Hi, everyone, I'm Amythest and welcome to Ask an Autistic: Rapid Fire Edition!
Over the past week I've gotten a few questions from people on facebook and my tumblr, and
um, these are questions that are good and that I want to answer via video but that aren't
really enough for an Ask An Autistic video on their own so I'm going to combine a few
questions into Ask an Autistic Rapid fire and hopefully this will be a shorter video
where I can answer some people's questions and get some information out there without
making it such a big long production.
So, here I go: Anonymous on Tumblr Asks: "Hi Amythest, I've only recently learned I am
autistic.
Over the past few years my ability to socialize has really decreased.
I can't have a conversation with anyone but my partner without feeling anxious or overwhelmed.
I used to at least be able to make friends online but I can't even do that anymore.
It's like the spoons I have for socializing have been disappearing and not replenishing
themselves.
Could this be autistic burn out?"
Well, anonymous, a few things you describe in your message do sound like autistic burnout,
especially when you use spoons, because, you know, a lot of people going through autistic
burnout feel like they have less spoons or energy tokens or just less energy to expend
on things.
Um because you describe feeling anxious or overwhelmed to me it sounds like it could
be autistic burnout but it could also be something like social anxiety that could be inhibiting
your ability to make friends even online.
If you have a therapist or doctor who knows about your autism ad you feel comfortable
talking to them you should maybe bring it up with them because to me it sounds like
autistic burnout presenting in a slightly unusual way but it could also be something
like social anxiety.
So yeah.
Monica asks: "I wanna ask if you have any synesthetic experiences or if autistic people
you've met have told you about them.
I'm also curious on what you think about Temple Grandin's Three types of thinkers?"
Yes, I do have Synesthesia.
I actually discovered I had Synesthesia and that it was a thing and that it had a name
before I found out about my autism.
So I have colored sounds and music Synesthesia and colored numbers and letters synesthesia.
People who watched my videos may have noticed in my title slides "Ask an Autistic" each
letter has it's own color and those are the colors I see them as.
So when I'm reading a book I don't see the color on the page, some people with synesthesia
do, For me my colored letters and numbers are more in my mind's eye and I have a very
strong feeling, like A is magenta and has always been magenta for me and then with my
colored sounds and music that I do perceive as if it's outside of my body.
So all music and sounds I see as if it's on a screen in front of me about maybe two, two
and a half feet away, and every sound and instrument and person's voice has a shape
and a color.
So yes, I do have synesthesia and I have heard of quite a bit of overlap between people who
have autism and people who have Synesthesia.
And as far as Temple's Grandin's three types of thinkers go which is as far as I understand
she believes that autistic brains and maybe neurotypicals as well can be sorted into visual
thinkers, music and math thinkers and verbal and logic thinkers.
I'm not one-hundred percent sure that's accurate for everyone.
I feel like it's really hard to divide the whole world into three categories of thinkers
as for myself I don't feel like I fit in exactly in any of those three categories so maybe
Temple's on to something I just don't find it super accurate for me.
And Anonymous asks: "Hello I've been following your blog for a while and I love your new
video.
Thank you.
I would like to ask you two things: Do you have Aspergers or autism and are you wearing
colored contacts in any of your videos?"
Well, as far as my diagnosis goes, I do have autism spectrum disorder as my official diagnosis,
but I was diagnosed in July of 2013 so DSM V was out and Aspergers and autism had been
collected together under the umbrella of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.
So I have autism spectrum disorder as my official diagnosis.I'm not sure what I would have received
if I had diagnosed before July of 2013.
I do feel, though, that, um, I feel autistic and I refer to myself as autistic and I feel
like autism as a diagnosis is a better fit for me in my situation.
And am I wearing contacts?
Colored contacts?
No, I am wearing contacts but they are not colored.
Just my eyes.
This has been the first Ask An Autistic rapid fire edition!
If you like it, thumbs up, and if you have a question you would like answered in one
of my "Ask an Autistic" videos feel free to message me or to post it in the comment section
below.
Thanks for watching!