AUTISTIC NICK’S TOP TEN FAVOURITE BLOG POSTS OF 2019
Sunday morning and here I am sitting here with the sun streaming in through my window as I tap away at the keys of my keyboard.
I fling open the wooden shutters and allow the sunlight to pour in.
I look down across the town square to see excited villagers hurrying around with fixed smiles on their faces.
Bunting is being stretched and attached to wooden posts. Tables are having virginal white table cloths laid onto them.
Chairs are being scraped and pushed under the table.
The smell of cooking can be smelt for miles around.
Wine is being delivered on the back of a donkey.
Before my last post of the year next week here are my top ten posts for 2019
YOU CAN’T ASK THAT
You Can’t ask that is about the misunderstood, marginalised Australians answering anonymous online questions.
What would happen if you gave people the chance to ask society’s outsiders the questions they were too embarrassed, too shy, too awkward and too scared to ask?
What would happen if those stereotyped minorities were given the right to answer those questions with dignity and depth?
Ok so I’ve been emailed and DM’D via Twitter and Facebook lots of questions which I’ll attempt to answer here for you today.
https://autisticnick.com/2018/03/01/you-cant-ask-that/
HOW TO TELL AN EMPLOYER THAT YOU ARE AUTISTIC
We’ve scanned the job website we’ve found a job that we wish to apply for and now comes the part where we fill in the application form.
Ohh the dreaded application form part
After filling in the easier bits, when we get down to the box where it says do you consider yourself to be disabled do you tick that box or not?
Do you highlight it on your resume?
Do you arrange for a small plane to fly by the prospective offices or
Do you hire a flash mob to dance it out?
Hmm so many options?
https://autisticnick.com/2018/04/30/how-to-tell-an-employer-you-are-autistic/
RAIN MAN AND SAVANT SYNDROME
Fun Fact – Rain Man is a 1988 American comedy-drama road movie directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of an abrasive, selfish young wheeler-dealer Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), an Autistic savant, of whose existence Charlie was unaware.
Fun Fact – Rain Man had a budget of $25 million
Fun Fact – At the box office it took $354.8 million
Fun Fact – People assume that every Autistic person is just like Raymond in Rain Man
When you first strike up the courage to inform someone that you’re Autistic the first thing they say to you is “Are you like Raymond Babbitt?” and my answer is always
NO!
But that’s the reality when you mention the movie Rain Man or bring Autism into the conversation.
https://autisticnick.com/2019/03/18/rain-man-and-savant-syndrome/
AUTISTIC NICK, COVER LETTERS, RESUMES AND THE RAIN
This week the villagers of Joondalup rejoiced.
The weather forecasters had predicted rain on Friday allowing them the rest of the week to tend to their washing, cleaning of shutters, mowing the grass, having engaging conversations with the local greengrocer as they stand in the mid-day sun waiting for their fruit and vegetables to be weighed and placed into a brown paper bag.
https://autisticnick.com/2019/07/22/autistic-nick-cover-letters-resumes-and-the-rain/
AUTISM AND MASKING
From a very early age I was ‘different’ to other children. I was an early learner, telling the time by the age of three and reading at four. I would often walk around with my head in a book and I would read at least one book a day. I was a quiet kid who enjoyed nothing more than being by himself with a good book or TV show.
As the years went by I continued to feel like the ‘odd one out’. I knew I was different but I just didn’t know why or how. I tried to constantly ‘fit in’ to a world that seemed so distant and so overwhelming and at times completely abnormal to me. I struggled with all aspects of life, the things that most people find easy,
I found really difficult; from socialising, making friends, learning new tasks that were not given with specific instructions, changes to my routine, school, studying and employment, and I felt like it was my fault.
I spent forty years of my life knowing something was different. I spent many times blaming myself, thinking it was ‘my fault’ or that I was doing something wrong. Getting that diagnosis had changed my life completely. It felt like a fog had finally been lifted.
Everything from there on started to ‘make sense’.
https://autisticnick.com/2019/01/21/autism-and-masking/
AUTISM AND SENSORY DIFFERENCES
Many people who are on the Autism spectrum have difficulty processing everyday sensory information. Any of the senses may be over- or under-sensitive, or both, and at different times. These sensory differences can affect behaviour and can have a profound effect on a person’s life.
I have written about SPD before (https://autisticnick.com/2018/09/03/sensory-processing-disorder-spd/) But I want to take a more in depth look at how each of our senses can be triggered as well as looking at some of the effects of hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch, balance and body awareness.
https://autisticnick.com/2019/02/25/autism-and-sensory-differences/
AUTISTIC N!CK AND THE ABC (The Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
FUN FACT – The, ABC was founded in 1929 as the Australian Broadcasting Company
FUN FACT – The, ABC first commenced television broadcasting in 1956
FUN FACT – It legally changed its name in 1 July 1983 to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
FUN FACT – James Dibble read the first ABC News television bulletin in NSW in 1956
And you can read the article here
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-27/the-challenge-of-employment-for-people-with-autism/11337682
AUTISTIC NICK’S TOP TEN TIPS ON HOW TO DEAL WITH INTERNET TROLLS
Fun Fact Facebook was created in February 2004, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States by Mark Zuckerberg
Fun Fact Twitter was created in 21 March 2006, San Francisco, California, in the United States by Jack Dorsey
Currently in Australia (79%) now use social media, which is 10 points higher than last year.
https://autisticnick.com/2019/06/25/autistic-nicks-top-ten-tips-on-how-to-deal-with-internet-trolls/
AUTISTIC NICK, THE ELEMENTS AND K-MART LIFE HACKS
This week started like most weeks do with me waking up and shivering due to the winter months that are currently bestowed upon us and I wrap myself in my blanket and stay under the warm duvet cover until my stomach rumbles so loudly that I have to get up and have breakfast and a hot mug of tea.
Monday’s always start out that moment you decide to join a K-Mart mum’s group on Facebook.
It starts out pleasantly enough, you like a few posts, you read the various threads and then one day you have that moment that all those mums live for.
It’s called the hack of the week.
It’s the one thing that divides these K-Mart mum’s group
https://autisticnick.com/2019/07/08/autistic-nick-the-elements-and-k-mart-life-hacks/
AUTISTIC NICK’S GUIDE TO DE STRESSING YOURSELF
Stress is part of everyday life and a natural reaction to change and adjustment with a major life change. Stress also occurs in response to ongoing daily hassles such as traffic, noise or inconsiderate people. The body responds to stress with the ‘flight or fight’ response in the central and peripheral nervous system. This involves a series of chemical changes which prepare people for a stressful event.
We all suffer stress, to different degrees and levels of severity and we all get anxious sometimes.
How people with Autism deal with stress can vary on the person but when they do realise that they are stressed what can they or you do to take positive steps to relieve this.
https://autisticnick.com/2019/10/29/autistic-nicks-guide-to-de-stressing-yourself/
CARRY ON THE CONVERSATION
Do you have a favourite post of mine that I haven’t included on this list?
Let me know in the comments section below
As always, I can also be found on Twitter: @AutisticNick9 and at my email autisticnick9@gmail.com
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Thank you for reading and I will see you next time for more thoughts from across the spectrum.
Autistic Nick 