Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm hoping that the idea below helps other people at varying stages along the journey that we are all on.
My journey through struggle, realisation, diagnosis, and post-diagnosis (underway) has, as for most people I expect, included periods where autism generally and my autism specifically is all I think about, as well as periods where it seems that I've almost forgotten about it all (until office chatter happens, or the TV is too damned *excited* about everything, or I need to touch a wooden spoon!).
My memory doesn't seem to have enough spare capacity to carry around everything that I've learned so far about all of this, and this means that a) I fail to realise the benefits of this learning and b) can easily (as happened in my Autism evaluation!) be completely caught unprepared if someone asks me "So, what does autism mean to you?".
So, I created something that I'm calling my "Autistic Charter"; a single page description of the challenges and strengths that my autism brings, and what I resolve to do about it to have the best life that I can. I want to share it in case the idea helps others (i.e. you could make your own version), but also to see how people react to what I've written about myself. I'm taking a risk here that some will say "Pah! is that all you have to deal with?" but at least I will have a sense of where I fit on the landscape that we call "the spectrum" & whether I have close neighbours or live in an isolated spot at the edge of the village.
By the way, I'm also currently reading "The Nine Degrees of Autism" which complements these thoughts perfectly & I would thoroughly recommend.
Here goes:
Thanks this is awesome.... I definitely identify with nearly everything you have written, but would not have been able to summarise or articulate as well as you have. Visually it really works for me too. I too like data lots of other people don't understand why but it is like a language of its own to me from which you can find curious anaomolies and focused solutions.... I find that exciting. Thanks again this really useful.
Thank you BuckBread, Someone I know is fond of saying " 'No.' is a complete sentence." & I've started practising using it and the world doesn't end :-). I even used to shy away from saying "No" with a reason, but I'm finding that this goes down OK too.
This is great - thanks for sharing it :) I always struggle to explain what autism means for me, so this is such a good idea.
I definitely relate to most of what you've written here - it sounds very like me! I should also get better at saying 'no' - I'd like to work on that.
Thanks Nugget, yes I forgot to mention that it's a great summary for showing other people e.g. at work (but home too).
What you've listed as your challenges are things I also struggle with. I don't usually 'relate' to things but those I do. It helps me to see that I am not the only one who deals with these issues, as I'm sure many other people here do too.
I will probably make one of these myself to help me understand myself better, as well as to help others to understand me (cuz they sure don't!)