Posts Tagged ‘parenting’

Opening the Floor: Yes, I Am Autistic, Folks

Because of the amount of W*ncest shippers that viewed my blog in a twenty-four hour period (we’re talking, like, thirty), I decided to open the floor to all who wanted to ask me questions to give me something to blog about. The least I can do is give them something to read. Of course, I won’t be identifying who asked what.

The first question that I was asked was about my autism “diagnosis”, which is a story in and of itself.

I began to participate in autistic-led communities when both of my children were formally diagnosed autistic because I wanted to learn as much as I could to appropriately and effectively parent them. At first I did not identify, or self-identify, as autistic because I did not know that I was autistic. As I began to make autistic friends in these communities with the advice that I occasionally gave as a parent being given clout, autistic adults began contacting me and speaking to me. A lot of them said that they believed that I was autistic, that they saw autism in me. A variety of ways to say it were used. I began to mull it over as the count of autistic adults telling me that they thought I was autistic increased, and I realized that I was comfortable not only with being an autistic adult but also self-identifying as such. In some circles I joke that the Internet diagnosed me, but it is the honest truth. I don’t feel ashamed of being an autistic adult, nor do I feel bad. Now, in these autistic-led circles, I self-identify as autistic and I try to give the best advice possible to neurotypical parents of autistic children. Autistic adults continue to see the fact that I am autistic in the kinds of advice that I give, and some of them tell me that. So yes, hello — I am autistic, and I am not ashamed.

I will get around to updating the about me section of this blog in due time, or probably seconds from now.

We shall see.

Did I forget to queue a post up in here or something?

Apparently I did. And I had convinced myself that I had posts queued for the next few days, too…

I’m supposed to be sitting here looking for more video games for Bub, ones that he does not already have, but even that is proving to be difficult because I’ve already pre-ordered him much of what I would want to pre-order him. I mean, not that I’m complaining about making a lot less work for myself… but now I have to find him things that he doesn’t already have. I would consider getting him Pokemon plushies, too — ones that he doesn’t already have — but the going prices on some of these, the ones that I’ve found on Amazon and eBay, are absolutely obscene. I’m not going to pay $35.00 for a Pichu plush. I would have no problem paying a reasonable price for one. However, I am not paying $35.00 for one when it is not even that rare.

It might also be that Pokemon plushies in general go for exorbitant prices, which would (and is) making me reconsider purchasing them. I’m not about to cut off my arm or my leg to afford maybe… one plush, two at the most. Admittedly, some of them don’t have the worst prices, but a lot of them are marked up to almost unbelievable prices, and it makes us want to develop a Funko Pop collection rather than a Pokemon one if this is how things are going to be. But between this and the fact that my head has hurt for going on two days now in spite of the medication that I’ve been prescribed, I want to limit my consumption of things that are probably going to frustrate me… and the idea of these things being marked up as high as they are is definitely on the list. Let’s not, please. Let’s actually price things appropriately so that people purchase them.

This is classic Bub “I do not like my surroundings”.

He loves this plush so much — it was a gift from a friend — that he takes it everywhere with him, and sometimes he does things like this. And yes, he gave consent for me to take this picture. He doesn’t mind that it is on my blog. If he had his way, I would be mentioning him a lot more on my blog… maybe I should…

Admit it, you came here to admire the curl.

In theory, I have one child who could have and manage his own Facebook account or Twitter account. He’s fourteen, so he’s old enough to. But I don’t feel comfortable allowing him to use a website that requires the use of his full name, and I don’t feel like he’s at a point where he could use any of these sites, would want to, or would get the same meaning out of them that we do. I mean, I could help him manage something… but I’m not sure about that, because if he weren’t enjoying it and wanting to do it, what would the point be? And in a way, it’s kind of ironic. Kids that he has grown up with have their own social networking accounts and enjoyably use them. And here I am, not even using his real name when I make public posts about him. I could if I wanted, but I don’t feel comfortable doing so given real-life (real life? how do you parse that?) circumstances, so here we are. Also, ironically the child in the picture isn’t the child that I’m writing about. He is too young to have social networking accounts of his own. I’m content to allow him to explore on YouTube and YouTube Kids.

Plus, I wouldn’t want to deal with the idea of having to help him navigate online conversations. Not yet.

So here we are. I feel old writing this entry out and I’m only thirty-five years old (my oldest son is fourteen).

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