Category: ASD Outsider
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My autistic friend doesn’t know I defended him.
It was at least five years ago, probably seven, since everything feels two years off due to the pandemic. I was in the office of where I used to work, and somehow a conversation came up about my autistic friend. Being my friend or not was irrelevant. It was his autism that was under attack,…
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Forget the “kick me” sign. Just give me the “I’ll be your scapegoat if you ask me” banner.
Need a scapegoat? Just look for your “favorite” autistic (or mentally ill) person. We won’t see it coming, we’ll be happy someone is being friendly, and always think we deserved whatever blame a person puts on us. We will obsess endlessly over what went wrong, and, when we think we’ve figured it out, we will…
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What I needed was not that complicated.
WHAT I NEEDED at my last job was not that complicated: Some person(s) to help me in certain challenging social situations Everyone else to not get in the way of the person(s) helping me, even when they didn’t understand what was going on. THAT WAS ALL! HOWEVER, The person(s) who really should have been helping…
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Losing a friend you thought understood you is not easy.
Losing a friend you thought understood you is not easy. It’s especially difficult when you conclude you lost the friend because she actually did understand you, and you became that annoying, uncaring person you have been trying for your entire life not to be.
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Do people even care? Autism and Suicide.
For much of my life, I’ve wondered if people cared if I’m alive or would be that upset if I died.
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Just me rambling, in real time.
Yeah. So, my brain right now. Stayed up too late again. Lots of energy. Feeling good waking up. Wife home today after working in the morning (on Saturday). It’s fine, good, really. Again, lots of energy, brain going well. Well, I’ve yet to take that medicine that slows by brain down some. Helps socially, but…
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It’s a good day when someone acknowledges my struggles.
While it was brief, somewhat in passing, and part of a much longer and substantial conversation, recently someone acknowledged that I had more physical and mental health challenges than most people. Furthermore, he acknowledged that I’d been working on doing the best I could with them for many years. It’s not like I’m looking for…
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The Mysterious Candy Basket, PART 1: Why can’t I get candy?
A STORY ABOUT AN AUTISTIC CHILD At your Preschool, on every Monday, each child gets to go up to a big basket, full of a variety of candy and take a piece (or two, or three, maybe even more). You, however, for reasons you do not understand, find it uncomfortable and confusing to do so,…
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My version of the famous parable, “The Good Samaritan”
BACKGROUND – THE ORIGINAL STORY “The Good Samaritan” is one of the more famous parables of Jesus, told after he was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Martin Luther King, Jr. made a long reference to this parable on the night before he was assassinated in his “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech. The story is…
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Autism and Misapplication of Humor
Here is the pattern: I see someone do or say something, and it makes another person laugh. If the person is laughing, they must be happy. If they are happy, that’s a good thing! I don’t want people to be sad. If I see someone I want to make happy, I do or say what…
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Protected: This is why I think you don’t like me.
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
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You might as well call me an avocado from Mexico. (“On Labelling,” Part 2)
In my “On Labelling” post, I explained why I thought it would be good if one considers a label to be a diagnosis. Isn’t more information better? Ironically, more information may prove otherwise. Many of my interpersonal catastrophes have an element of – what shall I call it? — excessive data collection (EDC)— as a…
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I don’t want to talk to the teacher anymore.
In the seventh grade, a note on my report card said: “ . . . has not developed the needed skills to work as a part of a team yet. He has ideas but he either tires to out volume the others or he tries to get clever with his ideas (i.e., makes many bathroom…
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Outnumbered Outsider
According to recent data, 1 in 44 children in the United States have been diagnosed with ASD. (CDC Autism Data). This is up from 1 in 150 in 2000, and when I was a child, I don’t recall ever hearing the word autism. Why this increase? I think it has nothing to do with environmental…
My Autistic Journal 