Wow, I didn’t realize Autism was a thing we had in common! It’s so funny, almost every person I find it easy to befriend (both in real life and online) ends up being neuroatypical. Usually either Autistic or an ADHDer. We have a way of finding and resonating with one another, sometimes without realizing it! So similar to how closeted queer kids often end up banding together in school.

If you ever decide to start writing about being on the spectrum from your perspective, I’ll be so jazzed to read it! But I also totally get how stigma and public ignorance, among other things, can make that unappealing.

I find that most of the ‘help’ I get with Autism comes from outside of the therapuetic and psychiatric communities. I see a therapist for more general mental health support, but I don’t really discuss Autism with him, because the training offered to mental health professionals only prepares them for the most stereotypical of cases.

There are evidence-based Autism treatments available if you’re a kid having meltdowns, but if you’re an adult who can kinda function, but suffer from intense sensory overloads and some social anxiety, you end up having to troubleshoot it on your own. Most of the support I get in managing those things comes from consulting informally with others in the community.

Thankfully, getting to know other Autistic people has done a lot to normalize my quirks and challenges for me, and helped me reach a level of self-acceptance that I lacked before I knew I was Autistic. That’s been immensely healing. So even though “treatment” has been kind of a dead end for me, knowing I’m Autistic has still enriched my life in huge ways.