A #MyAutismJourney story by Bárbara I perceive the world through sensations, emotions and feelings. Meaning I’m hypersensitive, both on an emotional and a sensory level. (To simplify, and because these are all enmeshed within me, I’m going to use the word feelings to talk about this cluster for the rest of this text.) I feel…
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A #MyAutismJourney story by Lúcia For a long time, there were situations that left me completely exhausted without me being able to understand why. Going to the supermarket was one of them. I would always leave at my limit, as if I had been through something far more demanding than simply doing the shopping. The…
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Chegar a um diagnóstico de autismo e de PHDA aos 52 anos, após 3 anos de colapso absoluto, por meios próprios – seguindo obstinadamente pistas e sinais de modo a completar o mapa – é uma experiência estranha que ainda estou a processar. Chegar ao diagnóstico foi um alívio imenso, mas o caminho que tive…
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A #MyAutismJourney story by Anonymous For a long time, I thought I had to enjoy my free time the same way as everyone else. I now know that leisure looks different for different people, and that’s okay. One of my biggest interests is Pokémon, and spending time collecting the games, learning about the characters, and…
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Throughout my life, I have faced challenges that, for a long time, I could neither understand nor explain. Today, I can look back on some of those experiences with greater clarity and better understand the impact they have had on my journey. One of the challenges I have faced since childhood is frequently feeling misunderstood…
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A #MyAutismJourney story by S.F. **Content note:** Contains graphic descriptions of meltdowns, sensory overload, and the psychological and physical impact of masking. The text that follows is a metaphorical essay about the experience of a meltdown (sensory overload) and the invisible cost of masking. When I speak of the “beast” and the “child”, I am not…
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The most defining moment in my journey was not a single event, but something that seemed to happen almost overnight after I began addressing the anxiety connected to my diagnosis and learning more about what it meant to be autistic. It was the moment I realised that I finally knew myself. For the first time,…
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The greatest challenge has been, and continues to be, ableism. The ableism that I internalised throughout my life and am still working to unlearn, but also the ableism present in the way many people view us. Having to constantly fight for the right to exist, to be who I am, and to be accepted without…
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Today, I am able to identify as autistic, but it was not always that way. For a period of my life, I stopped being able to do almost anything. Everything hurt, I could not leave the house, and I could not function. Today, I know it was autistic burnout, but at the time it was…
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I like sharing moments that inspire hope, so here is one. When I came to Portugal to confirm my diagnosis, my psychiatrist asked me in our very first appointment what I did for work. I told him that I practise Somatic Therapy and work with trauma. His response was: “Wow! I’m going to add you…
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