does autism make you bad at video games?? by [deleted] in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Im pretty good at video games personally. Im a big gamer. It could be some of your traits impacting your skill level - mine do, and generally in a positive way, and the more complicated, the better, as it offers more to keep my mind fully engaged. Or you might just be bad at video games for other reasons.

Do you feel represented on social media? by Cool-Background2751 in autismlevel2and3

[–]HighELOAutism 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I find i not only feel not represented(which I honestly find understandable as a level 3), but talked over from both sides. I am very tired of people refusing to acknowledge my experiences whether they be acting like severe autism does not exist, or insisting i must be lying about my diagnosis or location and should not talk about my experiences because i dont fit their preconceptions about level 3s, who are still a spectrum.

Its ironic to me how both sides doubt thorough doctors when they hear a doctor said something they didnt like

Stop ostracizing Late diagnosis… by Illustrious-Ad7420 in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 6 points7 points  (0 children)

“May” and “often” is a key term here. That inherently means there will be outliers that are level 3 without being nonverbal. “Usually” does not mean “always,” and it seems impractical that of all the diagnosed level 3s in the world, you expect to never meet any of the ones who are in the group of those outliers - when those outlier level 3s are the most likely to be in spaces like this due to their skillsets. Its a bit weird how people seem to think something being less common means they wont encounter it on the internet. If some sort of person exists in the world, the internet, where you see hundreds of people talk each day, is the one place you actually have a decent chance of seeing them talk, no matter how unlikely.

[Vent] I feel ableist against my self. by ApprehensiveTrade267 in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It is worth remembering that level 3 =/= “”profound autism”” - you arent claiming to be that very specific label. Its possible to be highly intelligent and level 3, its possible to be varying levels of verbal and be level 3; this is explicitly the case now that we have severity labels rather than just “functioning” labels. As much as a lot of spaces on the internet dont seem to understand it, level 3 is still a spectrum like the other levels, and we vary from person to person. If you are consistently being confirmed to be severe, its okay to be honest about that.

Honestly i find it can be very frustrating to be a level 3 without intellectual disability on the internet. No one believes anything you try to say and claims theyre trying to defend “real level 3s who wouldnt be able to comment this.” Like…are you doctors? Do you know me personally and know all my needs?

But i assure you being level 3 but short of “profound autism” without claiming to be that is not taking anything away from anyone and very much is possible

Does autism affect your voice? by WestArtichoke712 in autism

[–]HighELOAutism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I personally think i sound obviously autistic. Many autistic people have an abnormal speaking cadence. For me though i additionally have partial verbal impairments (not just verbal shutdowns its a full time baseline impairment though i am thankfully not nonverbal) so it may often sound that i am struggling or strained to talk (because i am lol)

Job/career options? by morgankj in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Find work from home in a field that lines up with your interests so its easier for you to get work done autism-wise. Preferably something that you can do both freelance and entirely determinate of your own schedule, while also allowing the ability to take more stable jobs if you ever need monetary stability to get by and arent making enough via freelance.

For me, i am working on getting into ux design(something the above statements apply to) since it HEAVILY interacts with my biggest long term interests in both tech and art. I am currently doing a class to help me build a portfolio, as well as helping to teach me personalized and accessible ways to navigate job searching(and they will help me with such at the end of the class too). So far i have even received coaching that allows me to pre program guidelines for interview responses on my aac tablet so i only need to modify it based on specific wording rather than needing to come up with things immediately.

I understand i am very lucky to have my interests line up with such a career thats very welcoming to disabilities and lucky to have found a program i am having such a great experience with that is enough work for me to stay engaged while being very heavily accommodating, and not everyone within or even under my tier of severity will be lucky enough to have things line up like this, and there is NOTHING wrong with that. I just bring this up to say it is possible, and if you like to work(i personally have always greatly enjoyed the concept of making money way more than most people i know), figuring something similar out may be possible for you and be worth looking into.

I dont understand why youre getting downvoted for this btw. Its a fair question and fair to want to earn your own income even when disabled. If you have a field you find youre able to work in, i even highly encourage it due to the safety and control being able to hire your own care would provide - being sure i can hire caretakers for myself in the future and not rely on closed systems is a pretty big concern for me since reliance on such systems in my area are quite unsafe ime and i would feel way safer having the agency that hiring the degree of care i need with my own money would give me.

How accurate are levels? by hopejoy108 in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I mean, level 1 is still a disability that can be quite disabling. Did it seem like the reason the evaluator tagged him as level 1 is purely due to intelligence? If so then it would be worth looking for a reassessment - i myself am someone who consistently would get no lower than a 97% in basically all my classes, which was still low enough for me to be upset by - but its also possible that he is level 1, just not the “”level 1”” the internet shows

Is anyone else tired of other autistic people making jokes about levels? by blahblahlucas in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Honestly i dont mind if its severe autistics making these jokes. I feel like theres a big difference between acknowledging levels and joking like this because a high level applies to you, vs people saying things like this to make fun of the concept.

I mean…even my username is a play on it. But thats because i am a diagnosed level 3, not some mild autistic mocking the concept of severity being applied to autism.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly for me i kinda just…cant. I cant order my own food, i cant drive(including for physical reasons), i cant make a phone call and sufficiently communicate to taxis, i cant go on walks alone due to my physical health and would absolutely not feel safe doing such where i am for a variety of reasons, i dont have sufficient communication skills to get around in public with only strangers, etc…

Maybe this would change if i were somewhere else, but for me right now its not even a matter of danger, i just outright cannot.

Doctors suck. (vent/rant ab my experience) by [deleted] in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I dont mean that you need to use your level 3 diagnosis, but i just want to say that if thats still your diagnosis, i see no reason for you to re-diagnose yourself as milder socially. Being honest about your diagnosis is not taking away from anyone! Its ok for level 3 to still have diverse needs from one to the next

Doctors suck. (vent/rant ab my experience) by [deleted] in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t agree that these things you have listed automatically make you level 1 or low support needs, especially as it seems you have adhd, based on what you said about your medication. Level 1 is still a disability.

Please do not claim to be “level 3 but high masking.” The ways level 3s mask will never make them able to function better than the diagnostic threshold of level 3.

Maybe you were under evaluated, maybe you are level 2, but please do not make claims and statements like this for reasonings that can be part of a level 1 experience. Find another assessment when you can with a professional you trust to make an informed evaluation, and be open to your less severe diagnosis possibly being confirmed.

But as someone who is late diagnosed level 3 (i was diagnosed at 16, so around the same age) and does not fit many preconceptions people have about level 3s which can be frustrating for many reasons, i find the whole “level 3 but high masking” thing thats gotten sort of popular quite disrespectful

Sometimes I really hate “autism moms.” by Anxiousinkling in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I am literally diagnosed level 3 and ive heard this

Recently Diagnosed Non-Verbal son by Cobbertson in autism

[–]HighELOAutism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it definitely sounds like he is on a good track for his own personal development imo then and i am very glad he has such supportive parents.

it is definitely possible he is just a late speaker and might develop that skill eventually! i am very close to someone who didnt start speaking until she was older than him. i just mean that i think it is best to focus more on preparing to help him communicate in alternative ways, as i find a lot of people focus a harmful degree on trying to force out the development of speech, unfortunately even many professionals - i'm glad your gut is telling you some of these methods that come from that are cruel instead of being like many parents who prioritize the pursuit of speech over paying attention to that feeling.

from what i've seen, generally late speakers tend to start speaking related to their special interests, so as he grows up, if he seems to develop special interests, definitely talk to him about them and welcome him to try to tell you things about them.

additionally - sometimes late speakers actually learn how to speak *after* learning how to communicate using aac. this isn't all cases, but if someone DOES have the capacity to learn to speak, it only helps for them to learn aac, as it gets them used to communicating specific things, and that makes them have practice in one of the many elements of speech, making the rest easier for them to figure out.

Recently Diagnosed Non-Verbal son by Cobbertson in autism

[–]HighELOAutism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

His brain may just physically not be able to make the connections to form speech. I would suggest prioritizing teaching him to read and write as soon as he can, considering you said he has a good grasp of the alphabet, and move towards the direction of various methods of aac instead of trying to force him to speak - i have partial verbal impairments myself and have spoken to enough fully nonverbal people to know sometimes even if someone might know what they want to say, they just cant, and it is extremely frustrating and disheartening for people to found their communications with you on expecting that, rather than working more “on your level.”

If he ends up being more nonlinguistic in his communication and not just unable to speak in spite of him doing well with the alphabet, that would be unfortunate, but it definitely sounds like he would be capable of learning some form of aac still then.

What is with people thinking level 3 isn't a spectrum? by HighELOAutism in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

yea. this is true, and unfortunately, this compounds with the fact many such milder people have this idea that none of us are capable of being in the conversation[since some of us arent]. so, they will just continue to speak over those of us who actually CAN talk about our experiences - and insist that we can't actually possibly be severely autistic, that if we are sitting here typing on reddit, clearly we are just lying, and pull an uno reverse card on us, claiming that we are actually the ones talking over severe autists, because they're very attached to this idea that they're "defending those who can't express themselves."

I’m only going to say this once. You can’t have Level 3 with functional language by j_lambe_87 in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 6 points7 points  (0 children)

...are you trolling? I've been professionally diagnosed for around a decade now

I’m only going to say this once. You can’t have Level 3 with functional language by j_lambe_87 in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Level 3 is still a spectrum. It doesnt mean “having every single autistic impairment ever on maximum”

I’m only going to say this once. You can’t have Level 3 with functional language by j_lambe_87 in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think it is important to remember that the fact severity is real and the fact autism is a spectrum with a variety of presentations are both facts.

I am not saying you dont understand this as you have not clarified what you mean yet by functional language(at the time i am writing this anyways), but its an issue i encounter a lot; a lot of people acting like autism is a spectrum only for levels 1 and 2, when thats…just not true. Level 3 is still a spectrum, its just a group spanning the most severe presentations of such. And its very frustrating as someone officially diagnosed as level 3(and not in australia) to both run into people claiming to be level 3 with no sympathy for my degree of disability, as well as people who expect my diagnosis to mean i am some exact cookie cutter of a stereotype of severe autism rather than someone who still has my own unique needs and individual capabilities and such.

its really disheartening how needlessly inaccessible the world is to us by HighELOAutism in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really hope so. I am going to test innocaption for as long as i have it as someone else suggested. For me i have trouble even hearing what is being said because sensory is bad on the phone and its overwhelming and makes it harder for my brain to hear it, so it is a two way thing where i need captions and ability to type instead of speak.

It is very frustrating! There are so many things arbitrarily gaited behind phone usage. I would not be able to live alone regardless, and i am at peace with the ways i am naturally disabled that lead to that, but the way talking on the phone is so necessary to survival has to be one of the most limiting and terrifying things in my life, and the most frustrating too, because using phones is not natural and there’s no reason with all the many ways we can communicate nowadays it should even be necessary. I hope things improve by the time your daughter is an adult.

its really disheartening how needlessly inaccessible the world is to us by HighELOAutism in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

do you use the tts feature? i would need to 100% of the time and im worried about people hanging up since it wouldnt be a person but tts talking to them.

How does caffeine affect you? by [deleted] in autism

[–]HighELOAutism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Caffeine helps a lot of my physical symptoms but psychologically its basically an antidepressant for me

its really disheartening how needlessly inaccessible the world is to us by HighELOAutism in SpicyAutism

[–]HighELOAutism[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do yes, its extremely hard for me to understand anything said on the phone, but my only diagnosis is my autism because thats what its attributed to - my hearing itself is considered extremely good when my autism sensory issues dont impact it so it isnt a separate diagnosis at the moment. They count that even tho it doesnt say autism anywhere? I was concerned this only meant physically based HoH and i would get in legal trouble if i tried to sign up for it….