Funkonovo/Allison's autism Blog

A Polaroid with light leaks and fade. Misconceptions and stigma associated (conceptual photography) "You're pretty high functioning," you say, shaking my hand (I can do handshakes), I realize you probably want to make me feel good about myself. Your image of an autistic person might be of someone non-verbal, perhaps in a wheelchair, whose focus is elsewhere. You are correct-in part. A very small part. I'm sure you have heard that autism is a spectrum. You've been made aware of autism, but you don't have a complete picture. Your concept is like a bad photograph where only part of the film got exposed and the rest is light leaks of yellow and red. It isn't your fault. You aren't  autistic. What you likely know about autism mostly comes from the media, which often relies on doomsday scenarios  filled with no light at the end of the story's tunnel. "You seem pretty normal to me." In the here and now. In this room, one of my f...

 Caption: A burned out, white autistic woman  Content Warning: Mention of suicide and depression. Please don't read this if you are upset by these topics and/or are in a bad place mentally. I'm not the kind of autistic person that has friends (plural). I'm the autistic person, long out of high school who sits home all day with TV as company. I'm not the autistic adult thriving on social media, a place where I have been bullied by both autistic and allistic (non autistic) people. I am the autistic person without a tribe. There is no real place of personal acceptance for me. I'm the autistic person who has high support needs without having an IQ below 70. I'm the autistic person who rocks or performs some kind of stim constantly to alleviate high anxiety. I'm not that thriving autistic adult who has some kind of community support while attending college and/or interviewing for or working a job. I'm not that autistic Millennial you read so much ...

Picture: Lundholm organ-Pixabay At six months of fetal development, my mom noticed that I would violently kick in the womb when she played certain songs on the organ. My dad watched me leaping around in her stomach.  It was a disturbing and confusing moment for both of them. They hadn't seen anything like this before. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder whose traits show up often before 2 years of age. I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome for the first time in 1998. I was diagnosed with AS, mainly because I spoke early and scored 110 on my IQ test. It is interesting to note that I didn't walk unassisted until 18 months old, was only interested in the shadows the low, incandescent chandiler lights made on the living room ceiling at 3 weeks of age instead of my parents or screamed, sometimes for up to a half an hour after the wind blew a door shut on the opposite end of the house. I had intrusive, upsetting thoughts of harming myself or others go...