Autistic people are struggling every day.
They go through difficult situations all the time.
Neurodivergent people can face all different kinds of challenges throughout the day.
Sometimes they’re quite painful or frustrating and you wouldn’t even notice.
Here are 5 painful things autistic people go through every single day.
Putting On the Wrong Clothes That Ruin the Whole Day
This is something that I discovered lately.
In the past, I couldn’t wear anything that was tight. It made me angry and I felt claustrophobic.
That’s not it.
It’s overstimulation by certain fabrics and their tightness of it.
For example, I’d love to wear a suit, but after an hour or so, it just starts to annoy me, it gets hot and I take it off. It’s so annoying because I love wearing these fancy clothes.
But when you dress for the day and go away, you can’t change in the middle of the day.
Imagine the struggle.
Getting Overstimulated in Public
Perhaps this is the most obvious one that’s on the list.
Overstimulation is not just accredited to autistic people, many people suffer from this and it’s not fun at all.
But I feel like it’s a little worse for autistic people because of all the extra side effects that are coming up. There are so many things that can cause this on a regular day.
- Talking to people in crowds.
- Too loud music in stores.
- Too bright lights in stores.
- Temperatures being too high or too low.
There might be many more things that cause overstimulation and not everybody has the same things to cause them.
I don’t have any trouble walking around in cold. I’d rather walk around in a T-Shirt and shorts whilst freezing than the other way around.
The Feelings of Being Socially Retarded (and Seeing Other People Being Social)
I feel socially retarded.
Every single day it feels like I’m not normal when I talk to other people or even see other people talk to each other (and not to or with me).
It’s okay. I’m used to it now.
But this used to be a bigger problem. When I was younger and didn’t know much about myself I felt like I needed to fit in, and connect with other people that were already friends in the first week of school.
(How do these people do that).
Or when sitting in a restaurant or cafe and people don’t understand me or hear me. I feel so stupid.
It’s not that. We’re just overthinking everything. Those people don’t care about us. And that’s good.
Checking Every Single Thing at Least 3 Times
This isn’t something I did an awful lot, but my girlfriend does this.
Checking everything before leaving the house:
- Are the lights off?
- Are the windows closed?
- Do I have my phone?
- Do I have my keys?
- Do I have x,y,z…
It’s a good habit actually because you wouldn’t lose your stuff in this way.
I on the other hand didn’t even check my pockets when leaving the bus and accidentally lost my wallet in there.
Luckily, the bus driver was a nice guy and delivered my wallet back home (thanks).
Otherwise, I could have requested a whole lot of cards again. (ID cards are expensive).
Emotional Instability Throughout the Day
This must not come as a surprise.
Autistic people can be quite emotionally unstable. And you won’t even notice.
It’s all happening inside our brains and we’re just sitting there with this straight face watching you talk.
But it’s not very convenient when you’re having an unstable moment and you have to order a coffee at a restaurant or do anything else social. You just freeze and can’t properly function anymore.
I’ve managed to try and control this by meditating. You should try it.
Final Thoughts
Because there’s not so much known about autistic people’s own experience I decided to share my knowledge with you.
I’ve been autistic my whole life (duh) and I think that it would help if more autistic people would write or talk (scary) about their own experiences in life.
Luckily this is happening more and more, thanks to social media.