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Neurotypical, not so much

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24.01.2022 Synaesthesia occurs when two senses cross over. An individual with synaesthesia may hear music and see colours in their mind, others may associate or visualise certain colours with specific numbers or letters. I hope this article from Reframing Autism helps to give an insight into Synaesthesia.... #actuallyautistic #livedexperience See more

22.01.2022 A fabulous share fromYellow Ladybugs, Autistic Girls & Women. We listen differently We move We tap... We rock We doodle We fidget I was at a workshop a few weeks ago with two other friends who are also Autistic.... We had fidgets, we doodled, were drawing, jiggling legs. We were engaged, listening, absorbing information. Because that’s how we focus. Whole body listening doesn’t work for Neurodiverse individuals, it has the opposite effect, the amount of effort and energy we put into being still negates our ability to listen and pay attention. #actuallyautistic #livedexperience

22.01.2022 Sensory Overwhelm & Self care On the weekend I went to Canberra with a good friend and fellow Autistic. We had a busy schedule and had anticipated that we would be tired afterwards and had both planned in some downtime for when we got home.... I had packed for the trip with a variety of tools to help with sensory regulation. I packed my noise canceling headphones and some fidget toys. We went to ikea and about 15 minutes in, I started to get a headache. There was music playing in the store from speakers suspended from the ceiling, it was too loud for me. My friend noticed that I was becoming overwhelmed and reminded me to put my noise canceling headphones on. Thank you Melanie I was able to continue shopping and my headache didn’t turn into a full blown migraine from sensory overwhelm. Try and practice self care. What can you do for yourself/friend or child? There are lots of different strategies you can use. It might be headphones or AirPods. Maybe you need to wear sunglasses inside. Going to the shops early or late is often good as it is less peopley. Another option is only going for 20 or 30 minutes. Shopping online is also a great option. Do what you need to do to reduce your load and stay comfortable. There is no one solution that will suit everyone as we all have different sensory profiles. Don’t forget to plan or allow for recovery or downtime. #actuallyautistic #livedexperience #latediagnosis Image: a photo of myself wearing active noise canceling headphones at IKEA at Canberra.

22.01.2022 Echolalia Echolalia is the repetition of words, phrases and sounds. It is a form of communication, it can be immediate, with the word, phrase or sound repeated straight away. It can also be delayed, it might be a few minutes, hours, days or longer.... The repeated words may be from a show on television, it could be a snippet from a conversation that has be overheard. Accents are often imitated when repeating the words or phrase. Echolalia is communication #actuallyautistic #livedexperience

21.01.2022 Accessing healthcare can be very difficult for many Autistic individuals. There are a lot of reasons, some of the barriers can include, Anxiety, Sensory sensitivities, overwhelming empathy, unwanted touch, demand avoidance, and trauma, just to name a few. Today I was reminded of this.... Please LISTEN to Autistic individuals and HEAR what we say. We generally only speak up or ask for help when we really need help. When it has reached crisis. By this stage our behaviour may or may not reflect our distress, communication may be impaired. Don’t judge, don’t dismiss. Please listen, take us seriously, offer help and assistance. #actuallyautistic #livedexperience

19.01.2022 Another of the Speakers for Albury Wodonga Autism Community Of Practice on Gender Identity and Sexual Health for Autistic Individuals. This is a free online event, click on the hyperlink to register; https://fb.me/e/1mn06iu8y.

19.01.2022 Coming up on the 16th June is our next Albury Wodonga Autism Community of Practice. Registrations have now opened and are free of charge. The topic is Gender Identity and Sexual Health within the Autistic community. Guest speakers include Dr Wenn B.Lawson, Yenn Purkis Âû and Jae Evergreen.

15.01.2022 As a late diagnosed Autistic Adult, I thought of something that I wanted to share, something that I have done for a long time and is hard to let go of. I have tried to fit in, not be noticed, sat back and watched others and copied them in an effort to appear normal.... There are many ways that I have tried to blend in, hide in plain sight, one way is Clothing. For me clothes are part of my costume or persona that I put on. I spend ages working out what looks normal, what looks presentable.... so even if I am feeling out of step or struggling, maybe I can escape everyone’s notice if I look well put together. For so long clothes have been a tool that I have used to help me be seen and yet not seen. Eye contact, gesturing and conversation complete the disguise. I trip up in conversations, my brain sometimes blurts things out, interrupting someone else who is talking because the thought needs to be shared before it slips away. Or sometimes my brain goes on a detour triggered by something you said, and then I am no longer with you but off on a tangent that my brain couldn’t resist. Maybe I changed the topic because I just had to share a thought, or more likely I’m trying so hard to adhere to these social conventions ....like reciprocal conversation, that I have failed to realise that I am merrily chatting away about what I’m interested in and it is no longer a reciprocal conversation. If you look carefully you might have noticed that I look away a lot, that I fail to modulate my voice when I get excited or upset. My responses can be abrupt, I may appear not to be listening or I haven’t heard what you said. What you may not realise is that someone else nearby was talking at the same time and I could hear their conversation as well as yours and I couldn’t focus on just one. Or perhaps there are too many competing background sounds. Imagine you have been doing this for all of your adult life. You have always felt out of step. And then you find out why. Everything now makes sense, the relief, the joy, a sense of belonging. Looking back at numerous events it is all so obvious. Then the processing begins. It is hard to stop hiding, blending in. To become myself. To take off the mask. To no longer hide in plain sight. For Females on the spectrum the struggle is so much more, goes so much deeper than what we allow you to see. #actuallyautistic #livedexperience #latediagnosis

12.01.2022 If you are a LEGO fan and watch LEGO Masters, you will know Brickman. Well I’d like to introduce you to BrickBird, otherwise known as Smudge.

09.01.2022 As part of our presentation on gender, identity and sexual health we are giving the opportunity for teens and tweens in our community to ask questions to our guest speakers. If you would like to ask a question of one of our speakers please message the community of practice via the Albury Wodonga Autism Community Of Practice facebook page

04.01.2022 Coming up on the 16th June Register to for the event about Gender Identity & Sexual Health for Autistic Indivduals. This is a free event and will be live on via Zoom with limited in person attendance in guidance with cover safe recommendations and practices.... Guest Speakers include Yenn Purkis Neurodiversity page, Jae Evergreen and Dr Wenn B.Lawson Registration link is https://fb.me/e/1mn06iu8y

03.01.2022 Registrations are now open to the Albury Wodonga Autism community of Practice on Gender Identity and Sexual Health for Autistic Individuals. This is a free event, the link is https://fb.me/e/1mn06iu8y Yenn Purkis will be one of the guest speakers.

01.01.2022 Verbal communication Sometimes I prefer verbal communication, and when I do, I might communicate differently to non autistic individuals. Thoughts can bubble up inside me with a sense of urgency to be shared, when this happens, I often forget about waiting for a gap in the conversation, l might just interrupt.... When this happens please know that I don’t mean to be rude by interrupting you. My mind is overflowing with information that I need to share and waiting is forgotten in my excitement. I can often find it hard to wait, or other times I have failed to read when you have finished talking and thought it was my turn, and I boldly leap into my perceived gap. Maybe I just need to Info dump and clear my mind, sharing a whole bunch of information that I have gathered from a deep dive into a subject of interest. Perhaps I am anxious and need to talk about what is on my mind. Or it might be a self soothing behaviour of making sounds, repeating words, phrases, or humming. Let’s not forget about special interests....this can be a moment of major oversharing as I happily natter away about something in more detail than you ever wanted to know Occasionally when everything is all too much, I can struggle or am unable to talk. This is when I can no longer engage, I might need to leave, find a quiet and calm space. Please try and be kind and show understanding. I know a lot of Autistic people can find this a challenge, especially Autistic children #actuallyautistic #livedexperience #latediagnosis Image: a stick figure with coloured thought bubbles representing ideas, blue lines in front of the mouth representing speech.