As An Autistic Person I Do Not Identify With The “autism Creature” Meme. I Am An Autism Monstrosity,

“Public libraries are such important, lovely places!” Yes but do you GO there. Do you STUDY there. Do you meet friends and get coffee there. Do you borrow the FREE, ZERO SUBSCRIPTION, ZERO TRACKING books, audiobooks, ebooks, and films. Have you checked out their events and schemes. Do you sign up for the low cost courses in ASL or knitting or programming or writing your CV that they probably run. Do you know they probably have myriad of schemes to help low income families. Do you hire their low cost rooms if you need them. Have you joined their social groups. Do you use the FREE COMPUTERS. Do you even know what your library is trying to offer you. Listen, the library shouldn’t just exist for you as a nice idea. That’s why more libraries shut every year

For anyone who has a disability or is in a situation that makes eating more difficult, I highly recommend this product:

I have extreme difficulty cooking, touching things, and using plates/cutlery due to my OCD and phobia. I have to rely heavily on premade food like ready-to-eat products made at my grocery store, frozen dinners, etc. This product I recently discovered has been an amazing help. 

There’s only four of these breakfast sandwiches in the container, but they’re a pretty good size and very filling. I can eat one of these sandwiches and be good for hours. The only thing you need to make them is a microwave. They cook for only a minute and thirty seconds, which is super fast! 

They require no preparation other than slightly opening the end of the package. You actually cook the sandwich right in the wrapper it’s stored in. This means that YOU DO NOT NEED A PLATE OR CUTLERY! You can use the wrapper you cooked it in to hold the sandwich as you eat it! So it is easy and quick to make, requires no preparation, it doesn’t make a mess, there’s no dishes to clean, you barely have to touch anything, and it tastes seriously good!

There are two versions of this product that both use different ingredients, but to me they tasted the same. The only real difference to me was that this sandwich uses turkey sausage and the other sandwich uses chicken sausage. This brand also makes some other similar breakfast items that are also very easy, but they require a bit more effort. The frittatas have to be put on a plate, and the breakfast burrito needs to be wrapped in a paper towel. I store paper plates in my fridge as an accommodation to help me still occasionally use plates, so I sometimes buy the frittatas. The breakfast burrito tastes so good and is a little easier for me to prepare with the paper towels than the frittatas that require a plate. But the breakfast sandwiches are probably the star of the show.

I know these sandwiches can’t fill someone’s entire dietary needs and that they won’t be useful for every disability that makes eating more difficult, especially disabilities like sensory disorders since they’re so individual, but I hope this recommendation can still help someone. If you have some days where cooking, touching things, standing for a long time, etc. is too hard, then this breakfast sandwich might be useful for an easy, filling, and tasty meal. The main obstacle of this product is that the price is about $6. Buy it on sale if you can. Since I tend to eat this as an entire dinner/snack, it’s not a terrible price since it averages out to $1.50 per meal. I’ve also accepted that food is just something I personally have to save more of my money for so I can spend more money on food that I can actually eat. Food that my disorders will allow me to eat is what I splurge on.

I hope this suggestion might help someone!

unfortunately if you are an old friend of mine i will always care about you no matter what even if we haven't seen each other in forever because i still remember what you were like 7 years ago and i still remember how it felt to be young with you and i still have a lot of love for you in the back of my mind

What no one tells you about being “pre-med” until you’re doing it

I realized I wanted to be a doctor when I was a junior in high school, many events happened to bring me to this realization; however I told myself that when I got to college, I was going to be a chemistry/biochemistry major and be “pre-med”–so when the time arrived, that’s what I did.

 “How do I maximize my chances of getting into medical school?” I thought. Make all A’s, get involved in lots of extracurricular activities, research and clinical volunteering. So, that’s what I did—for 4 years of undergrad, I was a machine. I figured if I kept working hard, I would eventually reach my goal of becoming a doctor. This is all true, however, no one tells you what isolating yourself and studying for extensive hours at a time can do to you. No one tells you about the hardships you will face along the way, the friends you will lose who “don’t understand why you study so much,” all the family events, functions, parties and birthday parties you miss out on because you’re “at the library.” The difficulties of dating while “pre-med” are real. I dated a couple of wonderful people, who each decided to break things off with me because I would be “leaving for medical school.” Being “pre-med” (and I am sure these same struggles continue on into medical school) can leave you feeling drained, depressed, stressed, lonely and feeling as though you are not really “being yourself” (due to the fact you are working so hard all the time and trying to balance everything).

There have been only a few times during my undergraduate career when the words, “I am done with studying” have been said. Those times are when the semester actually ended. I never believed I was truly ever done with studying, because there was always more I could review or more I could learn. Considering the “weed-out” classes you have to take can have up to a 70% fail rate (depending on your university), you can imagine the pressure of always wanting to ‘do more.’

Every test, is a weed out. I will never forget after taking many science tests, upon receiving our test grades, I would always over hear someone in the room break down and cry, saying that now they have to change their major or now they can’t be a doctor. It’s heartbreaking.

 The struggle, is REAL. It is HARD. And it requires an extensive amount of work. However, it can be done. The best way to get through it all without losing your sanity, is to have an amazing support group; whether that group is your family and/or best friends. Have people who you can go to about anything. I wouldn’t have made it through and gotten into medical school without my family and friends always being there for me and being understanding.

Also, make time to have fun! It sounds impossible, but it is absolutely necessary. Go out and do something fun with your friends at least once a week!

Don’t put more on your plate than you can handle, if you are involved in a lot of extracurricular activities and you realize you’re unhappy lately and feel like you never get any “me” time, drop some activities and MAKE “me” time, that’s important for your happiness and your mental health. Also, make time to exercise, even if it is going on a walk. Exercise is the best way to reduce stress, boost your mood, clear your mind and take care of your mental health.

Find a mentor, someone who has been through it before. Ask them any questions you have about classes or medical school. Relieve your stresses and anxiety and get yourself a mentor.

I wouldn’t change anything I did, except for making more time to workout and relieve some of that stress. If you want to be a doctor, go for it–the reward will be absolutely worth it in the end.

 My goal of this post was not to deter anyone who seeks to be a doctor away from medicine, but rather to fill you in on the struggles that no one tells you about and to provide some helpful solutions for getting through it.

Hopefully it helped provide some insight!

I am once again begging several companies and important services (hospitals, GPs, etc.) to allow forms of contact other than verbally calling. Even with special numbers for that kind of thing, oftentimes the people running these services will still call back ignoring issues such as deafness or mutism, and then act as though you were in the wrong for lack of response - even if informing them of your condition beforehand.

I was fully mute for a few years, and the amount of times medical professionals ignored this and tried to call me for verbal discussions, or didn't provide another method of contact, was abysmal. They even demanded verbal calling by phone to be let into the building. So many services need to do better about this, and so do several companies. Not everyone can talk (even if they can hear), and not everyone can hear (even if they can talk). I am begging these services to do better.

cool thing a lot of people don’t know: discrimination against Deaf people isn’t ableism. it’s called audism. most Deaf people don’t see their deafness as a disability, but rather as an important part of their identity so calling it ableism could be incorrect or even seen as offensive

it's okay if you get confused easily. it's okay if you forget things easily. it's okay if you lose track during conversation easily. it's okay if you have to ask for clarification often. it's okay if you struggle to parse information or sensory unit. you're not "playing dumb" or "doing it on purpose". it's okay to be disabled, some people just refuse to be accommodating.

Joy Sullivan, from "Late Bloomer", Instructions for Traveling West