avirse

"Skill regression" is such an awful term. It would be like taking a severe workaholic who is getting stress ulcers, having them develop a proper work-life balance, and calling that "productivity regression".

Honestly I'd be very surprised to see an online autism community with a majority of people professionally diagnosed, even more surprised if the majority were diagnosed as children. Even setting aside how underdiagnosed large sections of the autistic population are, the people who need to seek support and validation that they belong to a community are much more likely to be those who didn't have the right language or support as a child.

I'll maybe believe a release date when it's actually announced,. Maybe. Though I already know I'm buying the Switch successor if it's backwards compatible with Switch games, so it would be nice if this article turned out to be true.

This has turned out to be a huge wall of text, sorry.

Most autistic communities recognise that an official diagnosis is hard to get and not always helpful/necessary, so while it's wise not to say as much out in the rest of the world, it's completely valid to self-identify within an autistic space.

Feeling like you're faking the whole thing is so normal. I didn't have a self-identification journey before being diagnosed as an adult, and for the first two years after that diagnosis still felt like I wasn't actually autistic and the assessors made a mistake, or not autistic enough to "count" and give myself accommodation. It comes from a lifetime of learning that your experiences are "wrong", that you "can't trust" your own interpretations of the world around you, that you could do anything a neurotypical person can do if you just try. We late-identified are raised to doubt ourselves. It's often no one's fault, but it still takes a lot of unlearning.

What you do now is start regularly checking in with your senses. Are you feeling tense because you've been ignoring a too-bright light or an irritating noise or an uncomfortable piece of clothing? Removing those kinds of subconscious distractions is a huge relief, whether that's with headphones, earplugs, sunglasses, baseball hats, whatever works. Are you hungry/thirsty/sitting in a really uncomfortable way and haven't realised it? Solve those needs.

Then look into stimming. Physical or mental actions that you feel an urge to do and find calming. They don't have to be "weird" or socially unacceptable - spinning a pen, fiddling with a paperclip, chewing gum, twisting bracelets/wristbands/rings, squeezing a stress ball, wearing clothing that puts pressure in certain places (e.g. I wear dresses with a waist belt for pressure on my abdomen) are all possible stims. Even if it sounds completely unnecessary, try a bunch of thing and see what makes you feel safe and calm.

Chances are that if you're autistic you'll have a lot more mental energy after discovering your sensory sensitivities and stims, because it's not all going into trying to ignore all the discomforts.

The social side is less straightforward, and to be honest I've not figured it out yet. People say masking is damaging and should be avoided at all costs, but those costs can be significant. I've tried to go the route of not masking stims (having found subtle ones that work) and unapologetically wearing sunglasses indoors, but still put on the mask when it comes to communication, tone of voice, facial expressions and the like. Because my aim is to be understood, not to take a stand for all autism-kind, and the relief of meeting my sensory needs frees up a lot of the mental energy for it. Maybe that's the wrong approach, but it's the one that poses the least risk to my comfort.

Would definitely recommend, it's proper co-op (in the sense of both players having the same game experience, not the sense of needing to actually cooperate). I'm terrible at platformers so I find it challenging, an actually competent player would probably find it generally easy.

I'm going to ignore all of your advice because you prioritise a dangerous fad over avoiding a genuine risk to your child's health, and I'm not interested in doing the research to find out whether the rest are similarly problematic.

I'm afraid you lost me at "raw milk" - I've only ever seen that endorsed by people with very unscientific beliefs as it's not considered safe for human consumption.

The only neurotypical person I know well is my sister. The only major differences we've actually established is that she has significantly more energy for activity-filled days than I do, and she doesn't understand the concept of being paralyzed by indecision.

I'm loving it, though it's not as fun as Pikmin 3 Deluxe was. My husband and I played co-op and we dandori'd the fuck out of that game, it was awesome. For 4 we're taking turns doing a day/night each, haven't tried the "co-op" yet because it sounds incredibly lame.

Oatchie makes the game so much easier. For better and worse, but I think more better than worse, I basically just treat him as a noble steed to take advantage of not having to worry about stragglers.

Jumping spiders have two large eyes, proportionately chunky bodies, and short, thick legs, making them the spiders that most resemble mammals. We're pretty keen on mammals as a species, so it would make sense that a spider with mammal-like traits is less scary/creepy/"other" to us.

Finding a soft lock of my hair and twirling it around my fingers. Both for the softness and the gentle tugging at my scalp. And as a bonus it's fairly socially acceptable.

Good tip. I'd personally feel too vulnerable with that much sound blocking, so loops are perfect for taking the edge off while still being aware of cars coming around corners or other people out of my eyeline.