What do you like best about the forum

The level of connection I feel with my autistic community that I don’t feel anywhere else.

The sense of deep belonging, which has given me more confidence in my autistic identity.

The empathy we share for each other. The intuitive understanding meaning there is no need to explain our autistic experiences- you just get it.

Helping my neurokin by sharing advice and personal experiences.

The autistic humour usually about everyday interactions with other neurotypes.

The fact that our responses to each other are usually like essays.

 I love how everyone in this autistic community is so friendly and passionate about our dedicated interests.

Feeling like I have found my autistic tribe.

Learning from each other.

Sharing mutual passions.

Our autistic culture.

I love being part of this autistic community, it is so meaningful for me. Thanks for starting a great discussion.

Trisha said:

I wish I can be here all the time

So do I! It’s our virtual Autopia!

"The fact that our responses to each other are usually like essays." This made me smile. Wordiness is forgiven here. And understood. And reciprocated. 

I am glad my comment made you smile. 

Shardovan said:

Wordiness is forgiven here. And understood. And reciprocated. 

Our natural autistic communication style is info dumping, it’s a very cool aspect of our autistic culture.

I would say we are very thorough, passionate and precise when we communicate with each other. According to social media there are 5 different neurodivergent love languages (familial/friendships and relationships languages):

The neurodivergent love languages are described in more depth below:

https://stimpunks.org/2022/01/22/the-five-neurodivergent-love-languages-2/

4 of the 5 languages are described in this graphic below:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/autismo--205124958019756365/

Which one do you relate to most? For me it is definitely info dumping and penguin pebbling, parallel play.

AuTriker said:

I once had the joyful experience of being paid to infodump for an hour with a slideshow I made! That was back when i was doing a PhD which my burnout put paid to sadly. Of course academia is a happy home of infodumping, I do miss it! I had considered doing talks/paid infodumps but the burnout anxiety wouldn't let me.

Sounds great! What was the slideshow about?

You must have been in your element! Whilst working in academia what did you specialise in? I imagine the higher education/academia environment is home to a lot of us autistic/neurodivergent people because it suits our monotropic brains, and like you say we get to info dump about our dedicated interests all day.

I am sorry that burnout is making it difficult to do talks, it must be frustrating to not be able to follow your passions. Many autistic blog about their dedicated interests and get paid for it, would you consider this instead? Blogging is an option that is potentially less overwhelming and taxing than delivering talks.

AuTriker said:

Not sure I have a favourite topic for a factoid, I like to collect them on random topics so I can have something interesting to share in a range of conversations. Some of my favourite subjects for a bigger infodump as well as many factoids on them are writing systems especially runic, words, language, etymology, manuscripts, theology and Biblical languages, also some animals and nature, history of textiles, loads more but I get overwhelmed if i try to list everything.

You interests sound really cool, very much linguistic based. The English language is very complex and very difficult to learn. Do you like Susie Dent from Countdown? She specialises in etymology and has written numerous books on the subject. What is your favourite word/language to study?

You are a source of random knowledge. 

AuTriker said:

Do you have a good factoid you'd like to share? Do you prefer factoids on your specialist subject/s or random factoids? What are your most joyful infodump topics? Yes, it is a good word that I enjoy saying or even just thinking.

I love info dumping about autistic experience/culture , it is my passion! I am in my element when I am posting/responding to other people in this autistic community. Aucademy is a great platform where other autistic people info dump about autistic experience, it is brilliant I love it! Before I found out about Aucademy I didn’t realise there were other autistic people who felt as passionately about autistic experience as I do!

I definitely prefer factoids on my specialist subject, I love everything about autistic experience but I particularly like talking about monotropism and language processing.

It’s good that your friends enjoy your info dumping, for some reason not many people appreciate sharing knowledge in this way.

AuTriker said:

I once had the joyful experience of being paid to infodump for an hour with a slideshow I made! That was back when i was doing a PhD which my burnout put paid to sadly. Of course academia is a happy home of infodumping, I do miss it! I had considered doing talks/paid infodumps but the burnout anxiety wouldn't let me.

Sounds great! What was the slideshow about?

You must have been in your element! Whilst working in academia what did you specialise in? I imagine the higher education/academia environment is home to a lot of us autistic/neurodivergent people because it suits our monotropic brains, and like you say we get to info dump about our dedicated interests all day.

I am sorry that burnout is making it difficult to do talks, it must be frustrating to not be able to follow your passions. Many autistic blog about their dedicated interests and get paid for it, would you consider this instead? Blogging is an option that is potentially less overwhelming and taxing than delivering talks.

AuTriker said:

Not sure I have a favourite topic for a factoid, I like to collect them on random topics so I can have something interesting to share in a range of conversations. Some of my favourite subjects for a bigger infodump as well as many factoids on them are writing systems especially runic, words, language, etymology, manuscripts, theology and Biblical languages, also some animals and nature, history of textiles, loads more but I get overwhelmed if i try to list everything.

You interests sound really cool, very much linguistic based. The English language is very complex and very difficult to learn. Do you like Susie Dent from Countdown? She specialises in etymology and has written numerous books on the subject. What is your favourite word/language to study?

You are a source of random knowledge. 

AuTriker said:

Do you have a good factoid you'd like to share? Do you prefer factoids on your specialist subject/s or random factoids? What are your most joyful infodump topics? Yes, it is a good word that I enjoy saying or even just thinking.

I love info dumping about autistic experience/culture , it is my passion! I am in my element when I am posting/responding to other people in this autistic community. Aucademy is a great platform where other autistic people info dump about autistic experience, it is brilliant I love it! Before I found out about Aucademy I didn’t realise there were other autistic people who felt as passionately about autistic experience as I do!

I definitely prefer factoids on my specialist subject, I love everything about autistic experience but I particularly like talking about monotropism and language processing.

It’s good that your friends enjoy your info dumping, for some reason not many people appreciate sharing knowledge in this way.