“Autistic people report experiencing intense joy in ways connected to autistic traits. Passionate interests, deep focus and learning, and sensory experiences can bring profound joy. The biggest barriers to autistic joy are mistreatment by other people and societal biases, not autism itself.”
67% of participants said they often experience joy.
94% agreed that they “actively enjoy aspects of being autistic.”
80% believed they experience joy differently than non-autistic people.
paraphrasing:
The study identified four main themes about autistic joy:
1) Autistic Senses and Ways of Thinking
Complete absorption, sensory pleasures, consistency/repetition
2) Passionate Interests
Learning and research, nature and animals, creative activities, music, routine and organising
3) The Right Environment
Quiet spaces, spaces where it's safe to be authentic without camouflaging and masking, people who are understanding
4) Societal Prejudice Needs to be Fixed, Not Autistic People
Sensory inclusive environments, acceptance of stimming and special interests, understanding that autistic ways of experiencing joy are valid
“One participant described playing piano: ‘ can get into the zone and time and even thoughts fade away... it feels wonderful.’”
that's me!!
not literally, not personally
but it's EXACTLY how i was until i crashed and needed silence for a decade
i was ALWAYS listening to music. if i wasn't listening to a record or the radio then i was singing or playing, and if i wasn't doing that either, then my brain was playing music for me—either any of the hundreds of tracks it can replay for me, or more often just making up new music
throughout my whole teens i improvised on the piano for hours per day. it was the only way i had to stay emotionally in touch with myself and not get dysregulated. i was miserable for the decade i avoided music
it's funny how I always had this unique and deep relationship with music that quite literally nobody else understands, where I can spend so much time with it that I forget about everything else in the world and even forget that I'm a person; it contains all my emotions and so much more; the worlds inside of music have so many more dimensions than anything else in reality, than the whole of reality outside of it; it soothes me, guides me, agitates me, heals me, understands me, invigorates me, aligns and centers and paces me, it puts me into the flow and takes control of every little muscle in my body and gifts me the all-seeing eye where I am everywhere and everyone; when speaking music (playing) with others I forget about our boundaries and literally know the content of their souls; music explains everything in existence to me; inside I literally am music and the way I understand and interact with the world is musically what no I don't have a special interest why do you ask
@tenkuma don't worry
i was trying to figure out a good resource to point to. maybe this?
ignore the "start the process" etc and go for the texts instead, and maybe the tests, like the AQ, RAADS-R and CAT-Q
https://embrace-autism.com/autism-tests/
i have a very high camouflaging score (CAT-Q) which indicates i probably score lower on the other two than what's "right". most people can't really tell that i'm autistic, except like this autistic psychologist i lived with for a few years :p
also suggest the monotropism test: https://monotropism.org/2023/mq/
that one's my favourite really (because audhd)
can't tell you whether you should see a psychiatrist though. maybe? my only advice is to embrace who you are with love and curiosity, and don't stress it. my self-diagnosing process 15 years ago was incredibly tumultuous (i was hyperfocused on it for 6 months on end...)
so... be kind to yourself ♥️
oh and you should be having fun if you're lazy. it isn't laziness if not doing whatever it is you're supposed to do isn't fun
@tenkuma yeah those scores are something 😙
there's another resource i remembered: https://depts.washington.edu/uwautism/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Self-Identified-Adult-Autism-Resources-handout-10.26.23.pdf
(it's in the US and about autism so maybe download it in case it vanishes…)
here's a quote:
“In our experience at the University of Washington Autism Center, many professionals are not informed about the variety of ways that autism can appear, and often doubt an autistic person’s accurate self-identification. In contrast, inaccurate self-identification of autism appears to be uncommon. We believe that if you have carefully researched the topic and strongly resonate with the experience of the autistic community, you are probably autistic.”
) but I read your quotation and for now it's a lot of weight off my shoulders knowing I'm not weird by trying to diagnose myself.@tenkuma link is just a PDF with mostly just more links 
and no you're absolutely not weird
i self-dxed in 2008/2009, but then i was denied an assessment (after being on a waiting list for 3.5 years....) and eventually just decided to ignore it and treat myself as allistic even though i wasn't
it wasn't until late in 2023 when i accidentally looked up "autistic burnout" that i realised i had been hurting myself really badly, for a decade, by repressing. so i tried the opposite
eventually i began figuring out how to stim. i've been camouflaging since preschool so i never really did that at all, but it's still just as necessary or i won't function very well. i also started looking for ways to decrease sensory inputs to minimise the risk for overstimulation from hypersensitivity.
like, i used to go barefoot a lot because socks were annoying. but now i noticed a correlation between getting overstimulated and walking barefoot on floors that weren't recently vacuumed. so i found socks that aren't annoying (just thin lining socks really) and i wear those indoors, and it all but stopped my breakdowns from too much sensory input from happening.
there's been so many little things like that which made life a whole lot easier, that i didn't even know were a problem, because i've been camouflaging for as long as i can remember, so to me it was just "normal" :p
@tenkuma i press my fingers really hard against things all the time. even in my sleep! i'll wake up with finger joint pains sometimes from pushing them into my sides
i also need my shoes to be pretty tight or else i'll push my toes up against the shoe, which eventually becomes painful too. i posted about that here and it seems like it's pretty common
there's a thing with neurodivergence and autism where the brain in some cases isn't fully aware of where the body is, so we tend to want lots of contact and pressure. my legs are usually held tightly together, my elbows are touching the sides of my torso, i like having a bit more weight on top of me while sleeping, etc. i think that's also why i push my fingers into things or hold them too tightly
“The biggest barrier to people experiencing intense joy is being judged or held back by other people”
Yup, I’d say that’s a huge problem in society at large, and autistic people are participating equally. It’s unfortunate.
My point was that while yes, neurodivergent people get pushed down more commonly for seeking things that aren’t normative joy, if we were all just less judgy and let people have joy in ways they experience it most fully, the world would be a better place for everyone.
Like, “don’t be a jerk” really isn’t that hard of a concept and is really all most neurodivergent people are asking as a baseline - something we should all be receiving anyways.
"Too often, others assume that autistic lives are sad. Joyless. In need of “fixing.”
But autistic experience can be intensely, gloriously joyful—when we are not forced to fit into someone else’s procrustean expectations of what a good life is "supposed" to look like. Why can't there be many ways to live a good life? Authentically? Autistically?"
Gosh, this really spoke to me. I often get judged for my life and it's seen as less, but if I ignored external pressures, I'd actually be quite happy with it.
@jasmine "listening to and dancing to the same song on loop for hours."
I have a playlist called Repeat 1. It's all the songs I often put on, let just 1 of them repeat, for, goddess, sometimes as long as 16 hours or more. Usually takes me a few attempts to find the day's Repeat 1.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6hv4W78YTQ5AaCHryAIcnt?si=coR1FfqDSxKdMWG61Cryxg
@jasmine This one time, Moto and I were in her car, enjoying the absolute shit out of Organ Donor - Extended Overhaul. ...and then the song ended. I saw that twitch, that twitch of wanting to press the button.
"...you know it's cool if you play it again, right?"
"Really?! Thank you!"
...she still did not play it enough times. lol. Damn it, @cmdrmoto, don't mask with the music! C'mon!
@jasmine @cmdrmoto Heh, I spotted this on my playlist... I quote the one line of lyric in it so often.
"You might be missing some of the benefits that stereo can provide"!
https://open.spotify.com/track/59SxricL8UdQtcZZ5zjpLL
I once quoted that to someone who disclosed to me they're deaf in one ear. Thankfully, he found it hilarious.
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