New member, little lost but very interested
Thanks. I don't really have the patience to watch an hour and a half video, I skimmed around a bit. Looks like they mostly work with very severe cases? Could be wrong in that assumption. I'm "level 1" or what was formerly known as "high functioning", which just means that I'm autistic enough to...
christianforums.net
We can continue here if you like, eddif
I didn't want to derail the new members's thread too much.
Something I should mention is that most autistics view our condition as just being different & don't want to be "cured".
Though I will say that the autistic community has an issue with not listening to the voices of the "lower functioning" ones (level 3 & some level 2). I follow a few of them on other sites, including some who cannot verbally speak but will use other means to do so (such as a tablet designed for communication, or sign language sometimes). I've never asked them if they want a cure, but I can tell you they are capable of being happy as they are if needs are met.
I do certainly view autism as a disability, that said I also agree that it's just a different, natural way of being.
It's primarily a social disability, some of us can have casual conversations without being clocked as autistic, especially if we've learn to hide our autistic traits on the surface. Others are almost totally unresponsive to social communication in typical ways, but still seem happy so long as they are allowed to be themselves.
Other symptoms include sensory differences (being overly reactive to outside stimuli, or being under reactive to it), needing strict routine & getting upset if this routine is not followed, having intense interests, and repetitive fidgeting behavior.
People tend to pity us, but we are very capable of being happy so long as our support needs are met and our differences respected.
If an autistic person is having meltdowns on a regular basis, it's usually because their needs are being ignored or because parents or care takers are forcing them to try to appear "normal" instead of respecting their differences.
(Also, meltdowns can come from sensory overload, our nerves being fed up with too much stimuli, which is one of the less pleasant things about being autistic imo.)
(That said, autism can also come with more intense emotions & those can lead to meltdowns as well.)
Some of us, particularly level 1's like me, can pretend to be normal for a period of time. We call it "masking". But in the long run masking is exhausting and contributes to burnout for us.
That's my perspective anyways
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