Content/trigger warning: COVID-19 mention
Everything is terrible. There’s a global pandemic.
So let’s talk about something fun, because we need it. Or at least I do.
Here’s Autistic Twitter’s favorite things about being Autistic. The question was originally asked on Twitter by Lilo the Autistic Queer (@A_Silent_Child), and the responses are used with their permission.
117 responses were collected from 83 users (multiple answers were allowed). I made the first graph and my amazing wife was kind enough to make the second graph ❤
Image description: a colored pie chart showing Autistic Twitter’s responses to the question “what is your favorite part of being Autistic?” The title is “FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT BEING AUTISTIC.” The slices of the pie chart are labeled with the answers and the percentages. The light blue slice, which represents special interests, is by far the largest at approximately 15%. The second largest slices are a middling brown, which represents Autistic culture and community, and light orange, which represent miscellaneous answers. Both the brown and light orange represent approximately 9% of the answers. The next largest slice is a darker orange representing excellent memory at approximately 8%. The other slices represent happy stimming (4%), co-occurring conditions (echolalia or synesthesia) (5%), sense of justice (4%), infodumping (3%), not needing outside stimuli to entertain oneself/vivid imagination (7%), perceiving things differently from allistics (7%), sensory experiences/sensitivity 7%), being naturally honest (3%), having lots of affective empathy/hyperempathy (4%), ability to focus intensely (5%), pattern recognition (6%), and intense enjoyment of music (3%).
Image description: a colored pie chart showing Autistic Twitter’s responses to the question “what is your favorite part of being Autistic?” The title is “Favorite Things About Being Autistic.” There is a legend to the left of the chart listing the responses and the corresponding colors on the chart. The light blue slice, which represents special interests, is by far the largest at approximately 15%. The second largest slices are a middling brown, which represents Autistic culture and community, and light orange, which represent miscellaneous answers. Both the brown and light orange represent approximately 9% of the answers. The next largest slice is a darker orange representing excellent memory at approximately 8%. The other slices represent happy stimming, co-occurring conditions (echolalia or synesthesia), sense of justice, infodumping, not needing outside stimuli to entertain oneself/vivid imagination, perceiving things differently from allistics, sensory experiences/sensitivity, being naturally honest, having lots of affective empathy/hyperempathy, ability to focus intensely, pattern recognition, and intense enjoyment of music. The preceding slices represent between 3% and 7%.
This is for you, Carrie 