YES.

Saw your asks were open! Don't burn yourself out with answering, please.

So, a thing I've heard sometimes is autistics having a low "mental age". Both from people in my school* and more influential sources that make out autism as a tragedy. As small news articles and ableist teenage boys aren't the best sources, I'm asking you! Do (some) autistic people actually have "lower mental ages" or is that a complete myth?

("I wish I had autism so I could also get benefits." "Dude, do you want to be four years old for the rest of your life?" That type of thing.)

This is very factual, but with a major caveat: it's not the mental age. It's that we don't adhere to social norms and will continue to enjoy or act in ways seen as younger.

I collect stuffed animals and have a toy box full of colouring books and stim items. I also don't dress my age and wear jeans and Disney t-shirts.

Not all Autistics do this. Some act older than they are. Some have intellectual disabilities that NTs deem as "child like" (they're not... They're adults with intellectual disabilities. Not an adult with the mind of a 4 year old.)

So, yes. But with lots of reasons.

Oh. My. FORCE. How did I not notice that?

Wait, so the the original four are pretty obvious, but where do Echo and Omega fit into this? I mean, Omega could be April (clueless but fiesty at the beginning, eventually becomes one of the badasses), but I'm lost on Echo. Also, any ideas for AZI and Gonky?

The realization that Crosshair is the Raphael of the family just hit me like a train

I am so glad I found this! I wish someone knew how to redirect my headbanging when I was younger (thankfully I mostly grew out of that one), or that other stims were okay; I used to be gotten onto a lot for any kind of stimming, but a few persisted to now, much to my family's annoyance.

don’t know what parent of an autistic child needs to hear this but as long as they’re not harming anyone your kid’s stimming is not a “problem behaviour”

Wholly agree with this (and love it!), just gonna add a couple things:

First, and I can't believe we're here, but: Aaravos might have just made it on the best cartoon dad list, AND JUST FROM ONE EPISODE! That's gotta be a record.

Second... I think this point could get even more sad, so sorry in advance; Leola was executed for breaking Cosmic Order, right? Because she gave magic to humans... Aaravos also gave magic to humans, and a far worse kind at that, while being a menace to any other form of Order he could find..... and was imprisoned. I'm sorry, WHAT?

And while we're mentioning it, let's look at that prison, shall we? It's a big pearl, sure. Inside it, it's a near-perfect replica of the home Aaravos and Leoa lived in before her execution. Outside, it rests among bones that could very well be LEOLA'S REMAINS, inside a body of water that Aaravos made with his tears over the span of 100 YEARS!!! And someone chose THAT as his prison, like they're trying to rub salt on the wound.

All this, on top of your point, makes me think that they, while definitely not wanting humans to have magic, were more concerned with getting rid of a child they could not understand or control, while trying to keep "one of the Great Ones" with them, and subsequently got petty when that (unsurprisingly) backfired.

The whole situation reeks of toxicity and ableism under a perfect facade.

Ok ok ok SO!

I think everyone has realized that Leola was autistic. It was heavily implied both through the flashback images and Aaravos' narration-

She lined up her toys, flapped her hands (it was also shown in the trial scene), seemed to be sensitive towards loud sounds (like the other startouch elves when they talked), and walked on her tiptoes. All of those are classic signs of autism.

But there's one thing I haven't seen anyone else bring up, and that's that her giving her human friends magic and breaking the "cosmic order" or whatever could also be because of her neurotype!

Autistic people tend to have very strict senses of morality and fairness, and will disregard rules if they don't fit their idea of right or wrong. Personal example here, I used to constantly do things I was told not to because I thought the rules in question were bogus.

It's not hard to guess that Leola would find the rules about humans not having magic to be unfair- after all, her and all the other elves, and even the animals around them are full of it! So in the mind of an autistic child, this would be incredibly unfair. And she had the power to "fix" the situation! So why wouldn't she?

Why wouldn't she try to help her friends? Because it would break the cosmic order? That's vague as hell and she was a KID!

And the startouch elves atomized her, for breaking a rule she probably only half understood and thought was stupid. Because she was autistic.

Had this thought and wanted to share, makes the whole thing even more tragic.

Why is this so ACCURATE?🤣 To be fair, though, they are aloud (even encouraged) to care, they just have to put the good of all first... but this is still hilarious.

The Jedi code: No attachment! No romantic partners! No family!

Anakin sneeking off to meet up with Padme after a night out with the 501st, whilst hiding adoption papers for Ashoka: What attachments? No attachments hear!

Obi Wan sat on Cody's lap whilst waiting for a message from Satine: Be mindful of the code padawan.

Aayla removing herself from Bly's face for 0.5 seconds: What did you say?

Kit Fisto waiting to call Aayla and Bly so they can meet up for date night: You must listen to master Yoda, attachments are dangerous.

Ploo koon and Shaak Ti surrounded by clone younglins as they fill out adoption forms for the entire army: Emotions are not the Jedi way.

Depa Billap tucking Caleb into bed: You must learn to let go of your feelings.

Quinlan Vos in the middle of checking in with Aayla and having given Bly the shovel talk: Listen to Obi Wan, he's usually right.

Mace Windu sitting worriedly at medical waiting for news on his injured men: As Jedi it is are duty to follow the code.

yall. i see a lot about masking, and i just wanted to ask that, well personally, i dont mask. and i feel like thats weird because i keep hearing how, it feels like everybody else is in some form masking?

i dont even know what masking entails, what it is, i only know some very few information that it is like, well one is wanting to touch stuff but dont? idk, i just, if i wanna touch something, i touch it. but im not obsessively touching stuff. i dont like, stim either, in the autistic way, im sorry if that came across as rude i just wanna say i dont do it because of autism, i do it because of my severe anxiety. i only do stuff, crossing arms, twisting foot, idk how to explain it, if im stood still, i will like, bend my foot so it looks like it might break but it wont lol...etcetc, are those even stims? they dont sound like it now that i wrote some down haha, because i have severe anxiety and i feel like im gonna pass out and vomit when im out of the house. i have a whole ass YEAR left until i begin my cbt therapy. i dont even know if thats gonna help, i tried it before years ago but pretty much gave up because i felt it didnt do anything and im depressed af and have zero motivation. because im never gonna get better anyways. i had a nurse telling me that too ages ago and i still remember it because he was all like "so im not supposed to tell you this because its private information about me, but you'll never get better from this. this is a lifelong issue you'll have to deal with for the rest of your life, because i have it too" real comforting when you just told that person you wanna kill yourself because you suffer so bad. i feel like he wants me to kill myself so they'll rid a troubling annoying person. but anyways!

oh yea! another one is forced eye contact, i dont do that either haha, i look up people in the eye, or in the middle, and then if i dont wanna, i dont. so im sure i dont mask and is that normal? is there anybody else out here that dont either?

yall, a list of various ways of masking would be appreciated so i know whether i am or not, even though im preeeeeetty sure that i do not.

thank you. and i hope you have a good week.

I'll answer this in parts.

1 - Autistic masking is the conscious and unconscious act of pretending to be neurotypical.

Conscious versions of this are things like practicing conversations, practicing facial expressions in a mirror, watching others communicate so that you can mimic them. However, unlike neurotypicals or allistics (non-autistics), at no point do we feel comfortable or confident in doing these performances. It's exhausting and we're very aware of our actions and other's actions.

Unconcious versions of masking are those that are drilled in to us either by society, family (on purpose or not), bullying etc. These include forcing facial expressions, forcing eye contact, forcing vocal tone, holding back or permanently repressing stimming, ignoring special interests due to mocking or bullying, enduring adverse sensory experiences etc. These are often enforced from infancy and we may not even be aware we're doing it. But we are aware we're exhausted from tasks others are not.

Unconcious and conscious masking mix and match. They're fluid, and not everyone experiences the same versions.

2 - Not every autistic masks. Higher needs may not mask, intellectual disabilities may prohibit it, and supportive families may never enforce it. Some autistics grow up and refuse to mask any longer. And many different versions of this, too.

3 - Everyone stims. Stimming is any repetitive behaviour that is used to modify external or internal input via a soothing behaviour. Autistics and many other NDs simply do it a lot more and have more variety. So, yes. If what you described is done in order to add input or block out input, it's stimming.

4 - Not all Autistics struggle with eye contact. Whilst clinicians use it as this big indicator, it's really not.

5 - Lastly, that nurse who spoke to you in that moment of need was a complete ass. Anxiety is difficult, but it's not the end of the road. If CBT therapy didn't help, it may be that you need a modified version, or try something different all together. There are many different therapies and avenues. There is hope, you just need to figure out what road is yours.

One of my favorite scenes in Rebels, I couldn't control my laughter when I first saw it.🤣🤣🤣

AP-5 in Star Wars: Rebels - Season 3, Episode 19 ◦ Double Agent Droid

Well now I'm ugly-crying, thanks.😭

Very sad that Crosshair missed out on Omega’s first shooting lesson.

Dunno enough about cars to agree or disagree with the Firebird bit, but I do know that regardless of what vehicle he would have, he would not only drive it like crazy, he'd put a lot of work into it, too (with Wrecker's assistance for the heavier parts, of course).

I feel like if Tech existed in our world he would drive a firebird and just be drifting it like crazy.

Which is great because my husband has three. 🏎️🏎️🏎️🔥🦅

Come drift with my husband, Tech. Pls?