Really interesting hearing people's comments on the subject. I was out and socialising in the 90's and early 2000's too and had become a heavy metal rock/alternative type. My brother was 2 years older and also into heavy metal. I felt more comfortable around these people as we all felt a bit "different' from the norm/trendie's. I remember drinking pint's too of cider/lager and blackcurrant which was called Snakebite and black. I also drank Mad dog 20/20 drinks, my friends drank Newquay Brown ale and we smoked. It really did help me through my young adult years to drink and be part of the rock scene. I felt I belonged a bit and it definitely helped me through. I have always loved my music it has kept me going through depression/anxiety and all the hard stuff. It was only really once I got married and had my son that I realised I needed to sort my 'shit' out. Thank you for doing these video's and I look forward to many more. Video's on depression and anxiety and autism would be good. I have had both and I am sure it was due to being undiagnosed autistic.
Thanks for sharing and yes, I'm very much planning to do a mental health video at some point. I think it unfortunately comes hand-in-hand with undiagnosed autism. 🧡
Great topic! As an adult in the 90s, I definitely leaned on drinking to make myself more comfortable with social situations. Thankfully I recognized why I was doing it and that I was taking it to the extreme. I very rarely drink nowadays.
It's amazing how much drinking and smoking are covert but yet blatantly open masking tools. I do think some reduction in alcohol consumption is individuals are alternatively turning to cannabis/CBD as well.
Thank you for sharing comments and empathising with them. I haven't had an alcoholic drink for almost three weeks - the longest I have gone without alcohol for about 7 years. I feel much better, but I miss it. It does 'take the edge off' a stressful day, and I find that it also helps with boredom (I was diagnosed with ADHD a few months ago, aged 42, five months after my autism diagnosis). Like many other people, I have drunk alcohol to block out depression, but the depression always comes back. Making TH-cam videos gives me a focus that makes alcohol less appealing, and as I get older I need to conserve more energy for my day job.
Congrats on your three weeks without alcohol, and on your recent diagnoses. I find creative work to be hugely beneficial in terms of mental health. It helps me to 'zone-out' and calm a busy brain 👍
@@CreativeAutistic I broke my alcohol fast last night and miraculously don't hate myself for it. Creative work is more sustainable than boozing, and a lot more fun.
Thank you Lizzie. I always appreciate your transparency and gentleness. I drank early, 14-16 and then quit due to concerns with weight. At that age (in the 70's! with the influence of Twiggy etc.), I decided I'd rather eat my cals instead of drink them.🧡 Also, I realized that I didn't want to be in environments with people out of control.
Big factor in me having friends and going out are smoking, drinking and drugs. Eventually other things (money, hangovers, energy) kicked my butt enough that I slowed down but from my teen years on it was the only way to "feel normal." Happy I live in a place where cannabis is legal as a little of that here and there helps.
I do remember when I wouldn't drink I almost felt more free due to one could help make sure my friends got home safe but secondly I could be me goofy high spirited self w/O repercussion and none were the wiser due to their intoxication in the end we all had a good time but yeah... 🙂
As always, a very thought provoking video. Topic suggestion - autism and auto-immune disease/connective tissue disease. Anecdotally, there's a big overlap in this Venn diagram but I'm not sure the medics have cottoned on.
It's interesting to hear everyone's comments and experience with alcohol. I am another person who finds that alcohol just makes me really sleepy, so it's never been something I've been able to utilise to give me confidence or make socialising tolerable. The few times that I did overindulge with alcohol the headaches and stomach upsets I experienced were enough to put me off doing that with any regularity. I did go through a phase of drinking a small glass of red wine with my evening meal, but that was mainly because my husband did, and after we divorced, I didn't keep up the practice. I have the occasional glass of Baileys at Christmas time, but that's about it for my alcohol consumption.
Some really interesting insights here. My hangovers are getting way worse as I get older and I've never been able to do 'hair of the dog' which is probably a good thing.
Suggestion for a future topic: Adult autism and advocacy. We're absolutely NOT being properly represented by disability organisations, which suffer the same hierarchical obstacles and bureaucratic ineptitude as every other contemporary business i.e. they exist to sustain themselves first and support others second, and usually a quite distant second at that. Organisational apathy, indifference, and blatant ignorance is commonplace and compounds rather than supports our challenges; not to mention that unless we're independently wealthy, we lack access to affordable (and effective) legal resources, which only ensures that the status quo remains unchanged, at our expense. And all of this persists despite the rosy idealism of those official channels which uphold themselves as exemplars of progress. Personally I think we have all the markings of a distinct culture and ought to be pushing for autonomy and self-determination as a distinct diasporic group, but it seems we're still too accommodating of the neurotypical majority to demand it for ourselves.
Ah, this is such an interesting topic for a video. I worked, volunteered and was a trustee in the third sector for around 20 years so I understand why there's a certain amount of bureaucracy (basically funders are really tetchy on what funds should be spent on - they tend to like new innovative - and often short-lived - projects so grants for basic charity sustainability are harder to obtain, so there's a sense of having to 'jump through hoops' to meet funding criteria a lot of the time) - but if an organisation isn't doing basic advocacy for their service users, there's obviously a problem. The diaspora angle is interesting too - my old flatmate used to work at the RNID and she said there was a distinct culture within the org - and beyond - that was very hard to tap into as a hearing person - but I thought this was great as the organisation should only employ deaf and hearing impaired people imo. The same for autism charities too and this clearly isn't happening. I obvs need to further research this area before making a video, so maybe one for Oct or Nov. I'd love to include your comment here too if ok (either with your username or a pseudonym)
@@CreativeAutistic It's a big topic, even moreso with your background knowledge and insights about the internal workings. I find it concerning how little motivation there is for these organizations to challenge the status quo for fear of lost funding/support - how can they be trusted to advocate for anyone when their hands are tied, seemingly by design? And yes, feel free to quote me. 🙂
It's a tricky balance. There's often so little funding around for a lot of charities that it's difficult to meet all their objectives, and most funding applications fail. I worked for a couple of charities - one a national - that faced, and still faces, constant threats of closure - and their work is absolutely necessary. Some orgs, often nationals, are in much better financial positions, as they're more likely to be in receipt of governments grants, but as the money for projects always has to be costed and ringfenced under specific grants or funding streams, there's not always the overall autonomy that people would assume there to be within charitable organisations (I thought the same before I got involved with the third sector). I hope this makes sense as I'm prone to babbling 😆 I'll explain more in the video and thanks for letting me use your quote as I suspect it'll be the 'skeleton' for the whole video (and more importantly, I always want to give credit where it's due) 👍
@@CreativeAutistic Yes, that makes sense from the organization's perspective as a non-profit. What's infuriating is that these groups are often the only independent representation for a specific issue (and/or population, etc.) and many valid issues are triaged out, forced to fall by the wayside in the faint hope of budgetary winfall. In terms of neurodivergence and cultural identity I think we're a distinct population that needs its own systems and its own representation in the same way that Indigenous tribes have asserted their own autonomy. We are each a tribe of one within the neurodivergent/autistic diaspora and our people collectively need to protect and defend the entirety of our lives and customs from falling through the enormous cracks of those majority systems.
I really feel for people involved with charities who want to do good and meaningful work but are stymied by the system. I really like the diaspora angle and I'm **almost** on board with it, but because it's such a powerful word (it kinda evokes colonialism for me 😬) I just wish there was another term that meant somehow the same but different. However, I'm on board with your theory that we're absolutely a distinct culture - in similar ways to the deaf community, and I'd love for our community to find our own ways forward as a 'tribe'.
I was in a religion that was against drinking alcohol, smoking, and any form of drugs, for many years of my life until a couple years ago. I got on as a youth by hanging out in groups where I could just blend in. I am a bit of a light weight so 4oz of wine or beer will put me to sleep. I have tried to increase my tolerance but it hasn't helped, I've given up that idea. I will have alcohol every once in a while. I like to be in control, I don't like anything that makes me feel otherwise. I've found CBD has helped to ease some autism symptoms.
I’m an Autistic Adult in my Fifties. Alcohol tastes too harsh to me and I don’t get any enjoyment from it. I tried different types when I became “legal” but all I got was a Migraine headache and that was from a very small amount! There have been a few people in my family that have had a problem with alcohol, so I wasn’t inclined to keep trying it.
I also fall asleep from drinking alcohol. For me it takes just one can of apple cider and I start to feel strong need of going to bed after several minutes.
🧡 Thank you to everyone who submitted comments on my original video 🧡
Really interesting hearing people's comments on the subject. I was out and socialising in the 90's and early 2000's too and had become a heavy metal rock/alternative type. My brother was 2 years older and also into heavy metal. I felt more comfortable around these people as we all felt a bit "different' from the norm/trendie's. I remember drinking pint's too of cider/lager and blackcurrant which was called Snakebite and black. I also drank Mad dog 20/20 drinks, my friends drank Newquay Brown ale and we smoked. It really did help me through my young adult years to drink and be part of the rock scene. I felt I belonged a bit and it definitely helped me through. I have always loved my music it has kept me going through depression/anxiety and all the hard stuff. It was only really once I got married and had my son that I realised I needed to sort my 'shit' out. Thank you for doing these video's and I look forward to many more. Video's on depression and anxiety and autism would be good. I have had both and I am sure it was due to being undiagnosed autistic.
Thanks for sharing and yes, I'm very much planning to do a mental health video at some point. I think it unfortunately comes hand-in-hand with undiagnosed autism. 🧡
Great topic! As an adult in the 90s, I definitely leaned on drinking to make myself more comfortable with social situations. Thankfully I recognized why I was doing it and that I was taking it to the extreme. I very rarely drink nowadays.
Thank you. Alcohol very much seems to have been a coping mechanism for so many of us in the 90's. I'm glad to hear you were able to quit 🧡
It's amazing how much drinking and smoking are covert but yet blatantly open masking tools. I do think some reduction in alcohol consumption is individuals are alternatively turning to cannabis/CBD as well.
Yes, that's a very good point. 🧡
Thank you for sharing comments and empathising with them. I haven't had an alcoholic drink for almost three weeks - the longest I have gone without alcohol for about 7 years. I feel much better, but I miss it. It does 'take the edge off' a stressful day, and I find that it also helps with boredom (I was diagnosed with ADHD a few months ago, aged 42, five months after my autism diagnosis). Like many other people, I have drunk alcohol to block out depression, but the depression always comes back. Making TH-cam videos gives me a focus that makes alcohol less appealing, and as I get older I need to conserve more energy for my day job.
Congrats on your three weeks without alcohol, and on your recent diagnoses. I find creative work to be hugely beneficial in terms of mental health. It helps me to 'zone-out' and calm a busy brain 👍
@@CreativeAutistic I broke my alcohol fast last night and miraculously don't hate myself for it. Creative work is more sustainable than boozing, and a lot more fun.
Thank you Lizzie. I always appreciate your transparency and gentleness. I drank early, 14-16 and then quit due to concerns with weight. At that age (in the 70's! with the influence of Twiggy etc.), I decided I'd rather eat my cals instead of drink them.🧡 Also, I realized that I didn't want to be in environments with people out of control.
Ugh! Unrealistic beauty standards are just *so* damaging (and I've struggled with this kind of stuff too) Thank you, Lisa! 🧡
Great video lizzie really interesting to hear peoples relatable stories. Thank you for including my comment, i'm truly honoured🌟🙋♂️
You're very welcome, James - thanks for submitting! 🧡
Big factor in me having friends and going out are smoking, drinking and drugs. Eventually other things (money, hangovers, energy) kicked my butt enough that I slowed down but from my teen years on it was the only way to "feel normal." Happy I live in a place where cannabis is legal as a little of that here and there helps.
Thanks for sharing. I've always been ridiculously over-sensitive to anything other than nicotine 🧡
Great video Lizzie 👍🏼❤️🤓
Cheers Sally! 🧡 🧡 🧡
I do remember when I wouldn't drink I almost felt more free due to one could help make sure my friends got home safe but secondly I could be me goofy high spirited self w/O repercussion and none were the wiser due to their intoxication in the end we all had a good time but yeah... 🙂
Ah, that's so interesting! 🧡
As always, a very thought provoking video. Topic suggestion - autism and auto-immune disease/connective tissue disease. Anecdotally, there's a big overlap in this Venn diagram but I'm not sure the medics have cottoned on.
Thank you, and thanks for your contributing comment. A great suggestion - it's defo on the list! 🧡
It's interesting to hear everyone's comments and experience with alcohol. I am another person who finds that alcohol just makes me really sleepy, so it's never been something I've been able to utilise to give me confidence or make socialising tolerable. The few times that I did overindulge with alcohol the headaches and stomach upsets I experienced were enough to put me off doing that with any regularity. I did go through a phase of drinking a small glass of red wine with my evening meal, but that was mainly because my husband did, and after we divorced, I didn't keep up the practice. I have the occasional glass of Baileys at Christmas time, but that's about it for my alcohol consumption.
It's so interesting how we all experience alcohol so differently 🧡
Some really interesting insights here. My hangovers are getting way worse as I get older and I've never been able to do 'hair of the dog' which is probably a good thing.
Yes, I suspect this is very common - and I wouldn't recommend hair of the dog to anyone! It's not something I miss doing in the slightest! 😬
Suggestion for a future topic: Adult autism and advocacy. We're absolutely NOT being properly represented by disability organisations, which suffer the same hierarchical obstacles and bureaucratic ineptitude as every other contemporary business i.e. they exist to sustain themselves first and support others second, and usually a quite distant second at that. Organisational apathy, indifference, and blatant ignorance is commonplace and compounds rather than supports our challenges; not to mention that unless we're independently wealthy, we lack access to affordable (and effective) legal resources, which only ensures that the status quo remains unchanged, at our expense. And all of this persists despite the rosy idealism of those official channels which uphold themselves as exemplars of progress. Personally I think we have all the markings of a distinct culture and ought to be pushing for autonomy and self-determination as a distinct diasporic group, but it seems we're still too accommodating of the neurotypical majority to demand it for ourselves.
Ah, this is such an interesting topic for a video. I worked, volunteered and was a trustee in the third sector for around 20 years so I understand why there's a certain amount of bureaucracy (basically funders are really tetchy on what funds should be spent on - they tend to like new innovative - and often short-lived - projects so grants for basic charity sustainability are harder to obtain, so there's a sense of having to 'jump through hoops' to meet funding criteria a lot of the time) - but if an organisation isn't doing basic advocacy for their service users, there's obviously a problem. The diaspora angle is interesting too - my old flatmate used to work at the RNID and she said there was a distinct culture within the org - and beyond - that was very hard to tap into as a hearing person - but I thought this was great as the organisation should only employ deaf and hearing impaired people imo. The same for autism charities too and this clearly isn't happening. I obvs need to further research this area before making a video, so maybe one for Oct or Nov. I'd love to include your comment here too if ok (either with your username or a pseudonym)
@@CreativeAutistic It's a big topic, even moreso with your background knowledge and insights about the internal workings. I find it concerning how little motivation there is for these organizations to challenge the status quo for fear of lost funding/support - how can they be trusted to advocate for anyone when their hands are tied, seemingly by design?
And yes, feel free to quote me. 🙂
It's a tricky balance. There's often so little funding around for a lot of charities that it's difficult to meet all their objectives, and most funding applications fail. I worked for a couple of charities - one a national - that faced, and still faces, constant threats of closure - and their work is absolutely necessary. Some orgs, often nationals, are in much better financial positions, as they're more likely to be in receipt of governments grants, but as the money for projects always has to be costed and ringfenced under specific grants or funding streams, there's not always the overall autonomy that people would assume there to be within charitable organisations (I thought the same before I got involved with the third sector). I hope this makes sense as I'm prone to babbling 😆 I'll explain more in the video and thanks for letting me use your quote as I suspect it'll be the 'skeleton' for the whole video (and more importantly, I always want to give credit where it's due) 👍
@@CreativeAutistic Yes, that makes sense from the organization's perspective as a non-profit. What's infuriating is that these groups are often the only independent representation for a specific issue (and/or population, etc.) and many valid issues are triaged out, forced to fall by the wayside in the faint hope of budgetary winfall.
In terms of neurodivergence and cultural identity I think we're a distinct population that needs its own systems and its own representation in the same way that Indigenous tribes have asserted their own autonomy. We are each a tribe of one within the neurodivergent/autistic diaspora and our people collectively need to protect and defend the entirety of our lives and customs from falling through the enormous cracks of those majority systems.
I really feel for people involved with charities who want to do good and meaningful work but are stymied by the system. I really like the diaspora angle and I'm **almost** on board with it, but because it's such a powerful word (it kinda evokes colonialism for me 😬) I just wish there was another term that meant somehow the same but different. However, I'm on board with your theory that we're absolutely a distinct culture - in similar ways to the deaf community, and I'd love for our community to find our own ways forward as a 'tribe'.
❤
❤ thank you (you pronounced it fine 😊)
Thank YOU for contributing! 😊 🧡
I was in a religion that was against drinking alcohol, smoking, and any form of drugs, for many years of my life until a couple years ago. I got on as a youth by hanging out in groups where I could just blend in. I am a bit of a light weight so 4oz of wine or beer will put me to sleep. I have tried to increase my tolerance but it hasn't helped, I've given up that idea. I will have alcohol every once in a while. I like to be in control, I don't like anything that makes me feel otherwise. I've found CBD has helped to ease some autism symptoms.
Thank you for sharing. I wish I could tolerate CBD as I know there's many and varied benefits for some people 🧡
I’m an Autistic Adult in my Fifties. Alcohol tastes too harsh to me and I don’t get any enjoyment from it. I tried different types when I became “legal” but all I got was a Migraine headache and that was from a very small amount! There have been a few people in my family that have had a problem with alcohol, so I wasn’t inclined to keep trying it.
Thank you for sharing 🧡
I also fall asleep from drinking alcohol. For me it takes just one can of apple cider and I start to feel strong need of going to bed after several minutes.
It's really interesting how our bodies react to alcohol so differently.