sherlockirl:

autism and sherlock holmes

- Coming off as rude, cold, even cruel because he (a) does not understand social customs (b) usually has very low empathy and can’t understand why/how/when people are uncomfortable or offended © flat effect

- Being able to notice every detail about everything but not always understanding the bigger picture (he falls back on John for this, who can make some of the connections he sometimes misses)

- Needing people to remind him to eat, drink, and sleep — sometimes even needing meals made for him and other chores done on his behalf

- Not being able to identify what he’s feeling or why he’s feeling it and instead saying he feels nothing at all

- Falling into drug addiction as a way of coping with sensory overload and social isolation

- Talking out loud to himself to overcome executive dysfunction and brain fog

- His special interests being chemistry and crime; he doesn’t understand why it’s inappropriate to info dump about crime or why no one else can keep up when he talks about chemistry

- He uses deduction as a way to understand body language and people’s intentions

- STIMS: playing his violin, smoking (he mostly vapes these days), flapping his hands, pacing, tapping his fingers, rocking, spinning, etc.

- Bonus stim is chewing on his antique pipe even when he isn’t smoking

- He goes non-verbal for “days on end”, only occasionally communicating through grunts and hand gestures

- Having selective memory bc the things he’s not interested in just don’t stick

- Hyper-focusing on cases, sometimes to an unhealthy degree and needing reminders to slow down and take care of himself

- Having meltdowns when he can’t understand things/is overwhelmed/pushes himself too far

- Shutting down after the euphoria of solving a case

- His coat is a comfort item, he relies on the soft interior, the warmth, and the weight across his shoulders (plus, pockets filled with stim toys and case (special interest) notes!)

0jamajos:

This was adorable and my respect for Sesame Street just keeps growing

Common signs that an autism resource is bad

autisticliving:

• Person-first language (”people with autism”) The autistic community are very vocal about preferring identity-first language (”autistic people”) over person-first language (”people with autism”) so use of person-first language in an autism resource shows a lack of contact with the autistic community/an unwillingness to listen to autistic people.
  
• Mentions of a supposed cure for autism. There is no cure for autism and many of the proposed “cures” are both dangerous and abusive. Resources and organisations who try to sell you a cure are either knowingly scamming you or very misinformed about the reality of autism.
• Advocacy for finding a cure for autism. The majority of the autistic community don’t want a cure for their autism - they want society to change so that autistic people can be accepted, respected and included as they are. Advocacy for finding a cure for autism shows a lack of contact with the autistic community/an unwillingness to listen to autistic people.
• Functioning labels. Functioning labels (“severe autism” vs “mild autism”/”high-functioning” vs “low-functioning”) are at best useless and at worst harmful and the autistic community doesn’t support the use of them. Use of functioning labels in an autism resources shows a lack of contact with the autistic community and a lacking understanding of autism.
• Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks is a very harmful organization which isn’t supported by the autistic community. Positive references to Autism Speaks/connections with Autism Speaks shows a lack of contact with the autistic community and an unwillingness to listen to autistic people. 
• ABA. ABA (”Applied Behavior Analysis”) is an abusive therapy which isn’t supported by the autistic community. Positive references to ABA shows a lack of contact with the autistic community and an unwillingness to listen to autistic people.
• Claims that vaccines cause autism. Vaccines don’t cause autism, this has been proved over and over by various independent studies. Claims that vaccines cause autism shows a lacking understanding of science/a lack of scientific objectivity.