Our life expantancy is 58 apparently.
Amateur!
Even in high school I was buying sci fi in shelf feet and what didn't fit in my full wall bookshelf was boxed and went in the attic.
After 20 years in cardboard boxes here in sheds, (no room for a library) I imagine they're all rats nests and silverfish poop now
Double Retired
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Well, since getting full-time employment and my own place to live there have been a "few" books added to my collection. Oh, and stuff from magazine subscriptions. As technology progressed I've added quite a few CDs. And our movie collection is, um, a few shelves.
_________________
When diagnosed I bought champagne!
I finally knew why people were strange.
Double Retired,
Your preferences or "demands" would be beyond the capacity of a Level 3'er. This isn't to say that if we ask Alison, who has the cognitive skills of a preschooler, what color curtains she'd like, that she wouldn't be able to name a color. I'm sure she COULD name a color.
But ... there's a difference between voicing a preference when one is asked, and insisting a preference on one's very own abilities without the caretaker bringing it up.
I'm sure that if Alison hates tags, her host home provider will remove them. If Alison hates the color red, her provider will never buy her red clothes.
The providers get paid to take care of their clients like parents. So if Alison hates fish, the provider isn't going to force it down her throat. If Alison finds the noise in the living room unbearable, she'll go to her bedroom.
Her housemate Fred knows how to program recordings on the TV and can read the guides. But he's partially verbal and not capable of arguing. If Brenda, who's HF, deletes his programs, he'll get mad (like, who wouldn't?). But Alison will watch whatever just happens to be on TV.
The host home provider takes their clients on shopping trips like a parent would take their kids, to buy them shoes, clothes, etc., within a budget. If Fred loves peanuts, she'll buy him peanuts. If Alison wants new clothes, the provider will make sure they're not red.
Brenda, who's HF, struggles with things that a Level 3 would not stress about: body image from morbid obesity; trying to learn social cues and how to better mask; the shame of not being able to hold down a job due to sensory issues; not being able to drive due to sensory issues; the cognitive ability to detect mental abuse from her parents and rejection by NT peers; feeling like a failure.
Compared to this, Fred and Alison have it pretty easy because they have ID and, thus, having childlike mental capacities, see the world through a lens of more naivete, ignorance, lack of judgment and all the other innocent things that come with the mind of a child.
Sure, Alison may have a hissy fit when Fred takes the last donut, but this isn't the same as ongoing bigger stressors that can't be remedied.
lostonearth35
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Location: Lost on Earth, waddya think?
I guess it doesn't matter if I have only 8 years left. With Project 2025 in the USA, the climate crisis and the nukes we'll be lucky to live to see Christmas this year.
Would be nice if mankind was wiped out right about now, but chance would be a fine thing.
_________________
A stranger, in an alien place.
I am quite familiar with that wish, as I sought a solution for that one for many years of my life. Unfortunately it is something that cannot be done (or undone in this case). You will have to come up with another wish (eventually I did). In my case, the answer is slowly being built by others now.
Same feeling.
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Double Retired
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Elgee,
I'm a Level 1 and I think my parents accommodations helped me a lot.
And, are you saying the Level 3 folk can't be helped?
(I would've guessed noise and light levels would've mattered more for them.)
_________________
When diagnosed I bought champagne!
I finally knew why people were strange.
I'm a Level 1 and I think my parents accommodations helped me a lot.
And, are you saying the Level 3 folk can't be helped?
(I would've guessed noise and light levels would've mattered more for them.)
L3 can be helped; why not? But the help isn't going to be in the form of being taught money management, how to balance a checkbook, how to make a meat loaf, how to navigate public transportation, how to fill out a job application, etc.
An autistic person with a normal IQ, very verbal and "high functioning" around the house, with good money management, home-based computer work income, making dr. apts, etc., may need a near-continuous provider to help them with regulation, meltdowns, sensory issues. Thus, some might say this qualifies as "very substantial support needs," yielding an L3 diagnosis.
But come on, we all know what I mean by L3. We've all seen kids and adults with L3 autism. They do not have the cognitive capacity to understand the things that totally stress out L1 people -- which are also often the same things that stress out NTs (e.g., relationship issues, holding down a job; dealing with a hostile work environment; money problems).
HFA comes with more stress and anxiety than does LFA. For instance, I end up with a lot of anxiety due to overthinking all sorts of things, and ruminating and re-enacting how I should've handled past conversations. Someone with L3 won't be doing this. I've also experienced a lot of stress seeking out a romantic companion (big failure here); this, too, is not something LFA will do.
But because I don't smoke, don't drink, don't vape, eat healthier than the average American, and work out like a warrior, I'm on a trajectory for a long life ... assuming I don't get eaten by a shark! I can pass all those tests that are predictive of longevity (google this).
Gentleman Argentum
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I don't believe statistics like that. I think that it all depends on the individual. I don't plan to cash my chips in at 58. Now when I get to 75, I will talk to the blackjack dealer and see whether it is time or not.
Eh.
I'll more likely to die because of my family curses and their passed down bad habits than "being autistic" myself.
I'm talking about biological metabolic issues, cardiac health and odds stroke with crappy dietary habits, with some bits of cancer.
Only difference between me and them is that they can ignore the sensations as any NT would, have the executive function to afford possible deficits and the stressors causes by said curses and habits and for being allistic.
I'll likely naturally live between at least ages 70+ up to 90+. To die of typical aging health complications.
Partially because I don't even have the same mental health issues involving overthinking and shame issues as 'HFAs' nor the same lack of cognitive complexity and lack of independence as 'LFAs'.
And no, no suicidal tendencies nor the lack of self preservation/carelessness/helplessness to not be able to survive alone.
Getting caregivers a non-issue in my case; because I'm that lucky.
Save for direct and primary communication issues, I really just prefer to not have any support needs as possible.
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Double Retired
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I would've thought there would be odd things that make L3 folk uncomfortable. You don't have to understand bright lights or pervasive noises to be bothered by them. And I can't say I understood why when my parents offered me color samples I chose the ones I did. I think making folk happier and more comfortable would qualify as helping them even if it doesn't prepare them to hold down a job, cook, or use a checkbook...even if the things you did for them would not matter to an Allistic.
And I think as recent as yesterday I, an L1, was very bothered by some things an NT might not've cared about...certainly my Allistic bride wasn't bothered. When we left the house we had a plan: drop some outgoing mail off in the Post Office, pick up a Sunday paper at the grocery store, and then go to a fast-food restaurant we'd never been to before. Things got so off-plan at the first two stops that I was very stressed and getting increasingly irritated and started stimming and adamant about deferring to a different day for trying an unfamiliar restaurant. Yet the only problem my bride (who was driving) had with the trip was me. (We had lunch at the unfamiliar place today...it was delicious! There are a few practical details I'm not quite comfortable with but I'm now OK with going there again.)
_________________
When diagnosed I bought champagne!
I finally knew why people were strange.
^^^^Beating the Odds again ^^^^
hope we are all so Lucky ....by all odds , I shouldnt even be able to type this ...Lolzzz much less still be alive after my Adventures/ Mis Adventures .....As several Doctors had told me in the past .several different times ...everyday , am alive , is one more day have done better than the Doctors pronounced me.. ( Anyone of Us can beat a Doctor ) lolzAnd it has nothing to do with good genes.
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Diagnosed hfa
Loves velcro,
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