Callum Stephen (He/Him)

Routines are often associated with rigidity, restriction and boredom, but, as an autistic person, I associate most of my routines with structure, predictability, comfort and familiarity.

The autistic urge to plan a whole conversation before you speak, anticipating what the other person will say in response to what you plan to say, fine-tuning what you plan to say, and repeating this process for subsequent stages of the conversation.

But, this doesn’t mean that I can’t be fun and lighthearted, because I can be.

As an Autistic person, I often take things more seriously than other people do. This is because I experience many things - such as emotions, thoughts, sensory experiences, and more - on a deeper level; things often feel more intense for me.

The ADHD urge to google the same thing 5 times, because the answer wasn’t interesting enough for you to remember it the first 4 times.

Some words/phrases that autistic people may be extra familiar with: - If that makes sense - Just in case - It depends - Actually - Why?

The autistic urge to take extra good care of your objects, because they bring you so much joy, comfort and familiarity, and even just the thought of them breaking or being damaged feels distressing.

@thatsjet It can be so easy to forget! I often write myself little notes if I can 🙏🏻

@AutisticCallum_ Or you may not even be able to remember what you were doing, let alone be able to get back into that zone.

The Autistic/ADHD panic when you get interrupted partway through a task, because redirecting your focus can be arduous and, when you later return to the former task, picking up where you left off and getting back into a rhythm with it can take so much thought and energy.

Part of my autistic experience is that sometimes my friendliness is perceived as ‘polite but distant’. I can feel like I’m being bubbly and convivial, yet sometimes not be perceived as such by other people.

The autistic urge to make and keep many lists. Some of these lists may relate to important things you need to remember and things you need to do, but others may be more light-hearted - for example, lists of: songs, books, movies and TV shows you want to enjoy when you have time.

@sunray4life I hope it was worth the wait 🙏🏻✨

@AutisticCallum_ I love to read and due to disability ebook works best. Old ebook about to be dead, get new ebook for birthday. Leave it not even unpacked for two weeks... Another five days to get used to new ebook surface. 🤣

The autistic urge to casually admire but not use new things (unless you have to) for a while after you get them, because it can take some time for you to become accustomed to their presence in your vicinity and feel comfortable interacting with them.

@LaLunaLlorando I love to look at books and admire the cover, blurb and font before reading! 😎

Like books … I just love to arrange them and rearrange them on my shelves … nice, nice … then hug them to my chest and smell the new pagey-ness scent … really nice … then think about how much I am going to enjoy turning each new page … flutter … then it’s time to read it …

@Galaxy42_ So relatable! My brain frequently goes into practical mode in stressful situations and then processes the stress later 🙏🏻

@AutisticCallum_ Same. This seems to be caused by my ability to remain incredibly "focussed" when involved in a high drama situation. Of course, they don't see me 8 hours later when I have rerun the incident in my head 1000 times & pushed myself into hyper panic made retrospectively.

Part of my autistic experience is that I am often told that I project a calm aura and have a calming presence - even at times when I do not feel calm myself.

@emma_swan151 I hope you can get out of burnout soon 🙏🏻

@AutisticCallum_ Yes! I have this a lot in my job - as a disability support worker lol, I get told I'm so good with the people we support because I'm so calm and patient. I suspect that's what led to my massive burn out. Double edged sword!

@ekendall That’s so cool! ☺️🙏🏻

@AutisticCallum_ Yeah. This. Or foreign languages in my case. I’m working on my fourth now. ;)

Many autistic people have a particularly strong love for words; we enjoy learning new words, finding out what they mean, researching their etymology, choosing the words that most precisely match what we wish to express, …

@phi_phantastic I love the word onomatopoeia for this ☺️🙏🏻

@AutisticCallum_ You ever notice that some words *feel* nice when you say them? And then you repeat them over and over, not because of the sound or the meaning but because they feel nice. (And then people look at you weirdly lol)

@g_edwards55 So often! 😂🙏🏻

@AutisticCallum_ Yeah you ever go to look something up and as soon as you open your browser you completely forget what it was? So now you have to retrace your train of thought leading up to that point to see if you remember.

The Autistic/ADHD desperation to hold a thought until you can action it or write it down, because if you stop thinking about it for even a *second*, it may vanish, never to return.