If Death is, then I am not

feel old yet? 10:36 was 0-24 hours ago

Honestly, probably the best social tip I could ever give you guys is literally just ask. Need to make a doctor's appointment but don't know how? Call the doctor's office and ask. Don't know the meaning of what someone said? Ask them. Don't understand the instructions you were given? Ask them to repeat or clarify. This has literally never failed me, no one's gotten angry, no one's refused to answer.

Even in situations where you think it might not work, I once accidentally missed a deadline to accept a job offer, so I called and asked if they could reset it and they did. Just today I called a doctor and asked how to schedule an appointment, the lady told me how, and then I did it. Didn't know if someone was being sarcastic or not, so I asked and they told me. Just ask.

OP meant well but forgot about the existence of people with anxiety who are terrified to make phone calls, and for who this “easy” method is physically and mentally impossible.

If anyone has a smart tip on how to solve that problem I’m all ears.

You're right, I've never had anxiety before and this "easy" method (your words, not mine, because I never said this was easy, it's actually a bit difficult in the beginning) is something that'll just never ever happen for an anxious person because anxiety is just impossible to overcome in any way.

Also I never once said this is exclusively for phone calls, I just used a phone call as one example. Overcoming anxiety is about baby steps and learning to just ask a question (over the phone or in person) is one of those steps.

This is in your hands as well, you'll never find a tip online that'll just solve everything for you and you shouldn't expect every post that's trying to be helpful to do that.

Okay but neurotypical adults should not be teachers? Am I the only autistic person who feel this way? 

Yeah.

Should neurotypical teachers get better training on how to accommodate neurodivergent kids? Yes. Should neurotypicals be banned from being teachers? Absolutely not. We still need neurotypical teachers because we still have neurotypical students. It'd be pretty wild to talk about how autistic students have to have teachers who don't understand autism and then turn around and say neurotypical students should have to have teachers who don't understand being neurotypical. And don't try to say we do understand it, we don't, like 70% of the posts in the autism tag on this website are about not understanding neurotypicals.

any autistic people with long hair: how do you brush it? i'm struggling to brush it through because of how uncomfortable it is sensory-wise

Get the brush slightly damp first. Start brushing at the ends of your hair in short motions until the bottom portion of your hair is tangle-free. Move the brush up several inches and repeat the process. Keep doing that until you can start at the top of your head and brush all the way down without snagging on knots.

You may consider investing in detangler, which I used for basically my whole childhood. You may also prefer a different kind of brush than the one you currently have. It might be helpful to sleep with your hair in a braid so that it can't tangle itself up when you roll in your sleep.

Something I always did when I had super long hair was I would get in the shower and put conditioner in and brush it then (the conditioner makes it super slippery and the knots come right out). Also make sure you use a brush with plastic bristles or a wide toothed comb, anything else will be hell. I also wore mine in a ponytail or braid almost constantly, it really helps decrease the amount of tangling.

Ok so this is definitely a hot take. Keep in mind that I'm just a little less strict then most people. I'm also autistic myself. The reason I'm making that clear is because I do have a little more experience with this. However I'm not saying that's the soul factor for how I may be right or wrong. But anyway-

I really disagree with the whole "You can't hyperfixate or infodump if you aren't on the spectrum/have austim" statement and mentality some people have. Even though it shouldn't be, it feels really gatekeepy and condescending. And I actually get why people say it. It's just really flawed.

Anyone can hyperfixate on stuff if they enjoy it enough. Granted, it's MUCH more common for neurodivergent people since that's just how our brains work. However, just because I'm autistic and will usually be neck deep in a franchise, that doesn't mean I'm gonna act entitled like I own the right to hyperfixating. Just because it's more common in one group doesn't mean it only happens in that group.

Some of this is pretty true though. Casual talk isn't really infodumping, for example. There's no concrete rules but it's just obvious when it is and isn't. Also there is a fine line between a hyperfixation and liking something alot too. It all depends on context and the basic knowing of how it goes.

With me saying that though, I don't feel like people should be so critical and act like they made it or something. Can't address every possible detail I forgot to mention. But basic point: It may be a bit different, but you can do these things and be neurotypical. It's fine. There's nothing wrong with that

Just don't act like a special or gifted prick. And don't act like you're "cool" if you KNOW you don't actually hyperfixate or do infodumping.

That is all I have to say. Feel free to tell me wat you all think. I'm genuinely interested.

They can't though. Can NTs become really focused/invested or ramble on about something they like? Sure. Can they hyperfixate or infodump? No.

Hyperfixation is not just liking something a lot, it's becoming so invested in something (not necessarily something you even like, you can hyperfixate on things you don't like) that it consumes your life for a short period of time, and then you might never think about that thing again.

Hyperfixate and infodump are words created to describe experiences that are specific to autism (and ADHD), NTs shouldn't be using them and if they really and truly experience hyperfixation or infodumping, then they might not even be NT.

I know this is gonna sound wild, given how Tumblr is, but gatekeeping is okay in certain contexts, especially medical/health contexts. There is nothing wrong with saying "This is a word we created to describe an experience we have because of our disorder, if you don't have that disorder and that experience, don't use this word." Because if you let just anybody use it, the word will eventually become watered down and lose it's meaning, and then we're back to square one where autistic/ADHD people have no word to describe their experience.