Adult Autism Resources

Created by autistic people about our own experience.

This is my growing collection of resources about autism (especially late-realized, high-masking, DFAB/NB profiles of autism). These are resources created by autistic people about our own experience.

Also some ADHD links at the bottom – many of us are both autistic and ADHD, which is sometimes called AuDHD.

If you are trying to understand if you have autism

  • I recommed NeuroClastic: What is Autism – and everything linked from that page, especially Very Grand Emotions, which is about how autistics and neurotypicals experience emotions differently, and is a non-pathologized view of autism.
  • I’m also loving the book Unmasking Autism. If your autism was not recognized as a kid, you will have been masking your whole life, and it’s essential to understand how that changes your presentation and understanding of yourself.
  • This Neurodivergent person bingo meme is painfully accurate. ?
  • This Bucket of Woe Tiktok explains some things about how our nervous systems respond to stress differently than neurotypical people and therefore why life in general feels harder.

If you want to support someone with autism

  • Please Stop Saying High-functioning and Low-functioning
  • How and Why Neurotypicals Misunderstand and Mistreat Autistic People
  • Know that “Autism Speaks” does not speak for the autistic community for many reasons that you can google to learn about.
  • ABA “therapy” is abuse that is akin to conversion therapy. We do not need to learn to be neurotypical, we need to be supported to be ourselves.
  • Google the Social Model of Disability and understand that our disability is not located in our bodies or brains but in the gap between our needs and what society deems as “normal” needs.
  • Please know that we are constantly trying to understand you, and we also need you to try to understand us. Please meet us halfway around communication differences, rather than seeing us as having a “deficit” that we need to compensate for to communicate like you do.
  • Please take our questions at face value and do not assume we are communicating subtext with them. Also, do not expect us to understand what you want from us if you don’t directly state it.
  • Understand that intellectual disability and autism are not the same thing. Both autistics and allistics can have intellectual disabilities–it is not a feature of autism itself. Autistics have a wide range of abilities and disabilities just like allistics. Autism also shows up very differently in different people. Also, being unable to speak (nonverbal) does not mean being unable to think.

Autism educators & content creators I enjoy

YouTube:

TikTok:

Instagram:

ADHD links