Elora - Online 1 Room Schoolhouse
@1Schoolhouse
Followers
14K
Following
130K
Media
2K
Statuses
18K
Autistic Comedian | I talk about Disabled Rights, the Autistic Experience, and Spiritual Abuse | Likes/ Retweets do not equal Endorsement | Opinions are my own
Oklahoma, USA
Joined April 2020
People act like accessibility only helps disabled people but I guarantee you no one wants to move into a 9th floor apartment with no elevator.
124
8K
59K
The Neurodivergent urge to watch a children’s show because it doesn’t take any emotional labor.
506
10K
90K
The weirdest thing about healing from trauma is learning how to rest. I thought I knew how but turns out I was just being anxious while seated.
69
6K
49K
If your child is Autistic and you don’t want to tell them because you don’t want “to label them” please know that other children have already labeled them with some cruel labels.
101
3K
27K
The Autistic experience of asking a clarifying question and being told you’re rude.
244
4K
26K
Growing up, every single Christian man mentor/ leader/ teacher I had objectified me and taught me that I made men sin just by existing in my CHILD body. But the middle-aged Jewish ballet dancer I took classes with saw me in leotard 3 times a week and never batted an eye.
40
1K
24K
Being autistic is asking clarifying questions and being interpreted as insulting when you’re literally SO CONFUSED.
183
4K
23K
“Why is my Autistic friend so OBSESSED with their Autism?!”. Great question. Let’s talk about that… 🧵.
76
4K
21K
Is your body actually tired? Or is your brain so overwhelmed by stress that it tries to force a shutdown for self-preservation?.
91
4K
22K
I messaged a friend “Happy Pride Month” but it autocorrected to “Happy Pride Moth” so anyway I made this:
152
3K
20K
The Autistic experience of having “panic attacks” for years and feeling stupid for not knowing what you were upset about… only to realize you’re having meltdowns.
154
2K
20K
Simple ways to explain Autistic experiences to non-Autistics 🧵.
132
5K
20K
Autistic kids are taught to look strangers in the eyes (even if it hurts) hug their relatives (even if it hurts) wear certain clothes (even if it hurts)….Autistic kids are constantly told that their bodily autonomy is superseded by what other people want.
119
3K
15K
@TinyWriterLaura @TitPostLeft They’re literally trying to coerce parent to send their kids to school in horrible pain. It’s so disgusting.
22
157
14K
I know I don’t look disabled. This may surprise you, but most of my body is on the inside… where you can’t see it.
35
2K
13K
If Harry Potter had an Autistic character he’d be named Hans Flapper.
68
1K
12K
Reasons Autistics may struggle with eating healthily/ regularly/ comfortably: 🧵.
148
2K
12K
Autistic kids are taught to look strangers in the eyes (even if it hurts) hug their relatives (even if it hurts) wear certain clothes (even if it hurts)….Autistic kids are constantly told that their bodily autonomy is superseded by what other people want.
79
2K
12K
The Autistic experience of asking yourself “what is this emotion” only to discover it’s *dehydration*.
68
2K
11K
Being Autistic is answering “How are you doing” with an honest answer and the other person being weirded out by that.
119
1K
10K
People love to talk about how the meanest girls in school all became nurses but when a disabled person says they are mistreated by medical staff suddenly that’s impossible???.
37
2K
10K
Being Autistic is constantly being compared to people’s autistic 5-year-old nephews.
71
823
7K
Some really easy, stand-alone Autism hacks to make your life smoother 🧵.
71
2K
7K
When you say people can’t “self-diagnose” with Autism, you’re saying Autism is just for rich people. I totally understand the sentiment if you’re new to the concept! But self-diagnosis isn’t a whim. It’s a long, serious process. And “official” diagnoses can cost thousands.
91
1K
7K
In college I was literally close to death due to stress and mental health problems, both related to my Autism. But if a non-autistic looked at college me, and also a non-speaking Autistic who is thriving and healthy, they’d label me “high-functioning” and him “low-functioning.”.
44
634
7K
Some things that can be stimming that you might not realize counts as stimming: 🧵.
103
1K
6K
I’m not ‘high-functioning,’ .I was just raised to push myself to unhealthy limits.
27
1K
6K
⚠️ Mental health crisis. In college my stress was so high I was blacking out along the edges of my vision while walking to class. My hands shook for hours at a time. But I hid my shaking hands. No one suspected I was Autistic.
42
547
6K
Masking:. “Customer Service Voice” but it’s a whole lifestyle.
18
526
6K
💻 Autism effects every aspect of their life. Autism isn’t a program running on a mental computer. Autism is the operating system.
10
313
6K
Imagine if you wanted to learn about dogs but you only studied Chihuahuas. Then you’d see a poodle on the street and think “that can’t possibly be a dog!”. Yeah that’s what science has done with Autistics.
23
918
6K
Autistics will really make “customer service voice” their whole personality to protect themselves.
73
704
5K
Sensory overload:. What happens to parents of toddlers when the floor goes crunch, things smell… odd, everything is sticky, it’s SO LOUD, and silence is stressful because that means trouble and you end up crying in the closet with Cheezits. But constant.
9
201
5K
When I was in a psych ward there was a little shelf built over the bed. On one of my last days I finally looked up. There were dozens of messages of encouragement carved into the shelf, the only place housekeeping wouldn’t see.
22
329
5K
“I’m guessing you just have minor autism?”. Correct. My major is in anxiety.
26
558
5K
“You don’t look Autistic”. I’m glad you think so, as I am currently undercover.
36
705
5K
Autistics “sensory seeking” isn’t some weird alien concept. Non-Autistics do it too, in their own way: Rollercoasters, water slides, hot tubs, saunas, ice cold showers, these are all examples of intense sensory experiences that “normal” people do for fun, or to manage emotions.
17
707
5K
I could go on, but I’ll keep this short. Sam and I were there for the same reason — because we loved our bodies and we loved to make them dance. Around Sam, I felt more “Made in the image of God” than I ever did around the men who micromanaged me for wearing shorts.
7
82
5K
I post a lot about religious trauma but you’ll never see me post bad memories about Veggie Tales because there are none.
72
563
5K
Situational Non-Verbal-ness:. that feeling you get when something super shocking happens and even though you might know what you want to say, you just can’t collect your thoughts enough to say anything right away. But for longer, and it’s easier to get to that point.
5
199
5K
What healthy Autistic w/ non-Autistic friendships are like:. Legolas + Gimli. Rocket + Groot. Reyla + Callum. Lilo + Stitch. Han + Chewbacca. It’s not about forcing the other to be more like you, it’s about accepting that you’re different and having adventures together.
38
313
5K
Makeup being “professional” is so weird. It’s like “please complete a painting before work every day. Also the paint is super expensive and the canvas is your face.”.
45
474
5K
The Autistic urge to over-clarify things.
90
822
5K
❓ They might not know their personality outside of Autism. Sometimes when people have spent so long changing themselves to avoid conflict, they genuinely don’t know much about what they like, want, or think, because they’ve always been discouraged from expressing it.
3
227
4K
🧑🏫 Autism education is deeply needed. There is so much the world doesn’t know about Autism, and that information gap has likely caused your friend a lot of pain. Seizing every opportunity to close that gap could be their way to make the world a safer, kinder place.
4
179
4K
Stimming:. When you get super stressed and have to pace or bite your nails or something… or when you get really really happy and have to jump up and down and scream. Now imagine your threshold for when you needed that was much lower.
3
180
4K
Special interests:. That feeling you get when you adopt a new pet and you spend all day every day buying them stuff and taking pictures and holding them and texting your friends about them because they seem like the most exciting thing in the world. That, but with any interest.
5
173
4K
Ways I Plan to Make my House “Autistic-Guest-Ready” once I have my own place: 🧵.
45
509
4K
Autistics will show emotions in Autistic ways. If your Autistic kid is having a meltdown, it could be because of an Autism-specific reason (like sensory overload)… or maybe their crush just doesn’t like them back, or they had a fight with their BFF.
17
492
4K
Hyperfocus:. That moment when the movie you’re watching is so good that you forget about the people making noise behind you or how bad you need to pee. You are lost in the movie. That, but with any task, not just watching a movie.
8
156
4K
Autistics don’t owe you eye contact.
42
725
4K
When I was a kid my mom had a box of spare gifts that she bought on sale so when we had a birthday party to go to she could just choose a nice but inexpensive gift from the box.
75
117
4K
The autistic urge to be up at 2am because the world is quiet and no one will ask anything of you.
52
574
4K
Doctors telling Autistics that their stim doesn’t count because it’s not on their list is like a doctor telling an Olympic gymnast that they don’t exercise because gymnastics isn’t on their pre-approved list of workouts. It’s not the movement that matters, it’s the function.
34
482
4K
My ballet studio didn’t have many classes for older kids — just cutesy classes for little kiddos and adult classes in the evenings. Once I aged out of the kid classes, I went to dance with the adults. One student treated me with more respect than ALL the Christian leaders.
1
28
4K
🚂 Autism can be a special interest. Autistics obsessively learn about, think about, and enjoy being around specific topics. On TV those interests are usually something like trains or superheroes, but it really can be anything — including Autism itself.
5
131
4K
💔 Working through trauma isn’t something you can turn off. There can be decades of painful memories, weird habits, and confusing interactions that start making sense for the first time when we get diagnosed. That process is continuous — it doesn’t stop when we’re with friends.
3
179
4K
Contrary to popular Autism myths, I can, in fact, understand sarcasm. I LOVE sarcasm. That said, I had to learn it. It’s literally a skill I’ve had to curate.
85
360
4K
Let’s call him Sam. Sam used to be a professional dancer and was married to my teacher. Sam was the first man to ever treat little Autistic me like an adult — not in a creepy way, though. He just genuinely treated me like my thoughts mattered, even though we weren’t close.
1
26
4K
These are the new levels of Autism. Please label yourselves accordingly:. Mild Autism.Hot Autism.Blue Raspberry Autism.Cool Ranch Autism.Surfer Cooler Mixed Fruit Autism.Neapolitan Autism.Wasabi Autism.
320
478
4K
I love being Autistic. I don’t just get sensory overload when things are bad, I get sensory euphoria when things are good.
54
376
4K
(I’m not talking about my family here. I’m talking about Sunday School teachers, that sort of thing).
2
24
4K
The Autistic joy of answering your friends’ questions about Autism as they slowly realize they’re Autistic too.
27
353
3K
People will really humiliate and punish Autistic kids for like, breathing wrong, and then blame the kid’s mental breakdowns on Autism.
32
568
3K
Autistic stereotypes can be super damaging. However, just as a conversation starter, I’m curious to see what Autistic stereotypes are actually true for you personally?. I’ll go first: I LOVE Star Trek.
593
188
3K
Makeup being “professional” is so weird. It’s like “please complete a painting before work every day. Also the paint is super expensive and the canvas is your face.”.
41
389
3K
The Autistic urge to revisit your childhood through an autistic lens so you can finally understand what happened.
30
390
3K
Neurodivergents of Twitter, what was your *first* special interest (that you can remember)?.
2K
134
3K
An autism diagnosis as a child would have just made the other kids go from hating me for being different to pitying me for being different.
60
238
3K
🥰 Your friend might trust you more than other people. Your friend may talk about Autism more around you than other people, and that may be because they know you don’t judge them for their Autism.
2
118
3K
Me, an Autistic: *speaks to a child in a direct, blunt way*.Child: *responds likewise*.Parent: “Wow you’re so good with kids!!”.
31
280
3K
Are you a night owl or are you so.overwhelmed by people you can't.calm down until they're all in bed?.
73
510
3K
6 ways I make hygiene easier for me as an Autistic 🧵.
40
507
3K
I can’t tell if hand towels are decorative or meant to be used when I visit someone’s house. I want to blame that on my Autism but I feel like maybe everyone feels this???.
250
103
3K
@hayche_pylori I am so sorry. That is (very obviously) a ridiculous reason. It seems to me that medical schools put ridiculous rules in place to create an image of “elite” education. They need to learn that just because the school is hard doesn’t mean the education is any better.
3
102
3K
🧔🏾♂️ I’m Autistic.👴🏻 No you’re not.🧔🏾♂️ Why do you say that?.👴🏻 I know an Autistic and he’s not like you.🧔🏾♂️ ….👴🏻 ….🧔🏾♂️ Sir have you heard of personalities?.
38
373
3K
Many people assume that you can “train” sensory issues out of an Autistic kid, like you might gradually adjust yourself to a noisy air conditioner in a new apartment. In reality, it’s more like training yourself to look straight at the sun (don’t do this).
30
535
3K
The recently-diagnosed Autistic experience of having random epiphanies about your childhood at the most mundane times.
50
359
3K
“We didn’t have Autism in my day.”. Yes you did, they were the “tortured artists” who endlessly obsessed over their craft but never ever fit in.
8
381
3K
There’s nothing unhealthy about an Autistic person being very focused on Autism. However, in my life, things calmed down after a while. Getting diagnosed as Autistic as an adult was a massive reckoning.
1
93
3K
Trying to choose your Autistic child’s special interests for them: 👎 unhealthy, won’t work. Casually leaving Marie Kondo books around in the hopes your Autistic child will develop a special interest in keeping the house clean: 👍 just giving them options, ethical yet strategic.
30
170
3K
When I befriended a girl I’d never met before at a Church event, the youth pastor made me go over to this girl I’d JUST MET a couple hours ago and tell her that she was dancing too sexy. It was MY JOB to MAKE her stop.
4
29
3K
Autistics fighting ABA is so painful because people will describe ABA to you to ‘prove’ that it’s ‘helping’ their kid. You get detailed stories of other Autistics’ trauma thrown at you, often by the people forcing it on them, every time you speak up.
23
464
3K
After years of trying to mask my Autism, being blatantly focused on Autism was a healing act of self-love. That said, over a year after my diagnosis, I have a lot better idea of who I am and what I like, and don’t feel the same crushing urgency to focus on Autism all the time.
2
94
3K
“You’re Autistic? But you’re nothing like my nephew.”. We can’t all be 4 year old boys Janice.
20
325
3K
I was 22 when I got my Autism diagnosis and it changed my life because I’d been operating with labels like “weird,” “lazy,” “pathetic,” “bad person,” and “stupid.”. The label “Autistic” was able to push those others away so I could actually love and forgive myself.
11
154
3K
The Autistic experience of having completely harmless fun, until other people decide that you’re “immature” for it.
31
421
3K
Katy Perry sang a song at King Charles’s party telling him to “own the night like the Fourth of July,” a holiday where we celebrate beating the King of England in a war so badly that he lost his grip of reality.
10
211
3K
Homeschooling is so wild because it could be because you’re disabled.or got bullied a lot.or training for the Olympics.or because your parents want to teach you that Lil Nas X is the literal anti-Christ. It’s a real grab bag.
39
242
3K
Conversation starters for Autistics to use with each other 🧵.
55
489
3K
Some people are afraid to consider that they, or their kids, might be Autistic. They’re afraid of what answering that question could unlock. Here’s some major POSITIVES in my life that have emerged after discovering I’m Autistic: 🧵.
39
501
3K
But I could stand in front of Sam at the barre and bend over in a tiny leotard (skirts weren’t allowed) and he never once flinched or acted bothered.
2
16
3K
Some accommodations I’ve made for myself since finding out I’m Autistic that have improved my quality of life 🧵.
17
345
3K
I see the toxic “Autism Moms” (you know which ones I’m talking about) as just a different brand of the toxic “dance moms” and toxic “soccer moms.” 🧵. When you believe your child OWES you something just for being born, it’s going to end badly.
17
304
3K
Whether it is a need or a convenience, a heck of a lot of accessibility is useful for literally everyone.
6
143
3K
Of course, everyone is different. Just know that there are a lot of valid, pressing reasons someone might be “obsessed” with their Autism. In situations like these, a little patience goes a long way. End 🧵.
6
63
3K
For me, personally, it was like a dam breaking - first there was a huge wave that drowned everything else around it, but then that went away. The river is still flowing, but it's not fighting to overcome being held back for so long the way it was before.
3
65
3K
The Autistic joy of seeing a little Autistic kid being themselves without punishment.
10
242
3K
I posted that I don’t tolerate people posting their autistic kids’ meltdowns online and someone commented that it can be an ‘outlet’ and a ‘cry for compassion’ for themselves and the child. As an Autistic myself:.If the cost of your compassion is my dignity, I don’t want it.
28
366
2K