functioning autism. I think that classing people as high functioning mainly serves to dismiss the fact that they are still disabled and holds them to able people's standards while denying them the assistance they do need, and classing people as low functioning mainly serves to dismiss their agency and relegates them to subhuman status. I'd rather just be called autistic honestly.
Beyond disability, I was raised Catholic but have been a pagan for just under three years now and am starting to syncretize the two. I call myself a writer but rarely have time to actually do it. After this year, I'm moving to a local university and thinking of joining Greek life so if anyone has information on that I'd appreciate it. My favorite color is green, if I could travel anywhere it would be either Ireland (except I'm terrible with accents), New England, or the Pacific Northwest, and in five years I see myself with a professional autism diagnosis, fluent in ASL, on hormones, and living with my girlfriend in a studio apartment (to save money) while I finish up grad school. It's nice to be here.
