Understanding Autism from an autistic view: What it is, the history, the struggles, the meltdowns...

This goes through the history of the term, how autism affects the brain, how it affects my learning and productivity, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm am not, by any means, polished. I have no sense of dignity or self-esteem, so this is going to be laid out in all its naked glory. additional notes: History: examples of the labels changing and morphing Old definitions: Non-verbal characteristics were lumped in with Autism New categorizations: Non-Verbal is a separate diagnoses from Autism: Apraxia. it can still be viewed as part of the autistic spectrum, but it is separate from Autism itself A lot of Individuals have started segregating the ADHD that an apparent neurotypical might experience vs the ADHD experienced within the autism community: they coin it AuDHD As mentioned, there are things that can encourage the "sleeping nodes" seen in ADHD (the 2 cavities that appear in the blood-flow scan). self therapy can include exercise. My son, since he could crawl, would spend exorbitant time just walking in circles. now, as a young adult, he still walks for hours on end, listening to music while walking in circles. as for meltdowns, one of the first experiences I had with my children melting down included a time where my 18 month old son was walking in circles, listening to some educational TV, counting, etc. after a moment, he said "I'm going to my room". and then, as he headed to his room, he simply laid on the floor and started kicking. it didn't look like a seizure, so I asked him if he was OK. he responded "I am OK," but then proceeded to kick. he would continue this throughout his childhood as his "melting down" from too much thought. He would run and hide when it was too much external stimuli. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- who I am: Joe McLaughlin Born in the 60s I always new I had issues with things others took for granted. I just thought I was broken. My first understanding of autism came when my children were diagnosed The “traits” used to describe my children were “familiar” In my 40s, I finally had a definition for my nature (other than simply “broken”) In my 50s, I was formerly diagnosed for work accommodations (Covid screwed everything up) I work in the field of data analysis My doctoral studies were in the field of research and validity (it died during the dissertation process-I had a committee member who I could not communicate with) I have been researching autism since I first learned the term as a means to Understand who I am Help provide a world for my children Help others understand what makes us a unique population