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[lifeonmars]

as a sort of ice breaker, does anyone here have autistic headcanons for characters? feel free to tell me about them ^^ canonically autistic characters as well! i'll start off
one of my most important headcanons atm is from one of my special interests- rio mason busujima from hypnosis mic is autistic. as a navy veteran, he closely keeps himself to a survivalist routine years after he'd be able to stop and stray from it, choosing to live in the woods instead of the city and cook his own food. he also still wears his uniform even though the navy was disbanded canonically
he tends to take things at face value, jokes fly over his head and he rarely makes any of his own... he's also very passionate about cooking and i believe it could be a possible special interest for him
ive got a few autistic headcanons for hypmic (considering its a special interest i project onto a lot of characters) but thats just the first one that comes to mind

hi i'm late to respond to this but donnie from rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles is autism-coded! it's never outright stated in the series itself, but ron corcillo (a writer on the series) confirmed that he thought donnie to be on the spectrum. he's shown to have trouble with tone (sounding sarcastic when he's being 100% serious, sounding very monotone), sensory issues, hug aversion, difficulty expressing his emotions, low empathy, strong interests/hyperfixations, and more! there's even scenes where it seems like he's stimming (though it could just be exaggerated cartoon body language).

the plot of an entire episode is just him fawning over a silk jacket because it's so smooth, soft and comfortable. it's like heaven to him.

but what i love most is that through it all, his brothers support, love and understand him wholeheartedly. there's a scene in the movie where his older brother, raph, shouts "don't worry, donnie! this is not a hug, it's a rescue!" as he catches him in his arms.

he's a softshell turtle in this iteration, unlike his brothers, and has built himself a "battle shell" to protect himself. nonetheless he's a skilled fighter, and no one ever makes fun of him for needing this accommodation. rather, they show concern when his armour breaks in battle

[Dee.J]

Hello all! I'm Dee, a "late diagnosed" Autistic & ADHD adult. Some of my special interests are music, sloths, and My Hero Academia!

In an attempt to stir up some conversation, I wanted to bring up a topic I often talk to my husband about. That is; how do you feel about fidget toys being popularized by (often NT) kids? I have mixed feelings on the subject myself. On one hand, once a fidget toy becomes popular (ex. fidget spinners), teachers and other adults stop seeing it as a tool to help ND people and just see it as a toy. I've personally seen some teachers ban them from their class because they see it as a distraction.

On the other hand, fidget toys becoming popular tends to make them much more accessible for those that need them. A few years ago you could only really find fidget toys in those online therapy shops meant for schools/therapy centers and they were pretty expensive. Nowadays you can get fidget spinners, tangles, & pop-its from virtually anywhere and for pretty cheap. I got a fidget slug for just $5 the other day! I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts on this.

[lifeonmars]

Hello all! I'm Dee, a "late diagnosed" Autistic & ADHD adult. Some of my special interests are music, sloths, and My Hero Academia!

In an attempt to stir up some conversation, I wanted to bring up a topic I often talk to my husband about. That is; how do you feel about fidget toys being popularized by (often NT) kids? I have mixed feelings on the subject myself. On one hand, once a fidget toy becomes popular (ex. fidget spinners), teachers and other adults stop seeing it as a tool to help ND people and just see it as a toy. I've personally seen some teachers ban them from their class because they see it as a distraction.

On the other hand, fidget toys becoming popular tends to make them much more accessible for those that need them. A few years ago you could only really find fidget toys in those online therapy shops meant for schools/therapy centers and they were pretty expensive. Nowadays you can get fidget spinners, tangles, & pop-its from virtually anywhere and for pretty cheap. I got a fidget slug for just $5 the other day! I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts on this.

Hi! I personally like how they're more widespread now. It makes me confident enough to use them in public and also, as you said, makes them more accessible! I've even had compliments on some of my fidget toys while in public.

The teachers who ban them are (ironically) uneducated and don't understand that many students need them for various reasons. Whether that be sensory needs, anxiety, or to help them focus. In my opinion, this is less an issue of children popularising them, and more an issue of people being ignorant when it comes to mental health and disabilities. If fidget toys had stayed less-known then there would also be less education and conversation happening on these things.

[Rinketonke]

Hi, I'm Marre, I'm diagnosed with asd, ocd and adhd (others I don't want to mention).
They renamed Aspergers to autism spectrum disorder and since I got my diagnosis when they still called it Aspergers I have grown into it and still like to use that pronounce. Am I the only one and is it wrong to still use that term?

Other than that when I went to school I had to rip paper into different shapes to stay focused, I think fidget toys are revolutionary for people that has difficulty focusing and since I bought some myself I can watch movies with my boyfriend and stay focused so I'm all for it.

[lifeonmars]

They renamed Aspergers to autism spectrum disorder and since I got my diagnosis when they still called it Aspergers I have grown into it and still like to use that pronounce. Am I the only one and is it wrong to still use that term?

Hi! The first post on this thread says the following:

"∞ You are welcome here if you identify as having Aspergers, but the diagnosis is generally no longer used, and is seen as offensive to many people because of where the term comes from. See the last two paragraphs."

(skipping forward to the last two paragraphs of the post now)

"∞ We all have the same “amount” of Autism, we just have different Autistic traits, sensory experiences, emotional regulation skills, strengths, struggles, communication methods, masking skills etc. The terms ‘mild’ or ‘____ functioning’ say nothing about those things I listed, or really anything about them other than how not-Autistic they look. The word ‘spectrum’ doesn’t mean a straight line from a bit Autistic to very Autistic, it means we all experience it differently!

∞ The ability to speak/ not having an intelectual disability / not having multiple disabilities/ not needing lots of support is not superior to using AAC to talk, having an intelectual disability, having multiple disabilities and/or having high support needs. Please don’t imply it is or talk over these people."

I personally do not like to use the term Aspergers because of it's history with ableism and other horrible things which I wont get into here. However, you are free to label yourself however you like. I'd say to just be respectful of others, and perhaps (if you are willing) do some research into the term, specifically the doctor who first came up with it. Change is something we tend to struggle with though so I can understand why it would be difficult to accept a change in the name of your diagnosis, something which is very important and personal.

[histrionicScribbler]

0h man I'm so happy that this board exists!!

Hi, I'm a creature of many names, but you can call me Peebs! I've got both ADHD and ASD. I wasn't diagnosed w autism until early adulthood, I'm p sure it went undiagnosed because as I was growing up it was thought that I only had ADHD. However, I had a lot of symptoms that couldn't be chalked up to it, and a lot that couldn't be chalked up to just ASD. So I got myself evaluated, and yep! I got em both.

I love loooove stim toys and sensory stuff, I hoard them like nobody's business! If I see something that looks like it has a fun texture I just gotta feel it. Every time I see a new kind of Elmer's Gue at my retail job I have to have it, even if some of them leave something to be desired lol

My biggest special interest is the webcomic Homestuck and pretty much any adjacent property. If you get me started, I can and will infodump for hours about troll lore and Alternian worldbuilding and culture alone! I have Homestuck stuff all over my walls, a whole bunch of shirts and a Nepeta jacket, pins, charms, you name it! The lanyard that my work keys are on is derse themed and I have a Davekat and a Sollux charm on it :] My first ever cosplay was Kankri Vantas, my second was Nepeta Leijon. Recently for Halloween I dressed up as Trickster Dave! Aaaaugh just being able to talk about it right now is making me so happy I need to move on or I'll keep going and going forever

I think my second biggest spin is My LIttle Pony, I attached to it very hard in elementary school and never grew out of it, which got me kinda super bullied the older I got lol. Pretty much every literary assignment I got in 6th grade ended up being about MLP, I figured out any possible way I could shoehorn it into anything. My family was always telling me I'll stop liking it once I turned 13... Well, 13 came and went and I still love it, watched every episode up until it ended and bawled like a baby when it did, too. I wore a Rainbow Dash hoodie I got from Hot Topic almost every day in elementary thru middle school until the "hair" (it was like colored string) on the hood got all tangled up with my own hair and itself. Then I got a Spike hoodie that I own to this day!

G0SH I KEEP RAMBLING 0K0K LAST SPECIAL INTEREST ILL TRY T0 KEEP IT SH0RT— LANGUAGE!!! Any language. I love foreign languages, although I'm only completely fluent in English. I majored in Japanese for the short time I was in college and hyperfixated on learning it for years. I'm mildly conversational but most Kanji still escapes me... I want to become better at it though! I also wanna try and learn Norwegian, Spanish, and Russian one day! Anyways, despite my fascination with the foreign, English still falls under this category. I love learning new words, I'm obsessed with writing (can you tell???) although most of my literary talent ends up going towards fanfic and roleplay BAHAHA

... Wow, I said I'd keep it short and then wrote another whole paragraph. I'm a chronic infodumper, S0RRY!! IT'S NICE T0 BE HERE TH0UGH

[skrundle]

helloooooooooo

does anyone else get in hyperfixation holes? where it's all they wanna do/talk about/watch and it hurts their lives and relationships lol

[FizzyConfettii]

Welcome new people!

[owoforbois]

Hi! My name is Aesop/Skylar, and I go by he/him or fae/fem pronouns. I'm an autistic adult now, and have been diagnosed for years. I hope to see other people talking about their special interests, hyperfixations, ect. ^^ I use formal grammar most of the time because it makes the most sense to me. My special interests are stuffed animals, animals, Identity V, writing/roleplaying, and more (listed in my interests!) My favourite colour is purple and yellow, with orange coming as a close third! Thank you for creating this group : )

[owoforbois]

helloooooooooo

does anyone else get in hyperfixation holes? where it's all they wanna do/talk about/watch and it hurts their lives and relationships lol

Yup! It's very annoying being aware of it and also being unable to do anything about it. I could spend hours doing it, not sleep, and be late to plans or unable to make it to hang outs. What's yours?