What is your biggest obstacle?

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By this I mean feature or symptom of your ASD that has caused you significant difficulty. For me it has to be processing information (of all kinds including senses and emotion) and executive functioning.

I have the frustrating capacity to comprehend a lot of different kinds of information intellectually yet my focus is on only one field and my thoughts are on auto-pilot (I can't seem to regulate any desires). It feels like just because I can't do busywork, I will never achieve my potential in an academic or professional setting. I will be seeing a doctor regarding this but this issue gets particularly bad when I am depressed, enough to keep me in bed for weeks. When I'm not depressed I tend to read a lot and memorize tons of information that is never useful to some end.

Dyspraxia I don't have the practical ability or listening skills for most jobs. It even affects my down time when I play videogames and get stuck

My biggest obstacle towards functioning is some perpetual mind fog and a form of inconsistency that can be caused by who knows what.

And so as much as I could afford, I'd best rule out those whatever that may cause said inconsistency -- before I start overly coping and restricting myself by working around said nuisance, unlike those rare times -- the very state I sought to find -- that I don't have to.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

Sensory issues:- heat, light, touch, noise etc.

I don't speak up for myself enough.

I'm only a Wolfman in my mind sometimes.

Anxiety

Executive functioning problems for me. They affect me 24/7, and can have an impact on almost any kind of task, whereas communication and sensory problems only affect me in certain situations which allows some possibility to manage my exposure. I've found that EF problems are by far the hardest to explain to anyone else, too, making them the hardest to get any help or accommodations for - people don't see the times when it frustrates my own goals, only the times when they feel that I've let them down, making me seem selfish to them. I also find that EF problems make it very hard to change my behaviour in ways that I want to so that I can improve how I manage any of my difficulties, including the EF problems themselves; so it's bit of a vicious circle.

Executive functioning.

Anxiety

The thing that holds me back the most is probably my social anxiety and selective mutism.

I don't know what the term for this is - I have trouble with unfamiliar tasks. If I've never completed a certain action - checking out at a supermarket, for example - my brain refuses to proceed. I know that rationally I should be able to assess the situation and figure it out, especially if it's something simple, but I can't. My mind stalls and I can't pick out the relevant information to move forward. I'm not overwhelmed, just stuck. I guess I can't generalize my abilities. That's something that I deal with in school, too, when it comes to applying familiar concepts to problems in a different format. This has been my biggest issue alongside shutdowns, even though they aren't the most painful to deal with compared to sensory sensitivities and overload. They're much bigger obstacles to my independence, which is what I'm focusing on at the moment.

Selective Mutism and agoraphobia -- terror of being around people or having to talk to them.

Communication.

Sensory Issues - everything is too loud, too bright, too hot or too cold, too much.

Executive functioning, specifically organizing, prioritizing and planning. My skills in these areas are so weak that I have yet to successfully hold a job for more than a year or two before getting burned out or fired. Work tasks make me so confused, and I can't figure out how everyone else seems to just "know" what they're supposed to be doing.

Sensory issues are a massive barrier for me as well; I spend most of my time alone in my room, only going out for my appointments, because the world is too painful to deal with.