Life as a high-functioning autistic person is really difficult because I struggle with unique challenges that are invisible to people:

Things like:
- Needing routine
- Not always picking up on social cues
- Sensory overload in meetings and noisy rooms
- Anxiety an depression

My autism is a gift in many ways as well and I would not want to live without it... I just wish people would be able to recognize that I dont function the same way that other people do.

Being autistic and trans can be really tough too because most autistic folk dont do well with change and when you're transitioning change is a constant thing. I embrace it but it can cause a lot of stress.

People think that just because I'm able to articulate my words that there is no way that I can be autistic this is so damn far from the truth. Autism is a spectrum and we all face different challenges.

I think one of the biggest misconceptions of autistic folk is that we have no empathy, that is total nonsense. Autistic folk sense the world so intensely that we're able to perceive the subtlest of things. We're just so overloaded information that its hard to express ourselves

The most difficult thing about being autistic is that when we do struggle we can spiral and go into bad habits. In those situations it is important for people to give us space to allow us to reset but to also be there for us when we go quiet

Autistic folk make great leaders too, I hope that the stigma can be erased into thinking that you have to act a certain way to be a lead. High functioning autistic folk are good at "acting" in those "normie" ways but it comes at a big cost that will eventually cause burnout

People often label autistic folk as "lacking" soft skills because we dont always read the right social cues or often speak over other people... This is not something we do on purpose and does not make us any less professional.

Autistic folk really do care about others and often over-analyze conversations in our heads which causes us to spiral into anxious and depressive thoughts. We need reassurances that we're doing the right thing because we very often doubt ourselves.

It is thanks to my autism that I do my job so well as a UI Designer, I can see patterns in things others are not able to and I can "feel" the interconnectedness of systems and behaviors.