Watching Atypical hits a little close to home sometimes but also reminds me how proud I am to have come so far in understanding the mess that is emotions and people. I’m not ashamed of my autism at all but it is hard to shake the desire to be “normal”

I’m fortunate enough to seem neurotypical enough that I don’t get treated differently, but also mask so effectively that people don’t realise how much of a daily struggle it can be until I have an actual meltdown

I spent years distancing myself from emotion because it was too scary being unable to process it. Even now life feels very raw, and I also can spend hours fixated on other people’s behaviour until it makes sense in my mind. I’m much more aware now and able to not freak out though

This thread is really just verbalising some of my thoughts but I think it’s good for people to get an understanding that autism isn’t just how it can be portrayed in media. It’s less a spectrum of “severe” to “high functioning” and more a case of individual impact