
MidnightDream
Warlock
- Sep 5, 2022
- 740
Autism is so fucking hard.
Speaking for female autism, because.. I'm a female.
If anything, that makes it somewhat harder, because society doesn't understand how autism presents in females nor do they understand how deep the mask can go.
Going undiagnosed until adulthood, I've gotten incredibly good at masking, so good, that you wouldn't even think I had autism unless you truly paid attention. There's some signs that can't be hidden, mine being stimming and general hyperfixation I learnt today. Otherwise, I'm pretty good, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
It's a good thing, because I can generally function within society providing I schedule enough down time to do so. The panic attacks in the morning are a mere side effect.
It's a bad thing, because it's exhausting and pressuring and despite how good that mask stays up, there's no way of changing how your brain actually works underneath all that, and so it turns into nothing more than a fat game of 'let's pretend'.
Today, for example, I found out I failed an exam. Why, you might ask?
Because the marking criteria stated simply 'tell us xyz.' So I did, I put on the mask and I told them xyz. Turns out, I should have explained 93 additional details and gone off on a tangent about 140835 other semi related topics to actually pass the section. So I failed the section. And thus failed the exam. And it's such BS - My austistic brain took it as black and white, because that's how it was stated. How tf was I supposed to know to say all the extra stuff they wanted when it literally wasn't asked? Are neuros really able to think outside of the question like that?
So, it really doesn't matter how good I get at masking, I'm always going to be different. I'm always going to fail. Because I'm NOT neurotypical, and I never will be. And the world isn't built for people like me. And it fucking sucks.
Speaking for female autism, because.. I'm a female.
If anything, that makes it somewhat harder, because society doesn't understand how autism presents in females nor do they understand how deep the mask can go.
Going undiagnosed until adulthood, I've gotten incredibly good at masking, so good, that you wouldn't even think I had autism unless you truly paid attention. There's some signs that can't be hidden, mine being stimming and general hyperfixation I learnt today. Otherwise, I'm pretty good, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
It's a good thing, because I can generally function within society providing I schedule enough down time to do so. The panic attacks in the morning are a mere side effect.
It's a bad thing, because it's exhausting and pressuring and despite how good that mask stays up, there's no way of changing how your brain actually works underneath all that, and so it turns into nothing more than a fat game of 'let's pretend'.
Today, for example, I found out I failed an exam. Why, you might ask?
Because the marking criteria stated simply 'tell us xyz.' So I did, I put on the mask and I told them xyz. Turns out, I should have explained 93 additional details and gone off on a tangent about 140835 other semi related topics to actually pass the section. So I failed the section. And thus failed the exam. And it's such BS - My austistic brain took it as black and white, because that's how it was stated. How tf was I supposed to know to say all the extra stuff they wanted when it literally wasn't asked? Are neuros really able to think outside of the question like that?
So, it really doesn't matter how good I get at masking, I'm always going to be different. I'm always going to fail. Because I'm NOT neurotypical, and I never will be. And the world isn't built for people like me. And it fucking sucks.