Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello all autistic adults
I got a post diagnosis course (unusual I know, BASS is great post diagnosis) and on it we discussed many ways of managing organisation and discovered most of us (all adults) used whiteboards, or occasionally flipcharts. The person running the group said that he found this was very common amongst autistic adults, and it is the case that all autistic adults I have met since, have a whiteboard.
So I wanted to open it to the wider community. I'm accepting diagnosed and self diagnosed, but do ask that parents or partners of autistic people who are not autistic themselves don't use the main poll, feel free to comment below though!
This is just a bit of fun and not in any way official research or a good method of research. I also wanted to try making the poll
At my old apartment, I bought a roll of whiteboard sticker, which you just roll and stick the sheet of whiteboard onto a wall, and that was useful for things like groceries and other things to keep track of.
I've also bought the magnetic drawing boards that kids usually have, to write notes on. They're also waterproof, so if one is hanging in the shower, it's easy to write a few notes that come to mind. It's hard to find waterproof paper, and that's more of a specialty item.
I also have a battery-operated writing pad, that is similar to the magnetic drawing board, but it's easier to make out the words that I'm writing.
I have a wall that has important things just taped up there, so that I don't lose them on my desk and in my clutter, which I always seem to have a bad habit of creating, because I always have several personal projects going on at once.
My kitchen used to have a magnetic notepad stuck on the fridge door, for groceries, but the notepad had fallen off, and I haven't been upkeeping the groceries very well since that has happened.
I have a small paper notebook and pen in my pocket to jot down a few things from time to time. There are a few naysayers that dislike seeing me write down notes though, usually the condescending type, but I don't care, I write the notes anyways.
I've tried using apps and digital folders, but it has never worked for me very well, because it just ends up a mess, and I always change my mind about how I want things organized, and forgot how I organized them before. Everything in digital folders just looks too similar to each other. It's just never worked in the long run. I can remember notebooks I've written in years ago, but I always forgot what I have on my computer.
I also wish that I had notes on my wrist so that I could study things if I have a brief moment or two to do so, but it'll look too weird, and I've never managed to make that happen.
I do write things on the back of my hand if I don't have something to immediately write it down. Also specific tasks like talking to someone while at the department, otherwise I leave the department without doing it. People don't usually find it too weird.
I also find that things on my phone are 'not real' so it doesn't work for me pretty much at all.