Autism/ADHD Support Thread 🌈

[VanitasFan26]

are you the kind of person who can't stand little background noises, or do you need constant background noise (not including times of sensory overload) like a fan or other white noise?

I cannot stand loud noises and please don't make fun of me for this. I had to wear ear plugs in school because I couldn't stand all the crowded people. I also cannot stand thunderstorms either. It makes me feel nervous and uncomfortable. I prefer to be in quiet places where its peaceful so it makes me feel relaxed.

 

[Croconaw]

-snip-

I’ll be honest, I can’t stand noise when I’m trying to sleep. I can’t sleep without complete silence. If it’s hot out, I will use the air conditioner whenever I’m awake and turn it off when I’m about to lay down.

 

[Midoriya]

got a question for my fellow autistic/ADHD people:

are you the kind of person who can't stand little background noises, or do you need constant background noise (not including times of sensory overload) like a fan or other white noise?

I have Aspergers and don't mind background noise. I don't need it all the time either. I'm fine with it either way. But I don't have problems with little or loud noises in general, so yeah (hearing is actually my best sense).

 

[Neb]

got a question for my fellow autistic/ADHD people:

are you the kind of person who can't stand little background noises, or do you need constant background noise (not including times of sensory overload) like a fan or other white noise?

If I’m studying or going to bed it has to be dead silent. Otherwise I get frustrated. I can handle some noise while reading for fun, but my speed goes down.

 

[StarlitGlitch]

I tend to prefer quiet. If it's a low humming like a fan or a refrigerator or even a clock ticking that's okay for me but much more than that and it becomes distracting.

I've tried using white/brown noise to drown out my noisy neighbor but I always feel respite when I can finally turn it off and have quiet. I'm sensitive to noise. When I was in the office I had a lot harder time concentrating when people were making any kind of noise.

 

[Disneyfangirl23]

There are some noises I don’t like. Like people chatting loud if they’re in a group

Post automatically merged: Jun 13, 2022

I’ve been told by someone who I talk to that “I need to make friends.” I took it as something very insensitive because she knows I have autism. I just think it’s not that simple. You can’t just make friends. Its not like I’m not making an effort. It’s not like I don’t want friends or that I don’t want to hang out. Am I taking it too personally or…? I don’t know. Things just aren’t that simple.

I actually have a small number of friends, so I’m not like friendless or anything. Just the comment. I don’t know.

I’m not an expert at making friends. but if I find someone and we have the same interests I usually talk to them. Like If we like the same game I’d talk to them about the game.
At first I wanted to be friends with everyone but everyone is different so I kinda learnt to see what they’re like first before deciding.Because not everyone is gonna be nice unfortunately XD

 

[xSuperMario64x]

it's interesting to see that every reply so far has basically been the opposite of myself. I think part of my thing is that I'm used to being in a noisy house (my mom is mostly deaf so she's quite loud). but I always tend to feel uncomfortable in a room that's totally silent vs one that has a decent amount of white/noise.

 

[Shawna]

got a question for my fellow autistic/ADHD people:

are you the kind of person who can't stand little background noises, or do you need constant background noise (not including times of sensory overload) like a fan or other white noise?

I thought about this bc I was recommended a video on yt earlier called "things that people with ADHD may find annoying" and one of the things was "fan/AC noises" but ironically I keep my AC and fans on a lot because I need the background noise. sitting in silence actually drives me crazy (unless I'm in sensory overload ofc) so noises like fans, AC units, TVs, people talking, etc. don't bother me at all unless the noise is really loud or my mind deems it to be annoying (people playing music out loud really bothers me for some reason, and the sound of dogs barking also irritates me).

Repetitive/constant noises can drive me insane .-.

 

[Kitsuragi]

I also cannot stand thunderstorms either. It makes me feel nervous and uncomfortable.

me too, i have a fear of severe weather entirely but thunderstorms are the worst. especially when you're sitting there, waiting for some loud clap of thunder and the bright lights, ugh. awful experience T_T

 

[Robi]

I'm 90% sure I have ADHD(100% sure there's something in my brain that ain't right). The problem is getting a diagnosis isn't easy. Even though I'm 18 I don't know how to schedule an appointment, and I'd still have to ask my parents. The tricky thing is just remembering to do it, getting the courage to because for some reason I'm nervous when there's no reason to be, and then I have to hope I can get a good psychiatrist. I think I found one that's good. The best I can do now to manage my ADHD though is to have supportive friends and keep a good journal. The journal is really nice for planning and getting my thoughts down. Also, I like to make nice spreads so it's a nice art thing too. Art tends to be something that gives me more willpower.

 

[michealsmells]

are you the kind of person who can't stand little background noises, or do you need constant background noise (not including times of sensory overload) like a fan or other white noise?

CONSTANT!!! oh my gosh constant constant constant background noise is NECESSARY for me to exist. If I'm not listening to music, I have some video on in the background. If there's no video, I left a game of mine open and can hear it's audio going while I do something else. If not that- I have music playing. White noise doesn't really do it for me- I've tried and at worst its annoying, best it just doesn't help my focus. I need something that I can actively listen to otherwise I go insane with boredom regardless of how fun the thing I'm doing home (@ least when it comes to being @ home, @ my desk, doing normal Micheal things)

 

[moo_nieu]

i was diagnosed with adhd in early highschool, but i finally got my autism spectrum disorder diagnosis today and i feel very validated. ive been pretty sure for a few years, but i never felt comfortable mentioning it without a diagnosis, but now i feel that i can be open about it so thats nice. i wish i could have been diagnosed as a child, but better late than never

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I was diagnosed with Asperger’s my senior year of high school. I actually have a goal that I would like to do but it is difficult to achieve and that is to audition for RuPaul’s Drag Race and be the positive role model kids on the spectrum desperately need and to show everyone else that being on the spectrum isn’t as bad as that bimbo Jenny McCarthy (I’m sorry but there is no other words to better describe that lady) and the media make it seem to be.

 

[Kitsuragi]

I'm going to be getting tested (screened??) For autism in the coming months, will update with the results...

Post automatically merged: Sep 24, 2022

I was diagnosed with Asperger’s my senior year of high school. I actually have a goal that I would like to do but it is difficult to achieve and that is to audition for RuPaul’s Drag Race and be the positive role model kids on the spectrum desperately need and to show everyone else that being on the spectrum isn’t as bad as that bimbo Jenny McCarthy (I’m sorry but there is no other words to better describe that lady) and the media make it seem to be.

That's awesome, I love drag race (clock the avatar)

I assume you are a drag performer? Do you have an Instagram you'd be willing to share?

 

[Neb]

Forgot to update on here that I was diagnosed with ADHD in August. The symptoms were there for my entire life, but they became more noticeable over time. I couldn’t focus on my hobbies or studies and the fidgeting became impossible to control. Immediately after the diagnosis I was prescribed stratterra, a controversial medication to say the least. The side effects on the first day were terrible. My head hurt and I felt a wave of anxiety. For the next two days I felt better, but my head still felt off. Now I feel the full benefits of the medication. I can finally watch TV without checking my phone every 2 minutes and study without my mind drifting. It’s actively made my life better and I can’t imagine going off it. There are downsides. The heightened focus gradually goes down throughout the day. By nighttime the medication mostly wears off and I’m somewhat reverted to before. There’s ways to work around it though. I can be productive during the day and spend the nights relaxing. That way I’m making the most of the medication while it’s still at its most useful.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I'm going to be getting tested (screened??) For autism in the coming months, will update with the results...

Post automatically merged: Sep 24, 2022

That's awesome, I love drag race (clock the avatar)

I assume you are a drag performer? Do you have an Instagram you'd be willing to share?

No Instagram. I don’t even perform right now as my only local gay bar closed four years ago and the next closest is at least an hour away from me. I’m more of a bedroom drag queen right now.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I still have bad memories of going to these so called Job training courses and centers who claim they care for autistic people but they don't. I've had a bad experience at this Job Training Course for autistics way back in 2017. I was sent to this place by my parents because they figured I would get help on how to do job training as an autistic but the staff there treated me poorly.

I was just sitting there not knowing what to do and whenever I ask a question they just give me a dimissive "Wait until we are done speaking" Then they told me to go some Autisim center to learn more about social skills. I have never been so mistreated in all of my life as an autistic. First they were grouping me with other autistic people which they didn't want to talk to me and then they have us going to places doing a whole lot of things that just made no sense. I was left so confused and baffled what was even going on and then when a few weeks later they held some sort of graduation and then my parents came to pick me up and they were just as confused as me because I don't know what was happening. I left with a sour taste in my mouth.

This place did nothing to improve my social skills and my self esteem is in worst condition afterwards. Then things got really bad and then when my parents came to find out what was the problem they told them that I am not "fitted to work" even though I was following their directions and I was very confused on what was even going on.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I still have bad memories of going to these so called Job training courses and centers who claim they care for autistic people but they don't. I've had a bad experience at this Job Training Course for autistics way back in 2017. I was sent to this place by my parents because they figured I would get help on how to do job training as an autistic but the staff there treated me poorly.

I was just sitting there not knowing what to do and whenever I ask a question they just give me a dimissive "Wait until we are done speaking" Then they told me to go some Autisim center to learn more about social skills. I have never been so mistreated in all of my life as an autistic. First they were grouping me with other autistic people which they didn't want to talk to me and then they have us going to places doing a whole lot of things that just made no sense. I was left so confused and baffled what was even going on and then when a few weeks later they held some sort of graduation and then my parents came to pick me up and they were just as confused as me because I don't know what was happening. I left with a sour taste in my mouth.

This place did nothing to improve my social skills and my self esteem is in worst condition afterwards. Then things got really bad and then when my parents came to find out what was the problem they told them that I am not "fitted to work" even though I was following their directions and I was very confused on what was even going on.

I also have bad memories of having to work at one of those places for three years. It was supposed to be six months but my abuser convinced the director and my employment caseworker to extend the time if I worked there once a week. It was awful because the paycheck was pathetic for the two days during the two weeks period since pay day was every other week. It was maybe four hours of work anywhere else for what I had gotten. Even worse is that another caseworker took me to see another similar place so I could get a job and we both agreed it wasn’t right for me and my abuser went insane and started to scream at me and tried to gaslight me into thinking that I declined the job because I was “too good and better than everyone else there.” She seriously tried to guilt trip me over this for weeks. And once my time was nearly finished at the workshop where I was for three years, she tried to get me to agree to sign up for another place for those on the spectrum which I didn’t do anyway and I found out it was another workshop. My abuser wanted me to work in miserable conditions and make barely enough money every two weeks to get anything nice for myself which wouldn’t have mattered anyway as she always took what little I made each paycheck and cashed it just to go out and buy bottles of wine to fuel her alcoholism. And I know this is true because she spent my money literally right before my eyes and I couldn’t say anything about it.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I also have bad memories of having to work at one of those places for three years. It was supposed to be six months but my abuser convinced the director and my employment caseworker to extend the time if I worked there once a week. It was awful because the paycheck was pathetic for the two days during the two weeks period since pay day was every other week. It was maybe four hours of work anywhere else for what I had gotten. Even worse is that another caseworker took me to see another similar place so I could get a job and we both agreed it wasn’t right for me and my abuser went insane and started to scream at me and tried to gaslight me into thinking that I declined the job because I was “too good and better than everyone else there.” She seriously tried to guilt trip me over this for weeks. And once my time was nearly finished at the workshop where I was for three years, she tried to get me to agree to sign up for another place for those on the spectrum which I didn’t do anyway and I found out it was another workshop. My abuser wanted me to work in miserable conditions and make barely enough money every two weeks to get anything nice for myself which wouldn’t have mattered anyway as she always took what little I made each paycheck and cashed it just to go out and buy bottles of wine to fuel her alcoholism. And I know this is true because she spent my money literally right before my eyes and I couldn’t say anything about it.

Man its really sad that we get so mistreated. I feel sorry for you and I relate to your pain.

 

[Drawdler]

I don’t know how in-depth I should go and I’m tired anyway rn but I started to wonder again if I am autistic. I’m not asking for a diagnosis here, but I wanted to share some of my experience.

I 100% have C-PTSD which is a separate issue and I can’t tell how many of my problems are from autism vs. PTSD. For example, my social reclusiveness. I had that since I was young but I’ve been in a traumatic environment since I was young, that makes me distrust people and at the time I did not know how to express things since even my parents didn’t listen to me. My body is on edge/sensitive and I have good hearing but the on-edge feeling definitely falls under my PTSD as well. I have had strong interests in certain things like aesthetics and characters, but I don’t understand what would make it a hyperfixation or special interest, and while it may have changed over time I honestly think my interests are quite broad now. I also have very little to do outside of the Internet, and frankly the Internet isn’t a great gauge for how I fit in anywhere- makes it more confusing- but it’s not by choice. I don’t want to be in the same situation. I’m not averse to change, and in fact I do not like routines, I get bored very easily. Doing things the same way every time makes me lose interest in them and is even depressing to me because wasted time general apathy whatever.

When I was growing up, my family and psychologist at the time gave me so much bad information about autism. About the “change” and routine thing, one thing pressed on me was that because I didn’t like high school it was because of the change from primary school, not acknowledging the bad environment. That was taught like “you have autism, you don’t like it because of the change” and stuff like that. I was told I was too sensitive about everything with my hearing and disliking my environment (the fight-or-flight is very common with C-PTSD). I had more limited hobbies and they assumed I was just fixated on single hobbies when really, I think I was reacting from trauma in begging for specific things (hard not to be fixated on them when every thing I wanted got turned down, and I wasn’t allowed basic art classes- fyi my school then only had art classes half the year, and they taught year 3/4 stuff in every other class so I was learning nothing and had no classes I liked), and I never got more opportunities or freedom to explore other interests and got everything turned down. They thought I was good at recognising patterns because I got almost-perfect math scores but tbfh they only made us do multiplication and some basic fraction stuff so yes I remembered multiplication, and tbh I don’t think I’m good at math, I just remembered the rigid way I was taught and the high school had extremely easy classes. I was told I was certain things, but nobody explained what autism actually was to me and nobody asked if I related to certain things. It made me feel like I was just inferior and stupid (NOT true of anyone just for being on the spectrum).

Idfk. Am rambling. Point is: I had a horrible autism diagnosis back then. Frankly I do NOT trust the psychologist who gave it to me, because she never focused on ME suffering. I was physically forced to take the test and treated in an ableist way by that psychologist and my family. I was put into special classes and instantly taken out.

I absolutely sympathise with people on the spectrum so this isn’t me being ashamed at the idea I may have autism or trying to be ableist, hell my brain IS already different because I have PTSD and that has definitely messed me up- BUT my awful experience with the diagnosis makes me very averse to looking into it more specifically because of how people treated me. It was an absolutely terrible experience, and I wish I could know and understand more etc. and that a diagnosis could actually be helpful.

However in my experience adults were just ableist toward me and it may be better as something buried if nobody in my life would help anyway. Tbh I simply don’t think I understand a lot of the things I have heard about autism, but having some degree of possible special interests + social deficiency + sensitivity to environment, those are enough to make me curious. It’s not like PTSD and autism are mutually exclusive.

Like I said, I’m not looking for a diagnosis here but if anyone can lead me to resources to understand I’d appreciate it to discuss that with my psychologist. I think I’m bringing this up with them tomorrow. It’s so confusing. Whenever I look at things like videos/discussions from people on the spectrum I feel like I half-relate to some stuff but rarely go “oh yeah, that’s me”. I honestly don’t think categorising is too helpful because people should just be able to work out differences regardless of something like thag buttt I am curious enough here.

Also: if I’ve said I was disgnosed with Asperger’s on this forum before (which I probably did) I just want to apologise because I honestly didn’t know that term was ableist and problematic at the time. I don’t know how recently people have come to realise that but if it says anything that diagnosis was back in 2012 and they were very insistent about saying Asperger’s as if the spectrum was still taboo or shameful or something or as if it was different or “better” than me having autism.

edit: “high school” down here is year 7-12. If anyone thinks they were teaching me grade 3 stuff in year 10 or something sorry for the misunderstanding lol