This was very interesting and informative. I am 45 years old, and I think the first time the word "autism" came into public attention was when the movie "Rainman" was released. While that movie brought awareness, it definitely portrayed a person being on a very severe end of what we now know is a spectrum.
Thanks- glad it was helpful. Rainman was an amazing movie but the overwhelming majority of is aren’t “magic morons” as the saying goes. I love blackjack but I can’t count cards to save my life.
Every time you tell your stories Jordon i wonder about myself! Apart from lots of stims, and hyper sensitivities, the being in own world, slower development socially (just not getting it...until later and then the feeling of shame id have with each realisation). Schools were hell, and no one, really wanted to investigate my difficulties with me. Appreciating directness a great deal, etc. Much more of course. Im 52yo female, i would like to KNOW either way. But it would cost $3k in Australia. Oh SNAP!!!! THESE SELF DIAGNOSED AUTISTIC PEOPLE ON HERE! They make channels all about autism, i think that's crazy. Really wrong in my book. I dont know how it would help me now, to "know". Im so ancient now ;) that im pretty good at masking, for short stretches of Time at least. Life is difficult, esp relationship wise, friendships and work is difficult not just romantic relationships . I havent been in a romantic relationship for about 8 years, what a waste of the last of my youthful years. Just got very painful, even tho this way of being is very lonely.
There was an incident when my daughter, 2 at the time, didn't want to wear a pair of shoes and was upset for HOURS when they were forcibly put on her. Everybody said the same thing: that doesn't happen, a 2 year old's brain should reset every few minutes. Well, I just thought she was like me -- a natural inclination to think about things. At 18 months a pediatrician told me she had a larger animal vocabulary than most her age had a total vocabulary. And by the time she was 20 months she could sight read about 100 words. I attributed all of that to removing television from her life and spending many many hours working on the things she, uncoincidentally, excelled at. There was a 'push' to get my daughter diagnosed as autistic when she was a toddler. I was not to thrilled at the prospect. I don't actually think I would have treated her significantly different, but her mother already tends to project weakness and vulnerability onto her and to coddle and 'protect', I can't imagine if she had a tool to try to force other people to coddle her. My mom and brothers would have been mostly the same but my grandma and aunt are prone to othering and looking down on others to begin with, so they would interpret it as her being 'broken' and I think it would have been overall bad. (Her mother is also BPD and manipulative, so she would gladly use a label as an excuse to sabotage her ability to form bonds with people other than herself.) Anyways, she has some of the symptoms: sensory overload, self soothing, extreme rumination, gender dysphoria, disdain for conformance (well that might normal teenage stuff). But no diagnosis, and no real desire to pursue one, to the best of my knowledge. She's satisfied with her writing, her music (playing and composing) and is at university working on a BS.
I've seen thr Devouring Mother and blank dad trope, working in Disability Services, finding employment for people. The young men with autism iften had this dynamic around them.
I'm really feeling the part about being behind people socially and I tend to beat myself up over it a lot. I've been trying to get out there and get some experience dating wise and such, but since my only option is online dating it makes things really tough.
I can strangely relate with this and some of this resonates with me and I am glad that I am. I have been diagnosed with PDD when I was 8 back in '99 and didn’t know the lifelong effects. It is difficult to relate with people who are not on the spectrum and I only had one roommate in college, but he was an high school friend and has social anxiety. My mom never pushed the external that about me being autistic but the thought about it has I will grow out of it eventually and my grandmother 👵 only see great potential within me. I have failed miserably when it comes to relationships in high school/college by having some weird behaviors. I have learned about relationships on my own despite having friends and siblings who have entered relationships. I would say in my late 20s and now I am in my early 30s dealing with a relationship; I don't find it as a trophy because I understand the struggles and my friends never talked about their relationships because "I am a nice guy". I find it a little repulsive at times, and I learn that this phrase is a social trigger that indicates I would be too perfect with anyone. That's not entirely true but it is an intimidating factor for the Alpha Males. I say this because one of my friends is in a relationship and he is now learning to control his impulsive behavior despite how much I have supported him as a friend. At least she is pointing out things that has been wrong with him in the past that caused him to feel a certain way about himself; however, about myself I am having issues with traveling back and forth to see this chick. Some things are still a working progress with communication and spending quality time. Having feelings for this person can be difficult and with the horrible past she had experienced. I feel like I am regaining myself and your videos have been a good help and an eye opener for how other people with autism deal with social situations. There are programs that I wished I could have known about in my teens and 20s that could have helped me out since I had an IEP. I have become more AWARE of my autism and how it does affect me in the workplace. Whether you were diagnosed at an early age or not, it is still going to be difficult with social situations and networking and sometimes you can easily attract people with different types of disabilities beside ASD.
I too had trouble understanding the concept of, "busting each others balls" until a very late age and had to learn to hone it vs. it just coming naturally. Very often id take my roastings too far and legitimately piss people off.
Dude, your speech patterns are so similar, to the way I speak, its almost eerie. And i am having trouble differentiating tics from possible stims. Because i was disgnosed with tourrettes at a young age.
If there was a shift in parenting dynamics for me, I didn't and still haven't picked up on it (the devouring mother disinterested father thing is didn't quite apply to me, likely because I was raised by my aunt and uncle from 8 to 15, who never had kids of their own) though I did hear the A word in a completely derogatory manner when completely irrelevant. If you make part 2 prepare for me pouring my heart out into the comments. I got plenty of stories of disgusting ignorance in the realm of autism and all of them stem from within my own household. "Barker, that is not your boyfriend's dick, do not come early!"
