Loud Hands: Avoiding Autistic Shutdown and Sensory Overload

Normally on a Tuesday, I’d be posting about crafts, fashion and DIY, but surprise–April is Autism Awareness Month! I’ve decided to post more “Loud Hands” series throughout this month for two reasons: 1. it will help me integrate my former blog onto here and 2. it will spread awareness and acceptance. April is a hard month for many autistic folks. There is lots of ableist rhetoric floating around, and I’d like my blog to be a safe space where they can avoid that.

Let’s take a look: what is autistic shutdown? It’s basically the autistic version of getting no sleep and not enough nutrition or water for several days. You know how you feel when you’re running on 3 hours of sleep for work, you didn’t take the time to eat breakfast or drink a glass of water, and you’ve already been sleep deprived for weeks? You don’t remember things. Where do you usually park? Who knows. Was that big project due today to my supervisor? Who knows. Maybe. You forget things. You’re unable to concentrate. Lights seem brighter and you can feel your eyes closing; your body wants to shut down.

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Loud Hands: Why “Coming Out” as Autistic is Important

As promised, I am adding autism advocacy as a component of this blog. Every other Thursday, I will post LGBThursdays on LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual) topics and alternating Thursdays I will post Loud Hands on autistic community topics.

Why am I adding autism advocacy to my blog? Most importantly, because I’m autistic. I used to run a side blog just on these issues, but it wasn’t very public and I didn’t feel comfortable sharing it with others. When I came out as bisexual in middle and high school, I never thought I’d have to “come out” again, but I do. I need to tell more people that I’m autistic.

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