Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Are You Autistic The Signs of Autism You Didn't Notice!

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Are You Autistic The Signs of Autism You Didn't Notice! · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

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  So if you're autistic, you definitely experienced this
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  thing. I'm going to tell you now, this
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  trait or characteristics or sometimes people call it
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  symptom, but nobody talks about it.
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  I'm going to be the one that talks about it.
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  OK guys, let's go. OK, so I have autism and ADHD
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  and by the way, guys, my name is Dan.
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  So if you're new around here and you want to learn more about
• 0:18
  this stuff, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you get
• 0:21
  notified every single time I upload update by clicking on
• 0:23
  notification bell down below. Now, one of the most interesting
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  things I experienced this trait of autism that everybody I know
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  experiences, but the most interesting thing is nobody
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  talks about it and it's not even it's not talked about.
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  It's less often even referred to in therapies in in any console O
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  TS anything like that. And it's absolutely it.
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  It blows my mind. And that is you're going to love
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  this, right? It's loving the routine of
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  something and also really hating a routine of something and
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  you're going to be like down, what the heck are you talking
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  about? Autistic people love a routine
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  and and that's the buzzword. Now, if you're watching this and
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  you're autistic and you already know that feeling gives you a
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  like. So I know I'm resonating with
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  the right people right now. Listen up.
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  This is going to get really, really interesting and it's
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  probably it's the most debilitating part, for me
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  anyway, of autumn. There's two parts that really
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  kick my butt, right? Being autistic in ADHD, two
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  parts kick my butt. 1 is on the autism side, it's anxiety and
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  OCD, which I'm going to talk about in this video.
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  And on the other side, it's ADHD, anxiety and impulsivity
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  and lack of focus, right? So those things together make an
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  incredible difference when you are able to understand them.
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  But then you can also get therapy or medication or
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  whatever that you need for that specific issue.
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  It's not always that easy. It's not always that simple.
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  So let's get on with this. Autistic individuals, let me say
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  this will have OCD, right? And OCD comes comorbid or Co
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  occurring, which means it comes alongside autism.
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  So autism comes with things like OCD, dyslexia, anxiety,
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  depression, ADHD and those things are kind of inherent and
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  autistic individuals have a bit of those things sprinkled about
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  everywhere. However, most autistic
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  individuals I know have two main things.
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  One ADHD and 2nd OCD. Now OCD stands for obsessive
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  compulsive disorder. Now a lot of people get their
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  views and think that OCD is I love washing my hands a million
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  times because I want to get the gems off my hands or I love
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  cleaning my house because I want my house to be clean and I'm OCD
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  about it. You hear all the time like, oh,
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  I'm a bit OCD with how my house is organized and things.
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  And yes, that does come into OCD.
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  Like you can, if you have OCD, you can experience those issues.
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  However, the true kicker from OCD is much deeper, much darker,
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  much more sinister in the mind than just, hey, I want to clean
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  my house, wash my hands 10 times a day.
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  You know, there's a lot that goes into it.
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  So I'm actually sharing a really personal kind of like trait that
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  I have like my own personal trait of OCD versus autistic
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  OCD. And I've never shared this
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  before. I've never shared this with any
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  anybody other than my partner now.
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  And my partner, I've been with her for just over a year.
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  She's the first person I've ever let into this kind of like very
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  personal bubble because OCD is something that like is super
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  personal. And the reason it's super
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  personal is because it sounds crazy when you say out loud and
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  it seems crazy. You even know it's crazy, but we
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  still do it. And autistic people suffer from
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  this in the most intense way. And so I'll, I'll go through it
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  first. What I'm going to do, there's
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  two types of OCD And the reason there's two types of OCD is
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  because autistic people experience both types and only,
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  only autistic individuals will experience both types of OCD.
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  Now autistic individuals love routine.
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  You've heard this a million times.
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  You know, we're like the same foods, the same plate, we're
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  like going to the same place, we like the same cereal, we like
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  sitting in the same spot, we like watching the same TV shows.
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  You get the picture. This repetitiveness or this self
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  stimulatory behaviour is a soothing, calming, relaxing
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  ability for us to really understand the world around us.
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  And why is that? And if I give you more context
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  for that, it'll make a bit more sense.
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  Now the world is set up in a way where there is completely
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  unexpected terms constantly. You know, there's delays on the
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  buses, you don't know when the traffic lights are going to
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  change. Somebody's going to phone you
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  abruptly, the mailman's going to knock the door.
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  There could be a an emergency happening, right.
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  So all this chaos is going on in the world and, and that chaos
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  for autistic individuals, it's hard to navigate because we are
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  trying to process the information and understand the
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  information around us on top of dealing with that chaos.
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  So you can just imagine that's just a whole whirlwind, a
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  nightmare, if you will, of trying to stabilize yourself all
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  the way through. So how do we ground ourselves?
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  How do we become normalized? Not normal, normalized as a wave
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  function. A wave function is like, you
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  know, if it's normalized, it's flat.
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  How do we become normalized? And this comes from a really
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  simple practice of how autistic individuals or their brains work
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  or our brains work is we found comfort in knowing
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  predictability, what comes next? And if we know what's going to
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  come next, then there's no deviation between point A and
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  point B, which is kind of like why we use those now and next
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  cards. You ever heard of those like
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  autistic kids will have, we're having breakfast now and then
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  next we're going to go to the store.
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  It's like a visual aid to tell them what they're doing, right?
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  Because knowing what we're doing will give us a sense of calm
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  because we're like, OK, we know what we're doing so we can deal
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  with some of the chaos because we know what we're doing.
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  On the other part, our entire existence, our own urging
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  ourselves towards life is being kind of scripted and taken care
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  of. Hence why if you're an autistic
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  person or you look after an autistic person or you know
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  autistic people and they have had a change of plans or a
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  deviation of the what was expected of them in that day, it
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  could cause massive issues, meltdowns, shutdowns, burnouts,
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  you know, overwhelm. And this is because how we
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  thought it was going to go didn't actually go to plan.
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  Now, before I get into it, I want to talk to you about this
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  little bad boy. This is the loop timer.
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  Now loop timer is the first kind of timer that I've seen for
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  adults on the autism spectrum and with ADHD.
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  And it's made by a guy who has a DHDA good friend of mine, Cody.
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  He's awesome, right? And he's made this thing
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  himself. This guy is a legend.
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  I use this timer so much as USBC chargeable and it's just
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  amazing. It has this like light that you
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  can have on the outside of it. So this one's blue light that's
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  going on the outside showing a blue display.
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  It's a big display, but one of the coolest things, dude, this
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  is magnetic. Look at this.
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  So you can literally have the loop timer anywhere.
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  This thing is amazing. This is the first edition of it.
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  Now you can go to the link in my bio or just simply click the
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  link on the card in this video to see the loop timer.
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  I have a link permanently in my bio for the loop timer and it's
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  absolutely amazing. Retty sure there is a Romo code
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  with it in the link in my bio so go check it out.
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  Code is amazing. If you support this, you're
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  supporting not only an ADHD business, but also you're
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  supporting the future of how we as ADHDODHD autistic individuals
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  use things. Now I use the timer to keep on
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  track with tasks because I do things daily.
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  Like I'm dealing with clients I'm dealing with like making
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  videos. That's why I got one on right
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  now. Or I'm having to do a phone
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  call, or maybe I need to script something.
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  So it's kind of like, Dang, I need to have something that
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  keeps me on track visually. And this is amazing and
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  aesthetically pleasing for my minimal desk setup and I love
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  it. So check it out now loop timer.
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  Amazing, amazing work. Lincoln bio OK guys, So now
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  we've established that why we like routine or why we like
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  doing those things repetitively, those things bring us joy or in
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  a better way of saying it, like doing those things over again
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  give us a happy feeling or a happy hormone release.
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  Similar to the Konmari effect from the Maria Kondo method,
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  where this Japanese lady, Maria Kondo, she explains how we
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  should surround ourselves with the things that spark a joy in
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  our life. And this is how we declutter
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  things if we're being a bit too kind of hoarding of, of random
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  things. And what Mariah Kondo says is
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  that the Konmari method means that those things spark you joy
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  and you feel that joy, which is kind of like autistic
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  individuals feel joy from doing routine.
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  So that is a, an OCD or a compulsion, right?
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  An obsessive compulsion to want to do the same things over again
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  because you already know the outcome, it's predictable, and
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  you get comfort from it and a happy release from it, right?
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  So what's the alternative? The alternative is the sinister
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  side of it, the other side of OCD.
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  Now this is obsessive compulsive disorder in its worst form.
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  And autistic individuals experience this.
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  You experience this. It is the OCD that makes you
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  want to do something so that nothing bad happens.
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  So for instance, if I don't put my towel straight, this weird
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  intrusive thought comes in my head saying like, hey, put it
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  straight or somebody, somebody's going to die or something bad's
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  going to happen to people you love or your life is going to
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  turn into garbage. And you're like, oh, he smokes.
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  Like what? And it sounds crazy because
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  you're like, well, I don't need to do these things.
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  Like you don't control me. This is just my mind playing
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  tricks on me. You know, this is life, and life
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  is infinite. And we have the ability to do
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  anything we want. However, it takes a hold of you.
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  And this is my personal one. This is one of the biggest ones
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  that kicks my butt and I have to do this and I've never shared
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  this publicly. So this is kind of it and I'll
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  share B rolls while you see exactly the process.
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  I do this when I go for a shower.
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  When I come out of the shower, I have to put my towel down so
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  that I the towel kind of like faces one way underneath me.
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  So I don't step onto the actual mat of the bath mat.
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  I have to step onto the towel on top of the mat and it has to
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  curl over and the tag needs to be on the right hand side.
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  Brush my head back three times, hop all the bath on one leg
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  which is usually my left leg and then I tap my forehead 3 times
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  and I have to tap wood three times and then it's done.
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  The amount of times I've had to stand in the shower cubicle
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  freezing cold, repeating this process after my shower is
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  ridiculous. And as much as I don't want to
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  do this, I'm compelled to do as an OCDII feel like it's it's
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  it's eating me alive. I'm going to give you a tip of
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  how to deal with things if you're experiencing this in a
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  minute as well. But currently this is the one I
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  can't kick right? And it's constant now.
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  I used to have one where if I was in the shower, I'd have
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  these kind of exfoliating gloves, right?
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  Just to keep your skin healthy and stuff like these exfoliating
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  gloves and use exfoliating serum and all that.
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  And I used to have to like, squeeze them a certain amount of
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  times, then ring them under the water after a certain amount of
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  times. And then like, ring them out,
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  squeeze them and ring them out a certain amount of time and then
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  put them back a certain way on the little hook in my shower.
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  Now, that took me so much time that I was just overwhelmed with
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  it. And my girlfriend was like, just
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  just throw it away and use something else.
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  And I was like, OK, so she took them and threw them away and
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  then replaced it with those, like squeegee, kind of like
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  fully and kind of scrubby things, right?
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  And that's cool because it's different.
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  It's not what my mind had set on it.
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  And that was OK, That's taken care of that.
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  But I can't seem to kick this last part, this little ritual of
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  coming out of the shower. But you know, we're getting
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  there now. It sounds crazy because I know
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  that nobody's going to die. But it's hard for you to
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  understand that as someone who who suffers with OCD.
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  And what is it that I can do to overcome this, right?
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  Because there's two ways that you can overcome this or two
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  ways that you can help this. But before I tell you how to how
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  you can help it, one of the most interesting things about it is
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  that when you try to do it yourself, that then leads into
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  another OCD. It's kind of like this.
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  Like I'd be washing my hands like 3 times and wring them out
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  three times and then wash them on the towel, put the towel back
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  correctly. So I'd be like, right, I'm not
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  going to do that anymore because that's eaten me alive.
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  So now I'm just going to wash my hands once, wring them once, and
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  then rub my hands on the towel that becomes the new one.
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  You see, it starts to eat and it's like, OK, then I do the
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  towel. Then I have to step to the right
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  and then I have to walk out of the, the, the, the bathroom, but
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  with my right foot first. Like it, it, it's, it's insane.
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  It, it, it kind of grows and it's like a vine inside your
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  brain. The more you try to kind of like
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  push it to the sides, the more I try to take a hold of you.
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  But there is a way to help. You can do two things.
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  One is have confirmation. This one worked really, really
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  well. Confirmation of the somebody
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  that you trust and love really, really well.
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  So I love when I trust my partner.
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  Bless her soul, she's amazing, an incredible woman, incredibly
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  inspiring to me, and I love it to pieces.
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  So I asked her, can you just reassure me that nobody's going
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  to die? Can you reassure me that nothing
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  bad's going to happen if I don't do something?
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  She's like, yeah, nothing bad's going to happen, dude.
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  I'm like, OK, all right. And I trust her, right?
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  And I need that. I need to hear that.
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  And the second thing is what she did, she was like, hey, I can
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  help with the OCD. I'll just take the gloves away
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  and giving you squeegee. So it was out of my control that
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  that I had changed, which means it's not my fault.
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  I'm not to blame for it. So my OCD was not affected by
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  this, right. So having somebody else
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  intervene third party wise with the things that you need help
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  with will help just cull some of that OCD damage.
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  Because what sends to happen is like, I've been late for work,
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  I've missed appointments. I've literally just made myself
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  sick from some OC DS that just like a nonsensical and and it
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  grows. Like I said the more you try to
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  do it on your own, the more it will just switch it for
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  something else and then that will go into an OCD.
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  It's really, really difficult. But one of the best ways to
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  overcome this is building confidence.
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  Now if you're interested, I have a free training program that you
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  can download right now. If you go to
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  www.bulletproofbrain.org you can download my autism autistic
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  adults confidence training kind of program.
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  Still a little program you can take it.
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  There's only 5 little pieces in there as a video and like 4
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  little guides. Use this, build confidence, and
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  you'll be able to ace many things in life that autistic
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  struggles give you, including the OCD.
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  Alright guys, peace.