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Thank you for sharing your experience and sorry to hear you experienced autistic burnout. There is no pressure to do things like everyone else, you do what works best for you. take time and rest❤🧡💜💗💚💛💙

Do you find words like "it" or "there" confusing? If there are two options for what people are pointing to by saying "it" or "that", I can find that cognitively paralyzing. The specificity required to understand what's being asked of me can be much higher than what's expected.

Congratulations!! My brain's telling me that the thing to say next is "welcome back" but that was two years ago so it's no longer relevant, but "Congratulations!!!" definitely is. This is an excellent video. You're entirely right about this. If we're "mild" in some things and "severe" in others, we might just as well throw out the whole distinction because it's not useful even on its own terms. Meanwhile what they _really_ mean is _support needs_ so the whole thing just stigmatises people with some types of needs, for no advantage to clarity. Interacting with non-verbal autists can be pretty humbling; same with people who have intellectual impairments: turns out they wipe the floor with me on all sorts of other things that matter too. People are thinking of a _continuum_ rather than a spectrum and we probably do need a new word because it's such a common confusion. That being said, I would _love_ someone to describe me as "mild" - in any context! lol _but they never do_ Thank you for this, Rachel, really cool video.

Hi Rachel new subscriber here, very glad to have found your channel, and looking forward to doing a deep dive later this evening. Thank you for this.

Ive been burnt out for a while and it just recently came crashing down. Literally in the past few weeks and it feels like im broken. I dont know why I cant just do things. I dont know why im so tired and i dont know why i cant sleep even when I try to take a mid day nap. I dont know why im struggling before. I went to someome giving a speech and how they did therapy, meditation, pilaties, and so much more to take care of themselves but none of that fixed it. I was scared id be this way forever but you gave me hope I wont be. Now i dont feel as bad i want to lay down

Hearing about autism from another fem person of color. I see the centering of cis white men in autstic research/sterotypes. As a mixed race person (black/mexican/white) whos afab, bisexual, basically non binary, i dont see people like me anywhere, yet alone with autism/adhd/depression/etc. Seeing this helps more than you know.

Thank you for sharing! I am also someone who masked almost all the time. The only time I would say I was less masked or unmasked is with my brother and luckily I got to live with him for a long time. But agter moving it's like masking 24/7. except when I'm alone in my room. That plus work and school makes it so that I'm like crying every night almost. It's sucky

Thanks Your descriptions of masking while alone (in the room) sound familiar

Functioning labels sound like " good hair "vs "bad Hair" or " Light skin vs " "Dark skin" vibes in the black community. Where the phrase high functioning is offensive " he/she must be one of the good ones"

Do you have a degree? If your using facts you never put your own opinion in, that's biased. Never THINK only KNOW, I do have object permemeance that doesn't excuse ppl using it as an excuse tho

I'm an adult in my late thirties looking into getting evaluated. Was diagnosed with ADHD almost a year ago now when a friend suggested I look into it (because they've been diagnosed with ADHD). And my workplace has a fantastic ERG (employee resource group) revolving around disabilities and it's opened up my thirst on the topic of disabilities as a whole! I could really go on and on about the topic and my experience with childhood, family members, friends, and acquaintances along the way, but I just wanted to comment to say enthusiastically that I agree with you! Autism is *not* a bad word and it shouldn't be! It's not cancer, not death, not being a murderer, nothing like that! It's just not the normal, which is actually pretty normal when you think about it! The CDC in 2022 reported disability statistics in the US, and one in four adults are disabled (ages 18-44 23.6%, 45-64 29.1%, and 65+ 43.9%). And I think the problem is, when people who don't have disabilities themselves (or at least don't currently have any, considering how workplace disability and age related disability occurs later in life), they either only think of people in wheel chairs, missing limbs, maybe blind and deaf people, and then they think of (at least in the US, not sure about other countries) people who are "faking" disabilities for government assistance. But that's not what the 28.7% is! We are a *huge* portion of the population! And we are nothing to be ashamed about. We deserve to be talked about in schools because of this! Health class education on different disabilities would be amazing, not to mention history of disability rights in the US (the amount of people that don't realize the ADA was signed only in 1990 is amazing)

The rainbow is not good either.

I am aware of all these adhd symptoms (which I have). But somehow, it's always helpful to hear it spelled out again. And you do so very well. And in a very charming manor may I add. And the "break system" you refer to is Pomodoro. Lotta great tips! Thanks!

When i was young and I lived in Pennsylvania, I remember my parents saying we will be taking the Philadelphia Turnpike And in my mind, I interpreted it as a corrugated pipe that we drive through and I was very excited to see what type of structure this is and was disappointed when it was just a highway.

One time I was sitting down with some friends senior year of high school talking about what colleges we might go to. I asked, “so why are you choosing that college?” She said, “oh because it has a nice atmosphere”. Then I asked, “oh yea I guess being away from the city, there’s less air pollution”

Once I was telling my roommate, something exciting and he exclaimed, “let’s go!” After a few seconds of confused smiling at the enthusiasm, I asked him, “ok, but where are we going?”

Awesome video ❤

I just started the screening process with Embrace Autism!

Thank you so much for providing this information and giving individuals options so they can independently make their own decisions 🙏🏾

This is not the way to diagnose. I went to a psychologist... They gave me a list of questions to answer. Then they told me their supervisor said they were not allowed to diagnose me like that. So if even a psychologist can't do it, the lay person shouldn't be trying to do it. I think this was a person that was trained but had not done enough hours to receive their degree.

I’ve watched a few vids on this topic and yours is by far the most clear and thorough and to the point introduction. Such a great resource - thank you.

Thank u so much for sharing this!!

thank you for making this video!! my name is also rachel (but I go by Rhiannon now)

I used to keep things in sight but my ex wife would complain about clutter and we would argue

Oh my goodness I adore this vlog!! It feels so real and relatable🥺❤️ I love how you don't try to make things "look perfect" in your life <3 Instant sub!

Wow this was insightful.

Good job. Keep going with your video journey.

Take the red pill! Way too many people are blue-pulled by supporting Autism Speaks!

Thank you for this video ❤🙂 You explain the criteria so well. God bless you ❤

You're telling me they don't mean my favorite movie out of all the movies I've ever watched..?

Awesome explanation 😊

thank u for helping me 2 years later 🙏🙏

Thanks for making this video 😊 I agree that we should show what our autistic lives look like on a daily basis! I talk to myself a lot as well 🤭 urgh fire alarms are the worst… 🚨

to me (auDHD) the literal thinking is intimately tied to visually picturing what is said. It's almost like im seeing a visual representation for every word / couple of words. and that usually ends up being very 'face value' or literal. if I try to turn that function off, I almost can't think at all. I think this example sums it up pretty well: when my friends and I would sing along to songs in high school, the accompanying actions that I would make were the literal meanings of each word in the song, they weren't interpretations

Loved this sooo much. Thank you Rachel!

5:47 wow, i'm trying to write some novels to, and have exact process...

Interesting topic, thanks xx

I like your intro! It reminds me of the classic disney channel promo. Was that on purpose?

14:08. That's a great example. I still don't fully understand but it hrlos. I mean a definitely am not autistic and definitely don't take everything literally. You present to me, like another aDHDer, like me. This is true despite gaos in, age, sex, country and race. I can't detect your autism but i can detect your ADHD because i am ignorant about autism unless its extreme. What's confusing is, even non-autistic people can take individual sayings or expressions wrong. I don't understand the why. What I do know is, I have gotten into several arguments with people who were autistic ans who probably actually with me but disagreed with my WORDING. They saw distinctions i didn't as much as they might miss abstract links i was trying to imply. The gap in perception was the source of miscommunication and conflict. It would be invalid for me to claim they were the only ones missing something.

26:41 The IMPOSTOR spectrum is common for all neurodivergent people, including White ones because the diagnosis is done based on subjective factors that involve communication/miscommunication as opposed to by brain scans or investigation of other objective physical observations. As a Black person, your cultural experience differs from mine but if you have ADHD too, we will absolutely have symptoms in common. If you are autistic, you will have symptoms i don't have. I think, if a person SUSPECTs they are neurodivergent, they probably are, but whether they are a rype of ADHD, ASD, AUDHD (experts debate the idea that one can be both), OCD, Anxiety disorder, Social anxiety or whatever or a combo probably benefits from expert opinion. I am White. I am not a typical White person in multiple ways but certainly my culture impacts me

White. I have ADHD. 26:41. I can relate to the free flowing way you talk. I understand ADHD. Still extremely confused about autism. There exist symptoms many people have. Apparently not all.

FANTASTIC CONTENT! THANK YOU ❤🎉🎉

Why wouldn't someone ask, "what are some of your favorite movies instead of favorite movie?" What if we did that kind reasoning with, "Are you single?" My ADHD, OCD, dyslexia, truth telling and sense of justice says these are crazy expectations. I don’t think your thinking was out of line at all ❤ I love sarcasm and jokes but I guess I believe people wayy to much!

10:42 I would have thought that too. That is too serious of a topic for her to imply selfishness. No wonder I have so much shame and feel bad. There is a scripture that says, "view others as superior to you." Not think about others interests too or others can have different superior qualities then the reader.

Incredible info! Thank you!

U r beautiful

You explain all of this so well.

YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID DISNEY CHANNEL

You said your church has special programs, black people don't go to church you silly goof. :) Now let's SEE how you take that and was I serious or being funny?

<3