Autism — what we know (and what we don't know yet) | Wendy Chung

I'm 31 years old , born autistic and life growing up was very hard , not uderstanding why i see the world differently and struggle to make friends . I am an engineer today and am my own biggest support framework , parents please support your children and help them cope . It's not easy and never will be but you can try to make it work .

As an autistic person who sees a lot of misinformation about about autism, I wanted to write a short description of not only what autism is but what it is like to have it. This is based off of my own experiences as well as other autistic people I have talked to. Autism is a different way the brain can be "wired". Some observations may lead an outside observer to think one way, but without the rest of the context it can be very misleading. People with autism take in more information from their surroundings. While doing some activity the neurotypical person (not autistic) may take some time to process said activity and some of their surroundings, an autistic person takes in everything around them that is going on while doing an activity. Take eating lunch in cafeteria for example; while sitting with their friends a neurotypical person will be eating food, talking with their friends, and listening to what they are saying while an autistic person will be doing the same while taking in every sound difference in their friends voice, eye movement, body language, and doing all of these things with anything they also see and hear. Because of that a delay in time to respond may occur as they are taking in and processing more information before they can respond. A lot of autistic people also have Sensory Processing Disorder, which is a disorder that manifest itself in such a way that the individual with it processes their senses either more dramatically or less. Let’s use the cafeteria example again: the autistic may be hearing every noise and conversation at once in that room, and while the lights may be fine for some people, they may be so bright for an autistic person it is physically painful. This can get overwhelming as all of this stimulus can be too much. Stimulus is any information gathered by any of your 7 primary senses: sight, touch, hearing, smell, taste, proprioceptive (sense of where you are in space and movement), and vestibular (sense of balance). While these are external stimuli, internal stimuli can affect an autistic person in the same way; internal stimulus being things such as stress or anxiety to name a few. It is important to let an autistic person know how they live and process information is normal and fine, there is nothing wrong with them. They are perfectly normal people, just with a nerotype that isn't typical. Too much stimulus can cause a meltdown sometimes, or a shutdown. A shutdown is straightforward as they just shutdown like a computer and need to rebute away from all that stimulus. A meltdown is when the autistic person goes into a fight or flight response, where they will act accordingly as does anyone when their subconscious feels threatened. Keep in mind, too much stimulus is painful, and can be drastically so. You could say that a shutdown is when the fight or flight response goes so extreme they freeze. To combat all of this stimulus an autistic person needs to do one of two things, and may sometimes need help doing them: 1.) Remove the negative stimulus, say like going somewhere darker or quieter 2.) Stim. Stimming can be with any of the 7 primary senses as it replaces bad information, or stimulus, with good. This may be repeating some sound, rocking back or forth, touching some textured object, or hand flapping. These are just a tiny few examples of stimming. Stimming is good stimulus, so an autistic person may stim sometimes just because it feels good to do so with no other reason or maybe to express themselves as is natural and feels good to them. Sometimes when an autistic person has too much negative stimulus they may become nonverbal, or in other words may not be able to talk or use their words. Sometimes they may still be able to make sounds, write, or communicate in some other alternative fashion. Some autistic people take in more stimulus than other autistic people, and can be prone to experiencing more meltdowns and being nonverbal. Nonverbal occurs when the mind and body has to divert resources to dealing with other tasks. An autistic person may normally not be nonverbal but become so during a meltdown or when overwhelmed. Sometimes instead of being nonverbal, there might be a stutter instead. An autistic person has a certain amount of “spoons” they have for every day. Spoons are the resources (mentally, emotionally, physically) you can use to do some task. Some days you may have more spoons, and other days you may feel like you have none. Getting up out of bed cost spoons, dressing oneself cost spoons, brushing your teeth, showering, eating breakfast, going to work, going to class, anything you do cost some amount of spoons; with little resources of spoons available, you may only be able to accomplish only a few tasks, and that is perfectly okay. Sometimes a task can cost a lot of spoons, and sometimes the same task may cost more spoons than other times. Sometimes looking at a person's face or communicating with someone can be difficult. Communication is like a dance, and can be very difficult to follow. There are 3 ways of communication: what is said, how it is said, and body language. A person's face goes through a lot of changes over a short period of time to reflect how they are feeling, and looking at a person while talking can take a lot of spoons at time. It can be very overwhelming to try to pick up on a lot of cues people have in any form of communication. A lot of times an autistic person may only focus on one form of communication, if any, to be able to communicate. Communication in of itself (talking, listening, changes in subject) yet alone looking at some, taking in all the noise, and light, among some many things happening at once can be too much. If things feel that way, that everything is overwhelming, it is okay to remove yourself from that situation or choose not to be there in the first place. There is nothing wrong in taking care of yourself.

I’ve just been diagnosed with Autism and I ‘ m a tender 72 years old.

I also was diagnosed with this when I was a little little kid and now I’m proud to be who I am

I have a son who is 7 and diagnosed with autism spectrum. my biggest fears is leaving him alone in this cruel world.

We're wired differently, yes, but I don't so much agree with being re-wired or retrained or medicated. Maybe it's the terms I'm getting hung up on, but if I am, then the terms should be changed. Why do we have to conform like this? I have told my friends what I struggle with and I'm self aware and tell them, for example, I struggle with social cues and hints, so please be straight up/blunt with me. I don't pick up when someone is trying to end a conversation. So my friends they are gentle and kind and tell me that they need to go, etc. And it helps a lot. Maybe it's the rest of the world that needs to be trained on how to have empathy for people who lack in this stuff, because as someone who does, it's too complex to be trained. Human behaviours has too many variables, and no matter how you calculate you can be mistaken. I prefer just educating people about Autism and what my needs are and why I am the way I am. Also, of all the things to medicate, I don't agree this is one. And I have a ton of genetic conditions and a genetic mutation. And medical comorbidities. The world just needs to be taught to accommodate better.

After 24 painful years, I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and it almost feels like closure. Now, I have an explanation for so many of my complicated thoughts, feelings, pain and my inability to effectively communicate with others. It's been awfully difficult to connect with humans and maintain friendships, so I've always shared a deeper connection with animals. You don't have to think about what to tell them or worry if you're boring them. Instead, you share a bond on an entirely different level. I hope, someday, we will take care of our beautiful and innocent companions. ANYWAYS, if I went 24 years without any treatment/therapy, I can do ANYTHING in the world!! You just have to believe in yourself :~)

The love of my life has autism and she is the most amazing women I ever met

For some with Autism, they are treated like specimens whose feelings and thoughts are not taken seriously because they are seen as lacking both. But you better believe they have meaningful things to say, even if they can't communicate them as you would expect.

what I hate bout having autism at the moment is that when I try to get to know someone, they instantly have super high standards that they want me to follow and Im not able to keep up for long so when they notice I don't they just drop me completely, they don't give af. they don't even bother trying to tell me what I misunderstand and not .. like why is this so fucking hard for people? its annoying.

Many women on the spectrum believe that there is a problem of underdiagnosis for women... I did not figure it out till I was 30, and it helped me tremendously! Specifically with becoming aware of other people's feelings. Women have different expectations, social roles, and are allowed to express emotions with more social freedom then men, so women and girls on the spectrum blend in more! I was masking for years.

Im high functioning autism and im studying autism so i can help kids have an easier time then i did

autism for me has meant no friends, no work, no relationships, inability to hold conversations and constant suicidal feelings, so i hate it. I'm glad other people enjoy it. I kind of hate it when people go on about how great it is though, what it's like varies so much the diagnosis is worse than pointless as it tells you nothing. But it's helpful for children as they get help at school

I have autism and it ruined my childhood due to my family actively telling everyone; "My son has Autsim", even though it's very subtle and slight. I was bullied to the point where I was in a fight almost weekly, and I almost got expelled from my elementary school. I have easy frustrations, but at the very least I can explain, see, and hear what I want to say, but I simply can't due to not upsetting others. I can feel, sense, and express myself in so many different ways and yet I've been told it's simply due to my Autism instead of it being ME and not what a doctor says. I've made it to where I DONOT WANT anyone to find out, cus I want people to see Me, not my diagnosis and im going to make it to where my family won't spread it any further BECAUSE of my history with humanity

I don't want my personality to be changed, just because my Asperger Syndrome affects it. Please don't say that we need to be "rewired" or "fixed", because it makes me feel like I can't be my real self, and I need to change it just because i'm diffrent from other people.

One thing I don't like is how neurotypicals although they mean well are constantly trying to find ways to encourage and help us be more like them.... I don't want to like them. I like being me, what I don't like is being pressured to be someone I'm not. I think people with Autism just need to be accepted and cared and catered for more rather then creating programs to help them be more "normal" and less "difficult". I wasn't one to throw tantrums or hit my parents as a kid, I just cried a lot from being bullied by my sisters and being overstimulated. My mum just yelled at me and never comforted me. It left me with a lot of trauma and growing up teachers yelled at me, told me I'm not a baby and I can talk, other kids called me weird and not many people wanted to hang out with me. I was non verbal for many years til I felt there was no other choice as I was left to basically fend for myself so I started talking and pushed myself to try be "normal". Society doesn't understand autism or other people in general... So many people are just self absorbed and inconsiderate. The world is loud and chaotic and kids and adults with ASD aren't being sensitive, it's just this world really doesn't accommodate our needs as being highly sensitive. Many Neurotypicals can handle the changing world around them yet we cannot. I'm glad I live in New Zealand where I get some room to breathe here unlike many places in the US but it is still overwhelming. I spend most days at home but try to get out for a walk regularly. It's not that we don't want connection with others or to do "normal" things... It's just hard to connect and enjoy an outing without being overwhelmed. I want to connect with people but people are weird and confusing to me, I always end up being trampled on and then called the bad guy when I don't even know what I did. A woman blew up at me because apparently I gave her an "ugly look" and she took that to an extreme that I hate her and her whole family. I just don't understand people and often they're just plain mean to us so we withdraw and shutdown in order to stay safe as many things already overwhelm us. We're not weird, just extremely misunderstood people. Personally, I feel things deeply and sometimes I hate it. I am highly affectionate and loving toward people I trust and feel safe with but don't expect me to open my arms to a stranger who I don't feel safe with. I'm not rude, but I can be blunt but at least I'm going to be honest with you opposed to telling lies for your convenience.

My 3 year old son is Autistic and He is the sweetest lovable boy. 💚

My older brother has autism. One of the worst kinds and he will never be able to be educated, there's basically nothing he can do. There's no "ressource" that could help him. Not all autistics can be helped. A lot of people look down on parents who "give up" and let special state homes look after them instead. People think that with "love", and better understanding autistics can always evolve and improve. For some autistics like my brother, that totally isn't true. It's a shame Wendy Chung didn't address this matter in this speech. 

all I do is cry. I just want my 2yo daughter to live fully, independently and be able to talk. I cant imagine every leaving her side and knowing if she will be ok. this I wouldnt wish on anybody.

My son is 10 yrs old and has autism. I have had a hard time going to places and having someone tell me that my son is too old to be in the women's restroom. People that don't know about autism don't know the challenges we parents go through. It would be amazing if people were AWARE of it. For example, businesses should be able to allow kids with autism be themselves and have signs that they support autism