Anything time-based. Fuck voicemail, I don’t have time to listen to the slow voice read everything out, give me a ui and words and let me read at 700wpm. Even shit like power buttons make me mad. I’m always doing stuff, I can’t dedicate 2 seconds to turning on my headphones because I’m using that hand for something else, like carrying food or opening something. The only bottleneck for how fast I can do something should be me. Bring back switches!
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Plans changing or being shown something I forgot/didn’t realize I was supposed to do can make me just not want to do anything for the rest of the day. Even stuff that makes me happy like watching movies or going for a walk in the park just seems like these monsterous tasks I can’t handle afterwards.
Same. And my (now ex-) wife knew that, and toward the end of our relationship, it seems like she would make the most intricate plans just to completely change them at the last moment.
There was one day we had a plan to take the kids to meet her brothers at a sandwich shop down the street that we often went to - we were going separate ways afterwards so we took different cars, I went down the street and waited… And waited… And called her, she said she had gotten hung up getting something for one of the kids, but she was almost there… Waited another couple minutes (the place was literally 2 minutes away from the house) still no sign of her or her brothers so I called again… She said she was turning on x street- 3 miles away! Long story short (too late) she had changed the plan and we were going to the mall, and supposedly she told me that, but I sure as hell didn’t remember that… And as it turned out, where she was going afterwards was to meet her affair partner, but I didn’t know that then…
Just experienced sensory overload again because I had some important tests at school and the most minor sensory annoyances (eating with my parents and grandma and having to tolerate fridge, cutlery noises and some light conversation) sent me into a painful shutdown (which caused my mom and grandma to speak with (EDIT: well to, I couldn’t really speak with them) me, which didn’t make it better).
In the end, I just forced myself to eat the food and ran(well stumbled) off to my dad (who left early to watch sports) and was alone with him and just sat with him for some time. Not long after, I just left to lay in bed in a fetal position fully covered by a blanket for ~1-3 hours and occasionally listened to some random music in my downloads (with minimum brightness since everything else was too painful).
I’m still in an emotionally vulnerable condition and wouldn’t feel safe going out alone(or doing anything else alone for that matter). I did drive a car and did some risky stuff, I shouldn’t do (don’t drive in a psychological condition like this, you could kill someone). (EDIT: also, my motor abilities are really limited in sensory overload(how did I even survive the drive))
So sensory overload is in my opinion the most painful thing about autism. Or vulnerability when in distress. Other than that, I like my autistic traits.
Bold of the the mulleted human View-Master to assume there’s only one thing.
That one little reminder that you are different than everybody else, and no matter how hard you try, no matter what medicines you take, you will always be alone in that way.
Yeah I don’t think you’re alone in any of that.
There’s something about waking up that just ruins everything.
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Any minor inconvenience or disruption of my plans.
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Someone wanting something but instead of asking for it directly, they drop hints. Even if I pick up the hint, I refuse to acknowledge them if you’re not going to just say what you mean.
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Persiatent and/or loud noises. Macherinery going, big fans, large groups of people all talking at once, the chirp of a smoke alarm needing a new battery, etc.
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Bright white lights give me headaches. Bright neon lights are cool and fun tho. I don’t really understand this one myself; a light blue light is almost white but it’s okay. 🤷♂️
the chirp of a smoke alarm needing a new battery
That is my personal hell right there… Nothing gets me agitated faster…
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People being rude. In particular, people eating or making sporadic noises near me at work. And people who talk on speakerphone on quiet trains. I just… can’t handle it.
Sock getting bunched up near a toe when I’m in a public place and can’t remove the shoe.
Maybe I’m oblivious, but I can’t imagine a scenario where adjusting your shoe/sock would seem that weird. Now when you have a giant booger stuck in your nose and no tissue, that’s a different story.
I’m in Autistic burnout… the slightest stress - just about any official letter, appointment with benefit agency or sometimes just something nasty on the news - can lead me straight into dissociation or shutdown. Occasionally, just having to concentrate hard can also wipe me out in a similar way. It usually takes at least a few days for me to recover.
I’m nearly 60, and this is new to me - I mean, I’ve had bouts before, but never as debilitating as this. I used to be able to cope with these things, even if they darkened my day.
Whooof.
This also describes our state, and it sucks.
Solidarity. You’re so right. It’s a wild ride, but I’m charting my symptoms, and they ARE improving - I hope the same is true for you. U had to make some big changes, cutting out energy drains, and then cut more and more. Self care is the most important thing in burnout, but learning what you need to do to provide yourself care is the hardest.
Getting interrupted “real quick” while I’m in the zone.
To not understate, everyone hates that, yes, but I am actively done for the day. I don’t want to talk to anyone anymore, I lose my appetite, I don’t want to play my games, I don’t want to finish work.
I’m done, and the task that I was doing is at an extreme risk of never being completed ever again.
I make my space to be “in the zone” with so much effort, don’t break it, it’s sacred to me.
Imagine watching a magical 3 hour movie and 2 hours in somebody cuts the power, and if you want to watch it again you have to start from the beginning
I hear ya. I have a ballooning collection of unfinished games because I lost that “zone” for too long or was interrupted too frequently.
Exactly. I mean, I know it’s a first world problem but I suffer being both a completionist and neurodivergent.
When someone interrupts you in the middle of doing something to talk about something and they keep talking on and on just repeating themselves bringing no new information.
When my workflow is repeatedly interrupted by a stupid notification, request to “log in your Microslop account” or the OS hanging a few seconds after every use input on the Windows computer that I am forced to use for work. All unnecessary hurdles that interrupt my ideal workflow are the worst.
When you’re working in something that requires you to concentrate and you are being repeatedly pulled out of this state of concentration by people who bug you about things. If it happens too many times in a row you end up with a huge headache and need a few hours of rest before you can concentrate again.
Something scheduled. I am useless in the lead up because “I have to be ready”
Turns out the Sword of Damocles is not a parable about the precariousness of people in positions of power, it’s just a first hand allegory of a neurodivergent person with a scheduled phonecall in the the afternoon.
YesNo, but ya also that, sorta
Opening the post to comment an afternoon appointment…. Yeah.
Even a Teams call where I know what to do and say and am fully versed in the topic. The whole day I’m like “got that thing at 11, can’t miss it”.
And then I randomly start doing something else and forget the really important appointment or meeting anyway
AuDHD gang.
10:58 waiting with the Teams window open, might just check my email
11:17 oh no
Something scheduled that gets canceled 5 minutes before it’s supposed to happen.
God thats the best feeling
I had an in person meeting that did that recently. I’m wfh most of the time, and this really soured me
omg 100%. if I have anything going on at all, even if it’s just a fucking delivery, it ruins my whole day
My wife leaves her sunglasses on the dashboard of her car and they slide to the left or slide to the right when you go around a corner.
A few minutes of that is enough to ruin my day.
Gift her a little magnetic or button thing that holds sunglasses and clips onto her sunvisor.
Not being on time to a planned event. I want to be slightly early/on time. For reasons unbeknownst to me, when I say “we need to leave at 35 after to get there on time”, the people I’m going with aren’t ready until 50 after. Drives me absolutely bonkers.
One time in high school I was supposed to go to a movie with a friend of mine, she was supposed to come to my place first and we’d leave from there. She never showed up (and it was the 90s so no texting) so I was just like “okay” and went about my day. Two days later she randomly showed up at my house and asked if I wanted to go. I said no because she was two entire days late and now I’m doing something else, and she got annoyed at me for not dropping everything and going.
I do not understand this.
I hate not being on time. It gives me mad anxiety. I’m usually 10 mins early and then everyone else is late (which I’m surprisingly ok with - I just don’t want to be late myself).
I can completely understand how anxious and upset you’d be if someone made you wait so you were late to an event.
