The design is very human.

You shut your god damned accurate mouth.

Yes, it’s safe, it’s very safe, it’s so safe you wouldn’t believe it.

…

No…it’s not safe, it’s very dangerous, so be careful.

The niche thing you just bought just two months ago and that no one would ever need two of in their life.

Is it live*

Hey, what about this…!

I have ASD1, and I have a few students who have it as well, possibly ASD2 for one of them. It is…a challenge sometimes, to say the least (which is how much I would LOVE if one of them would say sometimes as he rambles incessantly when I am otherwise occupied). I do my best to help my autistic students feel heard and to be understood while also giving them insight into their autistic traits that some (mostly neurotypical) people might find challenging and insight into how they might be able to fit in better with others.

The Russians were pissed when all of their soldiers died and only SG-1 made it out alive.

Canadian actor Michael Shanks.

Get fucked, traitor. 🖕

Downvote me all you want.

Oh, don’t you worry your sweet little head, we will.

“Dr.” Bubs is in Quadrant III. He’s the most quackinest.

One…two princes kneel before you.

One has diamonds in his pockets and never lies. The other wants to buy you rockets and never tells the truth.

What is the one question you could ask of only one of the princes to learn what a prince and lover ought to be so that your father won’t eat his hat and disown you?

Why you wanna starve Captain Blond Beard Mark Watney? Uncool.

It’s mostly uber-lit (though inaccurate) plastic animal skeleton season.

Gitcha some of them all-dressed chips for a little flavor with your vinegar.

I’m 47 in the US, and I have felt this way most of my adult life. In my teens and 20s, I always felt like an afterthought. I’d ask to be included to group events, and I rarely remember ever being invited. I’d try to chime in when people were talking, but what I’d say never quite seemed to land right. The microexpressions on people’s faces indicated to me that I wasn’t a social equal but that I was simply being tolerated.

It didn’t even occur to me that I was autistic until I was 39, and it took until I was 46 for me to get myself diagnosed with ASD1. But I’ll tell you…something happened in my 30s. I don’t know what it was exactly that changed things for me in this regard, probably a multitude of things, but I am no longer the person I was in my 20s.

Maybe it was the fact that I got two degrees. Or that I was married for 17 years (now divorced, but it was my decision) and have two great kids. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I developed a career as a teacher and have felt pride in the accomplishments I’ve made in my vocation. Or maybe it was just the passage of time that allowed me to develop coping mechanisms that work for me…time that tempered my worries about myself and my place in this world among others.

Whatever transpired, I’m no longer the sort of person who cares what people think of me. Of course, I always aim to be the best version of myself, someone people will admire and recognize as a safe, consensual, trauma-informed person, so I do want people to consider me a good and decent person.

But I can never control their perception of me as an autistic person. I’m different. Everyone knows it when they get to know me. When I discovered at age 39 that I was likely autistic, I told my colleagues, and they were shocked that I didn’t already know that about myself because they all clocked me as autistic pretty much immediately after meeting me three years prior.

So, instead of trying to hide it better in order to fit in. I wear my autism right on my sleeve. I tell people “When I’m in a group and say something awkward, and I can see the awkwardness on their faces 🤨, I just respond with ‘🫤😯…I…I’M AUTISTIC. 😬🙃’ And then everyone goes 'OH! Okay, that’s what it is, gotcha…I knew it was something like that! 😁”.

By telling people this, it let’s them know my sense of humor about my condition and sets them (and me) up for awkwardness in the future. Because it’s going to happen. Not all my jokes will land. Sometimes I’m gonna chime into a conversation and my comment will completely flop. But my out can always be “'🫤😯…I…I’M AUTISTIC. 😬🙃”. They’ll remember that my awkward comment isn’t my fault, that it’s this wacky thing about my brain and the way it works, and they won’t just sit their with a weird look on their face trying to figure out how to move past what I’ve just said. They’ll laugh, because I can laugh at myself! And I don’t feel so alone any more. I get invited to parties, and I’m included in the conversation.

Beyond having a sense of humor about yourself, the best advice I can give is to learn how to really listen, ask questions, and care about the responses and the people who give them. Low self-worth has been a constant companion in my life. I rarely felt valued, so I tried to create value among others by providing them with entertainment…being the funny one, or having off-the-wall talents (developed through periods of hyperfixation). I know now that my worth as a person can only be evaluated by me, and I know that I am as valuable as a human being as anyone else is, regardless of what I provide others.

That being said, what brings me great joy is being considered a friend and confidant, someone people value as a companion. And I foster that by caring about them, their experiences, and their feelings. I listen to them…really listen…not just waiting to say what I want to say in response, but thinking of questions I can ask, considering how their experiences make them feel, and proferring up advice when it is requested.

Anyway, that’s a lot. Off to work. Good luck to you!

In my heart, I knew this comment would already be here.

Yeah he doesn’t even, like, get us, man.

I finally got diagnosed with ASD Level 1 last summer, and this summer I drove over 2000 miles from DFW to PDX. I spent over 40 years in Texas, and escaping that hellhole is no longer a dream. It is a reality that I manifested, and I super proud of myself for making it happen.