Published on 12, July, 2020
I wish I were automatically able to multi-task without having to struggle at it - even though multi-tasking is something that is not possible for those on the autism spectrum. I also wish people would stop with the lack of empathy! I just wish my parents would stop accusing me of making excuses for myself when I clearly find myself becoming overwhelmed as a result of sensory overload. It's not that I don't use my brain OR that my head isn't screwed on properly. Having an autistic brain means that I struggle to get my fragile brain to work the same way as that of a neurotypical. I try to think before carrying out any type of task - I only end up going into sensory overload followed by meltdowns/shutdowns. I don’t get why life is so meaningless and unpleasant for someone with my mental condition.
I don't expect to be able to cope when I start living on my own - I see myself being unable to cope with life. I'm not even keen on living in any house or apartment, I am considering looking at residential mental health care facilities for autistic adults until I get referred for mental health support and provided with a special needs mental health team.
It's not true that autistic people can't multi-task, I'm a very good multi-tasker and I'm definately autistic. Multi-tasking is about time management, fitting things in between the spaces of other things. For example, if you make a cake, there's about 45 mins or so whilst its in the oven baking, that is not lost time, its time enough to wash up and clean down the kitchen and start a shopping list to replace anything you're running low on, so as next time you bake a cake all the ingredients are there to do so and you'll have enought cleaning stuff too. So cake made, kitchen cleaned up, shopping list created, all in just over an hour, not so difficult is it?
I do similar things, if I break down baking a cake I can fit other takes in between. The sub tasks all fall into a linear list of things to do, some form part of baking a cake others nor. So we're really just moving from one sub task to another rather than actually doing things at the same time. Perspective I guess is key?
I do admit I often start doing something then get distracted by something else I then focus on and forget it, like leaving a pan and it boils over, that kind of thing.