I’m not officially diagnosed yet. I’ve shown signs since a child but my community isn’t very good at getting kids checked (I’m a 23 year old black woman lol) and they just kinda made jokes about me being “crazy” “weird” “off” from a super young age. My brother (28) actually just got officially diagnosed himself and it was pretty expensive. We showed the exact same symptoms even though we’re five years apart.

So I kind of tell myself maybe I’m just faking it… especially because people keep asking on the internet “why is everyone suddenly autistic” and it makes me feel bad for thinking I am.

Then yesterday I was at a taco spot and I ended up leaving in tears because the menu had super bright neon colors and I got so overwhelmed that I couldn’t freaking read it. Like it was NEON background with NEON words I felt like my brain was being squeezed. I couldn’t breathe and I just got so nervous. I tried to see if they had an online menu so I could order from there, and when places don’t have online menus I just leave because I’ll end up ordering something I don’t want because I don’t want to hold anyone up. Even now just thinking about it I’m tearing up, it’s just so mind blowing that that sort of thing can rile me up like that lol.

and then I’m like uh yeah, no you definitely have autism babes lol