I want to try and accurately portray autism in a character in my story. I used to have a friend who had to go through the challenges of autism, and I learned a lot from her, but now we are not in touch anymore. I understand that autism is a vast range of symptoms, but I would like to know more about autism before I go deep into developing this character.
What I ask is that if you, your friend or a family member has autism, I would be ever so grateful if you could share your experiences.
Here are some questions to help prompt you:
How does autism affect your daily life?
What are your main challenges?
Is there anything (such as certain situations) you dislike? If so, what?
If you had the chance to live without Autism, would you??
(Sorry if these questions are offensive. If they are, do tell)
I don’t have it myself so this might not be completely accurate. But I have a classmate who has and he has a bad temper or is easily irritated. Sometimes it comes of as whiny and annoying. He’s always wipe down the table (clean) it when he comes to school and has to erase the entire paper of writing if it is wrong. When he’s hit just slightly he cries and is in like a really big pain this may not be related and if it isn’t really sorry cos we don’t talk much, but that’s from my experience. Hopefully this helps too? (Btw he used to need hearing aids)
i don’t understand sarcasm and when people are joking if they don’t say or make it very obvious with how they’re talking or their face expressions.
i need to process things for a moment before i understand them, and often people will yell at me for not answering.
What are your main challenges?
i can’t handle change. especially if it isn’t on my terms. i hate surprises, and i have to know what’s gonna happen in advance to it happening. as mentioned before, not understanding tone is also a big struggle.
Is there anything (such as certain situations) you dislike? If so, what?
certain textures, like paper or rough silk are impossible for me to touch. i hate social gatherings and often get anxious if a place is overcrowded.
things have to be precise. if i ask about the time, i want you to tell me the exact time. not the approximate time.
if you have any further questions, just reply to this or pm me. i’ll answer as many as i can.
absolutely not. autism is a big part of who i am and i wouldn’t be even close to who i am without it. it’s hard, but it’s not worth trading for anything.
For me I can’t look people in the eyes and I have some trouble talking to new people
I’m easily overwhelmed sometimes (depends on the situation)
Sometimes emotions get the most of me and I have emotional outbursts
I sometimes have overdramatized reactions when I’m feeling certain emotions (mostly when I’m happy or shocked)
I have hyper fixations on movies/shows/characters
My biggest challenge comes socially, wether it be talking to people I don’t know and/or starting conversation with them BUT with people I’m closer/more comfortable with I can talk to them without problem
When I was younger I used to have emotional outbursts at school (grades k - 4) and some kids made fun of me because of it (kids are mean lol )
I don’t like loud noises and sometimes I get overstimulated with sound/touch
No because I’ve met some amazing people because of it.
If you have anymore questions you can message me on insta since I’m more active there.
@/bell_flowerz
He has communication issues.
He doesn’t tend to understand jokes that easily and is serious most of the time, although he can understand sarcasm when you have a certain tone of voice… Like if I were to say “That’s SO funny.” He would understand that as sarcasm.
When he’s angry, it’s explosive. And he can get angry at the littlest of things. It’s the type of anger where you’d be scared of him, because he also often gets violent. If he gets angry enough, he will attack you. He doesn’t do that as much anymore, and instead goes to his room and yells and talks under his breath, saying pessimistic and cynical things. Often times, if he’s not angry at you specifically, he will just try to destroy things around him. Throwing things, punching the wall, etc.
He doesn’t really understand social cues, and he doesn’t really have a sense of embarrassment/shame, so he can be careless at times.
He’s generally quiet and he stays in his room most of the time.
this may not be related and if it isn’t really sorry cos we don’t talk much, but that’s from my experience. 
Hopefully this helps too? (Btw he used to need hearing aids)
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