Whats your biggest accomplishment lately with your autism?

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I can't think of any recent accomplishments, but my biggest accomplishment ever was in my teens, when I learned to ask strangers for directions so I could leave the house and go do things on my own, like see a movie or visit a museum downtown (museums were free back then). That was a huge thing for me. Most of the time I never needed to ask anyone for help, but knowing I could made it a lot easier for me to get out there, even with the risk of getting lost somewhere unfamiliar. Then I didn't feel so trapped anymore.

Some very moving posts here...

JR, in my case, the brainwashing of my family was so bad that it's been taking me time to shed the guilt and shame of a lifetime of being shamed and blamed for my symptoms. Heck, even my prosopagnosia was explained to me as selfishness!! !!

Hmm. Mine is probably just "dealing with people" in general. It seems like I've had to interact with people a whole lot more lately, from students to peers to professors to doctors/therapists. It's been really, really difficult, but somehow I haven't dropped dead yet. Somehow...

I also joined a book club for people with AS. I haven't been able to catch up yet on the reading since I came midway through a book, but I've been proud of myself for actually going physically. I have a hard time doing anything with a purely social purpose.

Kuiamalynne....I think just going physically is a huge deal. I have such trouble with socialising for the sake of it so physical presence is a big deal for me most of the time! I get it!

Joining a club is another huge kudo!

Last week I called my doctor's office and made an appointment for my yearly physical. It was my first time doing so, as my mom always did it up until then. It went very well. Probably a small thing to some here, but I feel really good about being able to do this, especially as it's an important life skill.

I used to get anxiety over change at work. I hated having to change my routes, I hated doing new things, I wanted to do the things that were expected in my job. But then when I would do the new route, I would see it was not that bad and I had a meltdown over nothing. I learned to wait and see what happens when I have to go another route because we have so many guests. I also learned when I do something new to get in more hours, don't assume it will take me forever to do, just do it and see or I had anxiety over nothing. Also if I do other tasks, it builds up my job experience for my future. In case I get another job, I can add that to my application of what I did at my other job. It's good to do new tasks that aren't your job because you can put it in your resume and it helps open up more doors in the future when you are looking for another job. Most places want people who are experience in something. They do not want to hire someone totally new who has not done something before and have to start from scratch. I think they are just lazy so they try and make their job easier by hiring people who have done something before so they are easier to train. If someone is inexperienced, it takes longer to train them. Or it could have to do with money. It costs money to train someone because you have to have someone with that person to train them. So you are paying two people for that same position instead of one.


Another thing my mother taught me about personal space is always stand at least three feet away from everyone. I asked her how would I know how far is three feet, I can't tell distance with my eyes. I don't even have a tape measure. She told me it's my arm length. They are supposed to be at least one arm length away from me, if they are less than that, I am too close to them and need to back up. This is something people learn on their own but because of our autism or AS we need to be told that for us to learn.



I used to freak out about unexpected things like having to fix something on my car because it was unexpected to spend my money. I was told that happens to everybody but do they wig out over something like an unexpected bill and they get all hysteric, go into panic, can't relax, etc? I don't think so. They go through it differently than I do but I had learned to remain calm. I can remember when I get a bill and I see an unexpected price because it got raised or something new was added, I freaked out and it had to be handled NOW. I could not wait. Last night I opened my bill for Comcast even though the bill came the day before. I saw a new price on it and looked at the bill and saw a new feature to it. My boyfriend had already left so I went to my purse to get my phone to call him but no it wasn't in there. I must have left it at work. I did not know his cell number so I could not use our home phone. I had to put it aside and not let it bother me for the night. I would have to wait till morning when he gets home. I did ask him about it when I woke up. He said he did not order anything new except for a movie. He called them for me and they said we had a discount for 6 months and that ended. I totally forgot about that but we did not get any new features and I wanted him to tell them that. He didn't and I freaked out, that's when he told me we have always had that feature. I must not have noticed it on the bill before. I am still thinking about calling them and telling them about that feature and ask them if we have always had it since my boyfriend didn't do it. Shame I didn't save my last bill. I would have compared the two.

My biggest accomplishment is currently in process.

I recently bought my first car, seen below, and am very close to going for the license test. I've wanted to be able to drive for six years, but only recently got up the courage and motivation to practice daily. I was able to buy my car right out with money I made working a while back, I guess that is an accomplishment in itself.

Hey Greentea i DEFINITELY knowec how you feel because im now just getting over the shame and guilt built up over the past 18 YEARS OF MY LIFE(and im 21 years old by the way) because of my DX at age 3 in 1990. TRUST ME IT'S NOT EASY AT ALL!! !! !! !
Congrats i definitely know how you feel

Sincerely:
aspiewhostandsalone

Taking a trip to a conference held in another state.

Yesterday, I faked NT by showing interest in the conversation I had with my eye doctor. It felt completely fake to me, but hopefully natural to her. In other words, I talked to her more than I normally would. I tried to attempt eye contact too, but that resulted in failure.

Well, lately I've started to communicate more things about my feelings and perceptions (such as why something overloads me, or physical sensations).

Such as, after bathing or being in other water, I get painful itching that lasts awhile, and it's happened since I was a young child. I would curl up in blankets and slap myself and run brush bristles across my back and chest and arms and legs, and mostly it was put down to being psychological and behavioral issues, but I have started to articulate it and now know how to tell people what's going on.

I'm developing better understanding of why certain things (like cooking, cleaning, laundry, speech, bathing, etc.) are more difficult for me. When I was first diagnosed, most of my langauge and speech problems were dismissed because I scored highly on stnadardized tests.

So the speech therapy I got was aimed at non-literal language, which I have no problems with, whereas things like initiating spontaneous speech wasn't at all addressed, even though that's a very intermittent skill for me.

Nowadays though, I can articulate more why these things are difficult.

I'm also starting to be able to initiate things that I want to do but need help with, like I'm about to ask my parents about a volunteer job I'm interested, which I need their help for a TB test and so they'll know where I'll be leaving to (it helps also that I have my own key now).

It's not selfish.

My knowledge of geography was called "pretentious" and my knowledge of several languages "eccentric".

here's my definition of selfish.

adj. a person preoccupied with consistant views of themselves, opinions, and emotions at the expense of another person or the world at large. How does prosopagnosia fit?

pretentious

adj. actions that can be construed as unnceccessarily pedantic, grandiose and/or self-serving in order to show a better appearance

and eccentric

also and adj.

"behaviors, actions, interests, etc which deviate from the normal, standarized views".

Your family is how do I say diplomatically, f****d up?

Biggest accomplishment so far this year is working on my novel of a hundred years of future African history, where I also explore human emotions as well (you have to in historical epics )

I got my QuickBooks ProAdvisor Certification.

Working out physically.

Out of the blue an old friend that I haven't really talked to for years (despite living next door to him) called me up and invited my to a free concert.
I practically panicked right there, but actually found myself agreeing to go.
So I spent the night with him, his dad, and a couple of their friends and saw Crosby Stills Nash Young.
Overall it went really well and I managed to stay in control despite the number of people getting to me a bit.

I made phone calls, I find it so overwhelming talking on the phone to strangers, got my insurance straightened out.