The Okay-ish OT

"Alright everybody, raise your hand if you've ever experienced Impostor Syndrome! All of you without your hands raised, you're a liar." During my freshman year of college, at least three of my classes included this exact conversation. Everybody being told that everybody feels like they don't belong, and that they should publicly declare this feeling of not belonging with the world.  Even before my autism diagnosis, I found this tendency frustrating even though I couldn't explain why at the time. Now, though, I have quite a few opinions about the use of this label with this diagnosis in mind. First of all, I want to clarify that I'm not against the idea of people feeling like they don't belong; that is a very real feeling that people experience. My biggest issue is with the naming of "Impostor Syndrome."  According to google, a syndrome is "a group of symptoms which consistently occur together, or a condition characterized by a set of ass...

Chores are hard. They take up a lot of time and energy, and they're never really done. For autistic people especially, there's a lot of obnoxious sounds, smells, and textures that can make many chores very mentally taxing, and I include myself in that statement. If I didn't find ways around these sensory nightmares, my house would be a mess. Thankfully, the internet is a treasure trove of helpful tips for making these tasks easier, so I thought I'd share a few of my own. I'll be organizing these tips by whether they're a kitchen chore, a living room chore, etc. Hopefully these tips can help others like they have helped me, whether you're on the autism spectrum or just hoping to cut down on the effort involved in house chores. 1. Dishes When I moved out, I moved into a place without a dishwasher, and I became extremely aware of how many dishes I use on a regular basis. I discovered that using disposable plates, cups, and utensils drastically decreased the num...

On October 16th, it’ll be two years since I realized I was autistic. To be clear, it was another few months before I had an official diagnosis, but this was the day when it clicked, when I learned that there was something diagnosably different about me.   If you’ve done the math, you’ll learn that I was diagnosed during 2020, and many of that year’s events played a part in the mental struggles leading up to my eventual diagnosis. During that year, I’d been dealing with a lot of anxiety and depression, along with some other things that I couldn’t quite explain. Overall, it felt like my brain was attacking me, and I didn’t know how to make it stop. For a while, I actually contemplated having OCD until autism was brought up as a serious suggestion.  It wasn’t until my mom mentioned watching a TedTalk about Masking behaviors in autistic women that anyone thought that label might apply to me. My two younger siblings were already diagnosed through the school system at this point (al...

The first time I went to a convention, I was in eighth grade. I forgot to buy my ticket ahead of time, so I ended up waiting in line for three hours. I bought way too much merch and barely had enough money for dinner the last night, and I think I still owe someone $5 for lunch. My friends and I went together, and we took part in the photos, the cosplay, and the cat-ear making panel. That being said, it has been a lot different going to conventions as an adult, especially with the knowledge of my autism diagnosis. Conventions can be a lot of fun, but they can also be pretty overwhelming. Tons of people crowded around each other, noisy props, lights, and audio feedback from microphones. It can be a lot to handle at once, so for me, planning was an important part of the process. I thought I'd share some advice on this topic for other autistic people interested in going to conventions, just in case any of my hacks might help. Autism Hacks for Conventions: 1. Hearing protection - Comic...

Today, I thought I'd share my thoughts on faith as an autistic person. This can look very different for a lot of people, but for me, my experiences as a Christian are shaped by my autism, and by the way that I believe that God has made me. In this portion, I'll be sharing some of my thoughts on several meaningful Bible verses on disability.  For some background, I grew up in a home where my parents loved God and loved each other. We went to church most Sundays, and even though I didn’t always love it at the time, since I didn’t have a lot of friends at church, I appreciate having that foundation today. When I was in middle school, my understanding of my faith became more concrete, and this is when I would call myself a Christian.  This continued into high school and college, where I grew in my knowledge of the Christian faith, but I still experienced struggles finding community, especially as an undiagnosed autistic person. It wasn't until college and difficulties related t...

  When I was first diagnosed with autism, one of my biggest issues was struggling to find information about autism that applied to me. Most resources out there catered to parents of five year olds, not adult autistic people curious to learn about themselves. A lot of these "resources" tended to treat autism as a scary thing, something to hide or fix, but once I started finding resources from autistic people themselves, that narrative changed. Instead of hearing that I was broken, I heard that my brain is different, that it needs different things, and that meeting these needs can go a long way for my mental health. I learned that my sensory needs had a big impact on my mental health, that there was usually a reason behind being anxious for "no reason."  By accepting myself, including my autism, I could better understand why I struggled, and do something about it, whether that meant wearing headphones, remove myself from overwhelming situations, investing in some fidg...