It’s a mix of general autistic things, and things I personally do as a cis-autistic. Autism presents very broadly so you’ll have to navigate what works for you! Feel free to suggest more in the comments.
- Develop a special interest and learn a lot about it! Tell everyone about it!
- Use obscurer words in your every day vocab. Examples; greetings, mayhaps, overmorrow, variegate, betwixt, whence.
- Stim! Examples; echolalia, repetitive movements, stim toys, music.
- Interpret things literally, especially when it’s coming from a stranger.
- Plan everything!
- Develop a more monotonous voice and/or flat/blunted affect.
- Accentuate your quirks!
Other common traits of autism are sensory/processing issues, meltdowns, and social clashing.
Don’t sit upright. It’s unbearable. Always slouch, and fold your legs in positions that look uncomfortable to everyone else. Curling up like a cat in a tiny box is also good.
as a cis-autistic, can confirm this is very autistic, lol
I’m not sure whether I do identify as cisautistic, especially since my parents are repulsed by the idea of getting me a mental diagnosis. A close friend of mine is questioning too. But we did acknowledge the term neurodivergent and that is what I ID as.
Idk if this is any consolation, but I’m a late-diagnosed cis-autistic, and if I hadn’t diagnosed myself first, no one would’ve realized I was autistic at all. So you can totally be and identify as cis-autistic without a diagnosis!
Another idea is befriending some cisautistic people and trying to mirror some of their symptoms !
I honestly think I might just be cisautistic lol
- special interests
- obscure words
- trouble with inference
- meltdowns
- social clashing(?)
I remember in high school my friend at the time did a presentation on autism. Afterwards I went up to them and was like “wow, maybe I have autism!” and then they just proceeded to tell me that I could have symptoms of autism without actually being autistic
My transautistic identity is like, if I was tested and was diagnosed with ASD then it’d feel right. But if I was negative then I think I’d feel uncomfortable
Though I also worry that I might be fetishizing quirks like special interests and stuff
“Can have symptoms of autism without actually being autistic” applies to like… one or two, and even then there’s a good chance you’d still be ND, for example ADHD. There’s a lot of overlap between the traits of Autism and ADHD, which can present the same, but often come from a different place. Like autistic stimming tends to be more self-soothing and ADHD stimming tends to be more can’t sit still. Variations possible of course.
Social clashing is what I call being like fundamentally misunderstood by, often, NTs. The Double Empathy Problem touches on it as well.
“If I was tested and was diagnosed with ASD then it’d feel right. But if I was negative then I think I’d feel uncomfortable” That sounds like a very reasonable thing to say as a cis-autistic as well. Of course being denied what you are would be uncomfortable. I was actually told that I wasn’t autistic as a teen, it was really devastating, and I proceeded to believe I wasn’t autistic for a good 10 years with the accompanying self-deprecation and internalized ableism. Then I got fed up with society and one day I found myself researching autism again and couldn’t believe how seen I felt. I requested a re-diagnosis and low and behold, I am officially autistic since February 2022. So yea, doctors can be wrong. Getting a no doesn’t mean you’re not autistic!
Fetishizing is fine actually. You can have a fetish and still treat the living target of your fetish with respect and autonomy.
Also, what are your special interests? :)
For several months Eminem was a special interest. I’d say he still is to some extent And the Fediverse is a special interest of mine. I keep researching different websites and thinking about what else the pediverse needs lol
My recommendations:
- is there a piece of media you really like? rewatch/reread/relisten to that shit
- special interests are a widely talked about thing but autistic people don’t always have them. some autistic people don’t have the words to describe their special interest(s). I don’t have the words to describe some of the special interests I have because they are based more on aesthetics than information recall and dump and/or they overlap or mix with other interests in difficult to describe ways and/or they are seemingly disparate fascinations anchored to a concept that is intuitive to me but not to others
- stims I like: walking/pacing, rocking, jumping, hand flapping
- taking something at face value can be fun as it can start a conversation that otherwise would not have happened!
- planning can sometimes take a lot of energy that you may not have as an autistic person so if planning is too much that’s ok! that doesn’t make you less autistic. also, routines and habits are not necessarily plans. I have things I generally do without have explicit plans to do them. autistic/ADHD fixation often gets in the way of plans too
- autistics can sound monotonous though we can can sound loud and excitable too
- having your own way of thinking regardless of society can be nice
- taking care of yourself and trying to do as little as possible during autistic burnout can be nice
- life can be hard for us to you should try making yours easier even if it flies in the face of what you were taught
- one thing that was great was I went through my closet and ranked my clothes from most to least comfortable and got rid of the uncomfortable stuff I was wearing just because I had it. now I want to get more of the most comfortable stuff
- try not to feel obligated to keep gifts that don’t particularly interest you
- try sleeping with weighted blanket
- call yourself autistic and be proud of it!
