Going outside is scary

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Hey Bulinozaur,

I think of two reasons:

1) Many psychiatrists and other 'professionals', are not trained on HFA, and how it differs from 'classic autism'; that is, people with severe symptoms, who are unable to manage themselves in daily life. That's not your fault, of course. Sometimes, we need to educate our caregivers, in order to let them research and get caught up with our own needs.

2) Neurotypicals, who are often our friends, family, neighbors, etc - they may really care, but are not aware of the degrees of autism.

If I think of myself even a year ago, before I knew what this was - "autism" to me then meant, "that dumb kid sucking his thumb and learning 5 years behind his peers". That sounds discriminatory (sorry), and I know better now as an ASD adult, like you. But our neurotypical friends, are also slow to understand. That's the NT responses I've got: "You think you're autistic? But you're so smart! Why would you call yourself something derogatory like that?"

I've really restrained the urge to tell others. If you're High-Functioning, as you say - don't tell everyone. For those closest to you, who may truly need to know - you'll have to sit down and have a long face-to-face talk. Autism has so many facets. It can't be explained in a text message or 'social media' post. Many of us function so well in daily life, that our strengths and weaknesses... well, merge, so that we just seem "eccentric" to others.

- The average person has heard of autism, but doesn't understand these finer levels. For those you really care about, you'll have to explain it to them in a more personal setting.

- Just do what works for you, and don't worry about what others think, or if people think you're 'weird' for wearing your headphones or for doing so-called guy-things. Make your world fit for you as an independent gal, rather than trying to fit into the world around you.

I find sunglasses very useful, not only because of the brightness but also because everything becomes tinted brown-ish, reducing colour contrast. It just took me over thirty years to finally get a pair of prescription sunglasses.

I've used ear plugs in extremely noisy scenarios, but I found that to be dangerous at times. Also, it only makes me more sensitive when I don't wear them.
So i rather avoid extreme noise and go without earplugs, but yeah, as you can guess, not a great fan of the outdoors either. (Though my prescription sunglasses are a definite improvement)