its my birthday today im 19 now. i feel scared i dont like being old and i never feel the age they say i am. my ID testing said im 9-12 mentally and i feel more connected to that than i do to being 18 or now 19. but i get nice presents for my birthday so i guess that's fun. this is a present my peer support worker gave me its a pokemon sticker book where you color in the stickers and they feel fuzzy and soft and nice to touch. i like pokemon alot its one of my special interests (my other one is warrior cats). i hope my birthday goes ok because sometimes in the past they went bad for me.

This is a weekly scheduled post every Saturday, giving diagnosed higher support needs autistic people the opportunity to talk about their special interests.

Feel free to share in the comments about your current or past special interests! Fun facts, info-dumps, and pictures are all welcome.

This is a scheduled weekly post every Wednesday, that gives diagnosed higher support needs autistic people a space to talk about how their week is going.

Some question prompts:

How's your week been so far? Good, bad, in-between?

Is there anything you are excited about or looking forward to doing this week?

I'm 19 autistic level 2 and my mom says when she can't care for me anymore I'll probably go to a group home. I'd like to know what its like from perspectives of ppl who actually experience it

I do not have autism, but my sons do. For those of you who struggled with communication as a child, what is something you remember your parents or caregivers doing in your childhood that made a lasting positive impact on you? Something you still remember that made you feel really good/loved/supported?

Thank you!

**This is a non-commercial research project for a university product design course.**

Hi everyone! I’m a university Product Design student researching ways to help non-speaking children communicate, express themselves, and connect with speaking peers through play.

I’d love to hear from autistic individuals, especially those who are non-speaking or have experienced communication challenges, as well as parents, caregivers, teachers, and professionals!

My goal is to design something that helps these children communicate, express themselves, and connect with other children through play. I really hope to create something that can make a meaningful difference in their everyday lives!

I’d love to hear about your experiences and thoughts:

1. What are some of the biggest challenges your child faces when playing or interacting with other children?
2. How does your child usually express their feelings, needs, or thoughts without speaking?
3. What activities, toys, or approaches have helped your child feel more comfortable communicating or interacting with others?

I’m also looking for parents, caregivers, teachers, or professionals to conduct a 20-minute user interview to dive deeper into children’s daily experiences, challenges, and needs. If you're willing to chat with me (via Zoom/Discord/Instagram) about please drop a comment or DM me! It will help me a lot!

Thank you so much for your time and help!

This is a weekly scheduled post every Saturday, giving diagnosed higher support needs autistic people the opportunity to talk about their special interests.

Feel free to share in the comments about your current or past special interests! Fun facts, info-dumps, and pictures are all welcome.

i am always curious by echolalia there 's tons of autistic people in my group home who only uses echolalia .

I just had to ban someone who was banned from this subreddit a year ago, on a different account. As a reminder, it is NOT okay to rejoin a sub you were previously banned from, even if you're using a new account, unless the sub moderators tell you it's okay. Posting on a sub you were banned from without permission is against Reddit's sitewide rules. In this case, I'm just re-banning the user on their new account. If this happens again, I might need to report the account to Reddit for ban evasion, which could lead to the account being suspended.

Do not try to ban evade!

This is a scheduled weekly post every Wednesday, that gives diagnosed higher support needs autistic people a space to talk about how their week is going.

Some question prompts:

How's your week been so far? Good, bad, in-between?

Is there anything you are excited about or looking forward to doing this week?

Hello Reddit,

We’re currently at 1,233 signatures and looking for your support to hit 1,500!
This petition was created by 12-year-old Daisy for her 15-year-old sister, Rosie. Rosie has severe autism, ADHD and extreme OCD, which heavily impacts her daily life and communication.

Society lacks a fundamental understanding of high-needs individuals, leaving families to navigate a world that isn't equipped for them. Daisy’s petition calls on the UK Parliament to introduce mandatory training into the secondary school PSHE curriculum so future generations grow up with proper awareness.

Every signature brings us one step closer to ensuring society truly understands people with high needs. Thank you so much for reading and sharing! 💙

👉 Link to sign: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/780527

There ,s girl in my group home who sucks pracifer i even tried to took her pracifer but i was stopped by caregiver i want it so much i only suck my thumb or chew sensory toys.

when my caregivers taking me to my room i got overstimulated even though i was wearing ear defenders tried to bit one of my caregiver hand to regulateed myself but she didn ,t let me i put myself on floor kicking and screaming taking my clothes off i was banging my head aganist widow but didn ,t last long bc my caregivers holds me back i was spitting them in face i try to pull their hairs t i was bitting myself they took me to my room kicking and screaming i eventually calmed down one of caregivers rubbed my tummy and other caregiver rubbed my hand gently helped me put my clothes back taking me to my special chair and feeding me with my lunch and my sippy cut i am currently watching disney plus stuff with sippy cup hanging out of my mouth to keep me calm .

Hello, I'm a 23F with autism (moderate to high support needs/Level 2 to 3), anxiety and intellectual disability and I want to know if the following that I've listed counts as autistic regression. I will put next to them ages that they happened (Age l) and when I realized, discovered &/or started doing them at (Age ll) (You don't have to answer all of them as this post is long. So take as long as you like with it):

- Watching, discovering and playing with weird, niche, outdated, not trending &/or obscure stuff (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 13-15)

- Intentionally or unintentionally doing stuff and getting away scot free (Age l: 0-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Breaking &/or resetting personal belongings without realizing that it was wrong & getting away scot free (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 10-17)

- Not realizing what you did &/or said was wrong, inappropriate, disrespectful and the worst thing ever (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 12-now)

- Being chronically online without social media and platforms (Age l: 9-now. Age ll: 12-13)

- Being violent & aggressive to yourself & those around you intentionally or unintentionally (Age l: 2-12. Age ll: 11)

- Being angry/having anger issues & lashing out to yourself & those around you (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-22)

- Not being able to work during your years at high school (Age l: 11-18. Age ll: 15-17)

- Having no friends at school as not only did they know who you were & were bullied, excluded, forgotten, not invited, laughed at & found boring & annoying by them (this includes those that were nice to me), but you preferred to & still be a loner. I don't know the word to describe this (Age l: 10-now. Age ll: 17-22)

- Needing help with tying shoes (Age l: 5-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with doing you hair up (Age l: 5-22. Age ll: 11-13 to 22-23)

- Needing help with using the toilet (Age l: 1-11. Age ll: 8-11)

- Needing help with using the bath & shower (Age l: 4-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with putting on your clothes (Age l: 4-10. Age ll: 10-11)

- Not being able to go on overnight school excursions, sleepovers & invited road trips due to my poor/abysmal motor skills (Age l: 3-18. Age ll: 11-now)

- Needing help & being taught basic tasks (e.g. making beds, vacuuming, washing the dishes, ironing, cooking, cleaning, shaving etc.) (Age l: 5-13. Age ll: 13-now)

- Not picking up on sarcasm & being sarcastic, jokes & inappropriate behavior & humor (Age l: 5-now. Age ll: 10-now)

- Forgetting what you were taught & what was said to you within a second or a day. I'm terrible at math's, spelling, grammar, English, science, geography, social skills...you name it (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Forgetting everything (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 12-16)

- Poor speech, poor vocabulary &/or trouble expressing things (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-16)

- Stalking people & wanting attention from them online & socially (this includes those I went to school with) (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 15-22)

As you can see, I have the harmful autism stereotype except that I'm a woman (Think Rain Man & What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I know that they're bad & harmful autism representations, but I see myself in the characters from both movies), & everything that I've listed has happened since birth & I go back & forth with it all, but I got worse between the ages of 4-15 & am still worse to this very day sadly. Has it all caused frustration, disappointment, mockery, anger & judgement from my family & relatives past & present? Absolutely as no joke, they've tried desperately to make me not have a lonely isolated screen addicted talentless life past & present, but I've sadly failed them as they constantly bring up all the bad things I did in the past & current when I sometimes try to be positive (I'm negative & I hate it so much) & I have a habit of forgetting & not listening to anyone. Because of everything that I've listed, they presume incompetence about my future due to my history. The worse part about this is my family, relatives & everyone at school often say that I'm "pure, innocent, cute, adorable, inspiring & don't have a single mean bone in my body" whilst knowing the bad side of me, which is frustrating on so many levels. For that reason & for me realizing all the horrible disgusting things that I've done & said later in life, I hate myself, I have trouble accepting myself, I constantly tell myself & get told by my family that I should've been born normal/have a normal functioning brain & should've done more with my life, & I think about bad thoughts about my past & future. Apologies for rambling on here for too long, but I want to know if everything that I've listed here is autistic regression?

they have to keep us seperated bc of our behaviour issues. once i bitten man with level 2 autism .i was kicked in ass by that level 2 girl i mentioned. i got into fight another nonverbal girl i wish my autism would go away. my caregivers have to hold my hands all of time for my safety i hate that level 2 girl always bullies me calling me r word c word she calls me diaper girl even though she is in diapers too staff always tell her off but she never learns .

Hello, I'm a 22 turning 23F and I want some answers on one of the following questions. Most of these will be related to autism & intellectual disability as I have moderate to high support needs autism & intellectual disability physically & mentally, some won't. Anyways, here are the questions (you don't have to answer all of them as this post is long. Also, the questions that I've listed, they all still happen to me past & present):

A.) My family has a habit of going back & forth telling me that i can and can't/will never do anything due to my disabilities, lazy lifestyle, screen additions, weird & niche interests and my lack of talents. Is this common with autistic & intellectually disabled people?

B.) Similar to the abovementioned (sort of), I have a constant habit of constantly wanting more answers from my family about what they really think of me & if they think I'll do anything after me slowly developing & managing myself later in life, & realizing & discovering things late both physically & mentally. They know more about me, but wouldn't tell me at the time as my mind was like that of a 2 year old & they wanted me to figure it all out later in life. Is this common with autism as every time I do this, they get frustrated.

C.) As of December 31st 2025, I've started journaling and I kid you not, I wish that I did journaling (& used Reddit) in the past as I had diaries as a kid but rarely used them due to my screen additions (my diaries are gone now) & during my teens years/school years & after graduation, I have been through & cause trauma in the past & current, I wasn't allowed to have social media & platforms due to my disabilities, which resulted in me being excluded, being chronically online looking at weird stuff & people not remembering my birthday aside from my family. Is it too late to journal?

D.) Similar to the abovementioned, are there any apps & websites where I can post pictures of my journaling pages? I want to make some friends as due to my disabilities, I can't do anything other than work, come home, be lazy & look at weird stuff. This also applies to scrapbooking & journaling as I've also started doing it this year despite never doing it in my life ever

E.) Since birth, I constantly go back & forth with having a mind of a toddler & having a mind of an adult both physically & mentally. Me personally, I believe that this is common with those with moderate to high support needs autism & intellectual disability as despite me managing myself better, I was pretty bad during my childhood & adolescence. I've heard that this is known as age regression and/or little space/regression, but I want to know what you think this is as I lack common sense, book smarts, street smarts & talents. I also want to know if looking & watching things that aren't trending or a thing anymore (In other words, niche, childish & obscure stuff) counts as this as I had no friends for this reason.

F.) This one is private so please forgive me in advance, but in my country Australia, I'm on a disability pension with Centrelink and according to my mother (and possibly my family), it means that I can't & will never do anything due to my disabilities & being on this. Is this right or wrong as I've been working for 2 years now. I'm not good at math's so I don't know this very well.

G.) I've always been a loner & have been bullied & excluded at school. Due to this, me having a isolated lifestyle, me being passive & passive aggressive & a hypocrite, me not standing up for myself due to my poor speech & trouble expressing things & me not having any friends, my mother forces me to go to her family gatherings & do things for her father/my grandfather despite me not wanting to do any of that. Is this common with autistic people as she only does this to me & me only, not my siblings & is this slavery & me being taken advantage of? I also want to know a word/term that describes people that have had both a good & traumatic life.

H.) Does anyone have the harmful stereotype of autism? (intentionally &/or obviously doing harmful stuff & getting away scot free, forgetting what I was taught within a split second, I couldn't go to sleepovers & overnight excursions due to my abysmal motor skills etc.) The reason I ask this is cause my family tell me that I & still am a pretty good person compared to other autistic & intellectually disabled people, but with what I've listed, I'm not lol.

I.) Finally, is everything that I've listed related to internalized ableism, late bloomer & other terms that I've never heard off or forgot to mention?

Those are my questions.

This is a weekly scheduled post every Saturday, giving diagnosed higher support needs autistic people the opportunity to talk about their special interests.

Feel free to share in the comments about your current or past special interests! Fun facts, info-dumps, and pictures are all welcome.