it's so funny being lower on the spectrum because most people don't suspect it but other autistic people immediately clock me 😭

I want neurotypicals to make videos like this so i can understand what it's like for normal people because i definitely have a level 1 autistic brain

Having adhd and level 1 autism makes me feel like a clearly disabled person which is being perceived as "normal" and keeps being judged for failing to meet the expectation of normalcy. At this point I'm proudly disabled.

The only time I enjoy conversations is when it’s deep or about controversial topics which can only be done with close friends.

Socialising for the sake of socialising is a waste of time.

I feel like I pick up on people's emotions too easily, socializing is like being a sponge but I can't choose what I absorb.

I’m also level 1. The most exhausting thing for me is I’m too “seemingly normal” to be tagged as “autistic” and too “autistic” to be tagged as normal. I’m caught in the middle. We fall through the cracks! It’s difficult.

I’m so happy you don’t ever say high functioning ! My 34 year old definitely has needs. Buying groceries, doing laundry, cleaning house or dishes etc. Cannot get or keep a job. Yet graduated college and anyone who talks to them thinks they’re just lazy or spoiled. I like the level of support needs you talk about.

27:40 For the executive disfunction, a trick that helps me without fully solving it is to switch "need" with "want". I tell myself "i want to brush my teeth" "i want to get started on that task today". It helps with the demand avoidance even if it doesnt really help with the exhaustion

Man, this is so relatable. It's really weird being level 1, you're like not autistic enough to "be autistic" but also not allistic enough to be considered "normal". It's like this weird in between place. Both groups see me as an outsider, it's very lonely.

Hi sweetie, I am 72 and was diagnosed with autism almost five years ago. You have a gift for articulating yourself and your experiences. Thank you for sharing this. I'm sure a lot of people with autism will feel less alone watching your videos. I also hate loud sounds!

I’m 64 years old. Socializing is agony. The fake interactions is what is so exhausting. To have a real, deep conversation about important topics is one thing. But to go around just to be seen with the fake smiles and bullshit is pure agony.

I have aspergers. I find it funny that people often think I'm mean or closed off, but the truth is that surface level conversation doesn't interest me. I'm perfectly fine with it, but I'll never be invested in it. My preferred type of conversation is a deep and nuaced dive into crazy stuff that normal people would get exhausted trying to keep up with, so i just keep it all to myself.

This might be a poor metaphor, but it works for my brain: When I was 8, I met my first blind person, a student in my class. He had leg braces, and a walker. He had a speech impediment. He had learning delays and had difficulty understanding basic social cues. He required a full-time aide, and could only be in the classroom for about an hour per day.

So for many years, I believed that blind people also had all of these other difficulties. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I encountered other blind people and realized that you could be blind and walk normally, or speak normally, or have a high IQ and be mostly independent. You could even be legally blind but still be able to see some things. But all of these people with their differences in abilities could still be categorized as blind.

I think similarly, people grow up knowing a high support needs autistic person, and they grow to believe that all of those parts are essential to autism, and therefore anyone who doesnt have those needs isn't autistic.

But just as you wouldn't say that a blind person who can walk and speak with ease isn't really blind, a person who can speak and walk adequately can also be autistic. There are levels and nuances to everything, and people absolutely have no right to determine what someone else's experience and ability is from what they can superficially see on the outside.

i always felt like i was evil or selfish for not wanting to hang out with my family unless there was a 'reason.' i always felt so uncomfortable forcing myself to sit across from somebody and make up words that don't matter. now i live with two other autistic people and we connect by just being in each others space, and sharing little things we find with each other. autistic people aren't necessarily anti social, we just connect and show love a little differently! this video is really good thank you for sharing your experience with asd1

Another thing I noticed about my special interests, especially my earlier ones, is that I used them to make sense of the world around me. Like as a child all I thought about was words and where they came from or how they're put together, and I think I applied this logic of words being combined and altered over time to the entire world to understand it and make sense of it.
Like special interests are more than just interests, they are the way we interact with and make sense of this world.

If you often feel overwhelmed by everything going on in your life, Anwen Reid’s anxiety quiz might be worth trying. It can help you look at your anxiety patterns in a different way.

Something that has been very freeing for me has been the realization that I don't owe anyone anything. I don't owe people my own discomfort to soothe theirs.

I like how this video is simply unedited, no cuts, no music, no effects, nothing. Feels so much better and very not stimulating, thank you.

I feel like a LOT of online autism discourse is based around a very gatekeeping community who treat being seen, supported, and respected as a finite resource that they have to fight for, rather than welcoming people in and having those of us who are able to mask be bridges to help neurotypical people better understand our needs and how to build accomodations into society.

As someone who also has lower needs, this video really hits home. I often compare it to feeling like a robot trying to program itself to be human— mocking human body language and speech patterns to try and fit in.