Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / How To Tell Your Family You Are Autistic (3 Top Strategies)
Transcript
- 0:00So how do you tell your family and friends that you're
- 0:02artistic? Difficult, huh?
- 0:04Here are three top strategies coming up.
- 0:13Hey guys, welcome back to the aspy world.
- 0:15My name is Dan. I have autism, ADHD, OCD, and
- 0:19dyslexia, and I make weekly videos all about this subject.
- 0:22So if you're new around here and you'd like to learn more,
- 0:25remember to hit that subscribe button by clicking the
- 0:27notification bell down below. And if you're watching over on
- 0:29Facebook, which you have to give this page a follow.
- 0:31And if you're watching on Instagram, make sure to follow
- 0:33this account as well for autism content.
- 0:35So guys, what is going on? Welcome back.
- 0:37We're the place where we think differently daily.
- 0:40What's up different? Think of farm.
- 0:42I know you probably bother me saying this, but if you haven't
- 0:44already downloaded my free Autism Life Hacks PDF book, you
- 0:47can do at autismhacks.net right now.
- 0:49Completely free because you're awesome.
- 0:51All right, so I have been asked this question.
- 0:55So how many times, like I probably this is probably the
- 0:59most asked question I have ever been asked on comments.
- 1:02This is how to tell your family you are autistic, right?
- 1:06How do you tell your family you're autistic?
- 1:08Now it's an interesting one because this is the first thing
- 1:11I did. As soon as I was diagnosed with
- 1:12autism, I came home and I told my family because it was
- 1:16something that I felt was so important that they need to
- 1:19know. So I have basically written down
- 1:213 strategies about explaining that you know how to tell them
- 1:25you are autistic from the get go.
- 1:28So if you are new around here and you haven't already, make
- 1:32sure you can go check me out on Twitter.
- 1:34I actually read every single tweet and I tweet you back every
- 1:36single time. I'm Adm so if you want to reach
- 1:37out to me on Instagram and Twitter, you can do.
- 1:40It's just at the aspy world. So you can, yeah, give me a
- 1:43follow and message me and I'll message you right back.
- 1:45No problem. OK.
- 1:46So let's go through these strategies.
- 1:47So number one is explaining the process now.
- 1:51By explaining the process of how you got your assessment and what
- 1:54took place in it, it allows them to feel, feel part of the
- 1:57journey and almost like they're there with you and this is good
- 2:00for them to understand and connect with you when you need
- 2:03it. And so by telling them how you
- 2:05know the process you went through, the, the the
- 2:08assessment, what happened, who was there, what it felt like,
- 2:11what was the outcome, they kind of get a real sense of what it
- 2:14is. You don't go home and say, hi,
- 2:15I'm autistic, deal with it. You come home and you say like,
- 2:17hey, I just been for the assessment and I did the thing
- 2:19and then I was, you know what I mean?
- 2:20It's like an ongoing process of a of a relationship that that
- 2:25allows people into your world and allows them to understand
- 2:28from your perspective what's going on.
- 2:30That is key for them to understand and support you going
- 2:33forward. Especially family and friends is
- 2:35so, so important because they need to see the big picture.
- 2:38They need to see the whole picture.
- 2:40Because if they don't see the whole picture, how are they ever
- 2:42going to be able to understand? You know, you needed the whole
- 2:45picture, and to understand, so they do too.
- 2:47OK, so #2 is research. Now, it's important to present
- 2:51research to your family and the information that they're going
- 2:56to need to have more info on the subject.
- 2:59So basically when you're telling them about it, you've told them
- 3:02the story, tell them how it came about.
- 3:03But then they'll want to know, well, what is autism?
- 3:05So what you should really do is get some information.
- 3:08It research videos, videos like this one or something like that.
- 3:11Again, some PDF information, maybe some books you can get
- 3:14from the library and and hand them to them and just say like
- 3:17hey, you know, this is extra research, extra reading.
- 3:19So one of the things my parents did after I told them I was on
- 3:21the autism spectrum is that they went and researched it for
- 3:23themselves. I handed them some booklets and
- 3:25stuff like that and so they could get a well-rounded, more
- 3:27educated view on it, even though they kind of knew me inside out.
- 3:30It was just nicer to know from a professional standpoint what
- 3:32kind of all this meant. You know, OK, so #3 is the full
- 3:37picture. Now try to your, you know,
- 3:39trying your best explain to everyone in your family group as
- 3:43if you you only have to explain to a small amount of people and
- 3:46you you all the issues and and you know that you've come across
- 3:50and tell them everything about the situation and given the full
- 3:54picture. Like, you know, there's one
- 3:56thing knowing the process you went through, there's another
- 3:58thing reading the research. But if they don't know you and
- 4:00your struggles and your issues and the things that you know you
- 4:03you have struggles with and they're the people you're going
- 4:05to to be around the whole time, then how are they supposed to
- 4:07support you? You know, So it's it's more of a
- 4:10more of a, hey, why don't we, you know, all knuckle down,
- 4:14listen to what you know you have to say about your autism.
- 4:17And then going forward they can support you and then they can
- 4:20help you in certain situations because they know it.
- 4:22They know the full picture. They know everything.
- 4:25So if you have anything to add to this, please pop it in a
- 4:28comment down below and I'll have a conversation because I read
- 4:30every single comment. Also, guys, if you enjoyed this
- 4:32video I want to share it. Please share it on Facebook,
- 4:34Twitter and Instagram and give a view a thumbs up if you enjoyed
- 4:37it. I'll see you in the next one,
- 4:38guys.