Author: yourautisticlife
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My Marriage Sheltered Me
Reflecting back, I think my marriage sheltered me from having to be an autistic man in the world. I met my ex-wife at the age of 24. She was 44. I don’t think that she really set out to mother me. However, the way the marriage evolved may have had the same effect. I was…
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The Death Of A Dream
We’ve sold the marital house, and with that a dream died. We recently sold the house in which my ex-wife and I lived for seven or eight years. I left earlier, she left later, hence the seven or eight year figure. It was the second house we owned together. Truth be told, our dream died…
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Was Autism A Factor In My Divorce?
No, and yes. It is a complicated question for which both answers are correct. I’ve always maintained that my autism wasn’t the cause of my divorce. This is true, insofar as neither of us knew that I was autistic. That’s something I realized after the divorce. However, I’m still engaging in The Great Reflection. As…
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Stimming Is Life 004
A playlist of music that I stim to. This playlist contains some oldies. I suppose the term oldie depends on what age you are, but I expect that for most kids, some of the music is going to fall squarely in the oldies category. If I do have some trivia about a song that I…
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Sleep Disorders
I used to be able to sleep just fine, but I lost that ability with age. Sleep disorders are common among autistic people. The fact that I progressively lost the ability to sleep normally is one of the reasons I think that I was starting to lose the ability to mask prior to my cancer,…
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I Like Repetition
There are multiple ways in which repetition is a feature of my life. Society tells us that repetition is a bad thing. Then again, society is dominated by neurotypical people. I’m neurodivergent, autistic, and thus my relationship with repetition is more complex than what society tells us. My choice of clothing shows a desire for…
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Stimming
I’ve stimmed all my life, but its manifestation has changed over time. As I reflect on earlier episodes in my life, I realize that a lot of the symptoms associated with autism were present in me, but masked. I’ve stimmed way before my cancer weakened my ability to mask, but I did not know what…
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Why Saying “Everybody Is A Little Autistic” Is Harmful
I’ll explain why this saying and its siblings are harmful to actually autistic people. I was talking with someone recently, asserting that I was actually autistic. His reply was that we’re all neurodiverse. In other words, my case is not special at all, and I should just shut up. The claim that we’re all neurodiverse…
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Why I Don’t Seek Formal Diagnosis
It is likely to end up being pointless in the USA. Once in a while I run into someone who insists that I should get a formal diagnosis. If you live in the USA, this is often a futile, frustrating, and expensive endeavor. It is not worth it if you are unlikely to get accommodations.…