forevrdreamingofbetterthings asked:

So I noticed that I was struggling a lot trying to figure out which of my symptoms were from autism & which were from fibromyalgia, when it hit me - there seems to be a LOT of overlap b/w them. And when I did some research I found that I'm not the only one thinking that /perhaps/ afabs like me w/ fibro (something pretty rarely diagnosed in amabs) are the """missing""" autistic afabs? epiphanyasd.blogspot( )ca/2014/01/fibromyalgia-and-perhaps-what-happened( )html - Thoughts?

adulting-with-autism answered:

I mean, I guess it’s possible some people are in that category, but looking at the symptoms of fibro it seems pretty unlikely. Fibro has no social difficulties - which are necessary to be autistic - category (beyond obviously what might be caused by being in pain) and ASD isn’t associated - at least in diagnostic literature - with pain, fatigue or IBS.

I personally think that the “missing” afabs are down to

1) Autism generally presenting differently and so being missed

2) Autism being seen as a little boy thing, including by a lot of medical professionals

Liz

[feministingforchange]

Hey thanks so much for responding Liz, I appreciate it! And yeah you may be right, but I had heard from multiple seemingly reliable sources that autism IS associated with pain, fatigue, & IBS? There’s also all the memory problems, concentration, word recall failures, meltdowns due to sensory overload, anxiety disorders like woah, lots of depression, and more (which all cause me many social problems). Honestly, I think this is still possible but it’s really hard to say at this point, and since I have both I can’t really tell when one stops and the other begins, you know? There really needs to be some solid research done on this, quite honestly. 

All that said, even if my suspicions are true, this still doesn’t explain everything. It just means that ASD may be getting diagnosed differently as fibromyalgia for some afabs, due in large part to social constructions around gender. :/

[sockknitteranon]

I have fibro, and can definitely say I’m allistic for sure. But that’s just my personal experience, I have no idea if I’m an outlier or what. But this is really interesting! I’ll have to ask H (my bff) about it.

[feministingforchange]

Thanks for spreading this post, I’d really like to hear what others have to say!

That said, I just wanna clarify that I definitely believe fibromyalgia exists on its own too, as a real neurological disorder separate from ASD. BUT, I believe that there is so much overlap between fibro and autism, and both are HIGHLY gendered - both in the ways in which health professionals talk about and diagnose them, and also in the ways they are discussed publicly (fibro = mostly women, autism = mostly little boys & men). 

So I’m quite curious about this, and it has become a bit of a special interest for me (since it’s so personal & both are already special interests of mine lol).

[feministingforchange]

It’s time to make the INvisible VISIBLE by proudly and publicly talking about our experiences as invisibly disabled people.

Despite popular belief and community infrastructures,  #InvisiblyDisabledPplExist. This ignorance and reduced community recognition and assistance can cause us lots of unnecessary difficulty, pain, and even death. 

This means it’s time to start a movement to end the ignorance about what it “means” to be disabled.

Please use the hashtag #InvisiblyDisabledPplExist to not only make signs over disabled seating and other areas, as mentioned in tweet 4 above. 

We must also talk about our many many stories of being invisibly disabled in a world where the public doesn’t recognize our existence (like mine).

Please Tweet & Boost!!!

[forevrdreamingofbetterthings]

I keep meaning to bring this back but I’m always too poor and am a terrible anti-social hermit.  I’ve gotta get bigger post-its and better markers, which are surprisingly expensive. I also wanna contact my local news agencies about it as a movement I’d like to start (with their help), but I don’t wanna give away my real identity. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can make a bigger splash with this movement given these limitations???

That said, I’d also very much love it if others would help me by making a handful of these post-its and spreading them around too (especially on public transit). 💞

p.s., here’s a list of just SOME invisible disabilities!!!

ETA: Also, if you DO spread these post-its around, pls also take pictures of it and share those photos and perhaps also this link on any and all of your social media (e.g., facebook, instagram, twitter, tumblr, etc! using the hashtag!! PLS!!!)

forevrdreamingofbetterthings asked:

So I noticed that I was struggling a lot trying to figure out which of my symptoms were from autism & which were from fibromyalgia, when it hit me - there seems to be a LOT of overlap b/w them. And when I did some research I found that I'm not the only one thinking that /perhaps/ afabs like me w/ fibro (something pretty rarely diagnosed in amabs) are the """missing""" autistic afabs? epiphanyasd.blogspot( )ca/2014/01/fibromyalgia-and-perhaps-what-happened( )html - Thoughts?

adulting-with-autism answered:

I mean, I guess it’s possible some people are in that category, but looking at the symptoms of fibro it seems pretty unlikely. Fibro has no social difficulties - which are necessary to be autistic - category (beyond obviously what might be caused by being in pain) and ASD isn’t associated - at least in diagnostic literature - with pain, fatigue or IBS.

I personally think that the “missing” afabs are down to

1) Autism generally presenting differently and so being missed

2) Autism being seen as a little boy thing, including by a lot of medical professionals

Liz

[feministingforchange]

Hey thanks so much for responding Liz, I appreciate it! And yeah you may be right, but I had heard from multiple seemingly reliable sources that autism IS associated with pain, fatigue, & IBS? There’s also all the memory problems, concentration, word recall failures, meltdowns due to sensory overload, anxiety disorders like woah, lots of depression, and more (which all cause me many social problems). Honestly, I think this is still possible but it’s really hard to say at this point, and since I have both I can’t really tell when one stops and the other begins, you know? There really needs to be some solid research done on this, quite honestly. 

All that said, even if my suspicions are true, this still doesn’t explain everything. It just means that ASD may be getting diagnosed differently as fibromyalgia for some afabs, due in large part to social constructions around gender. :/

[sockknitteranon]

I have fibro, and can definitely say I’m allistic for sure. But that’s just my personal experience, I have no idea if I’m an outlier or what. But this is really interesting! I’ll have to ask H (my bff) about it.

[feministingforchange]

Thanks for spreading this post, I’d really like to hear what others have to say!

That said, I just wanna clarify that I definitely believe fibromyalgia exists on its own too, as a real neurological disorder separate from ASD. BUT, I believe that there is so much overlap between fibro and autism, and both are HIGHLY gendered - both in the ways in which health professionals talk about and diagnose them, and also in the ways they are discussed publicly (fibro = mostly women, autism = mostly little boys & men). 

So I’m quite curious about this, and it has become a bit of a special interest for me (since it’s so personal & both are already special interests of mine lol).

sockknitterporg asked:

I have fibro, and my best friend has autism. We often talk about how the two are similar RE sensory stuff and overload. As an autistic fibro spoonie, would you write more about the two overlapping? Do you ever use spoons to describe the autistic experience?

forevrdreamingofbetterthings answered:

Hey there, that’s a very good question and actually I have already written a bit about it before, but you’re right, i should try to make the effort to say more. 

If you’re interested though, here are some messy links to other posts where I’ve already talked about it:

• https://feministingforchange.tumblr.com/post/166653371245/kindkinofpolyhell-feministingforchange
  
• https://feministingforchange.tumblr.com/post/166395537400/so-i-noticed-that-i-was-struggling-a-lot-trying-to
  
• https://feministingforchange.tumblr.com/post/164632050520/autism-spectrum-disorder-fibromyalgia-and
  

And in future, I’ll try to make even more of an effort to discuss the overlap in my experience and feel free to ask me about it if there are any particular questions you have. 

I’m no expert on either autism or fibro, but i do live with both and can give an insider’s perspective, if nothing else lol. 

Also, if any of my followers/mutuals/& any others out there also experience both, it would be great to hear your perspectives as well! 

disabilityinkidlit.com

Autism Spectrum Disorder, Fibromyalgia, and Invisibility

By JACQUELINE KOYANAGI

[feministingforchange]

O. M. G. This post made me tear-up bc it is essentially MY story too. It also helps put to words some of my questions & thoughts about the connections I’ve been seeing between ASD and Fibro. Honestly, half the time I’m playing the “is it the fibro or possible ASD?” symptom analysis “game”. Moreover, Jacqueline and I are not the only ones that see this link. x x x x (& so many many more)

Oh and ftr: I’m not yet officially diagnosed as autistic but I’m fairly confident I am and I will def get tested as soon as I get the chance. Fibro though, I’ve always had and was diagnosed less than 5 yrs ago (I’m 33). So you have no idea how hard I feel this post.

Pls signal boost!!!!! 💜

#InvisiblyDisabledPplExist

forevrdreamingofbetterthings asked:

So I noticed that I was struggling a lot trying to figure out which of my symptoms were from autism & which were from fibromyalgia, when it hit me - there seems to be a LOT of overlap b/w them. And when I did some research I found that I'm not the only one thinking that /perhaps/ afabs like me w/ fibro (something pretty rarely diagnosed in amabs) are the """missing""" autistic afabs? epiphanyasd.blogspot( )ca/2014/01/fibromyalgia-and-perhaps-what-happened( )html - Thoughts?

adulting-with-autism answered:

I mean, I guess it’s possible some people are in that category, but looking at the symptoms of fibro it seems pretty unlikely. Fibro has no social difficulties - which are necessary to be autistic - category (beyond obviously what might be caused by being in pain) and ASD isn’t associated - at least in diagnostic literature - with pain, fatigue or IBS.

I personally think that the “missing” afabs are down to

1) Autism generally presenting differently and so being missed

2) Autism being seen as a little boy thing, including by a lot of medical professionals

Liz

[feministingforchange]

Hey thanks so much for responding Liz, I appreciate it! And yeah you may be right, but I had heard from multiple seemingly reliable sources that autism IS associated with pain, fatigue, & IBS? There’s also all the memory problems, concentration, word recall failures, meltdowns due to sensory overload, anxiety disorders like woah, lots of depression, and more (which all cause me many social problems). Honestly, I think this is still possible but it’s really hard to say at this point, and since I have both I can’t really tell when one stops and the other begins, you know? There really needs to be some solid research done on this, quite honestly. 

All that said, even if my suspicions are true, this still doesn’t explain everything. It just means that ASD may be getting diagnosed differently as fibromyalgia for some afabs, due in large part to social constructions around gender. :/

[sockknitteranon]

I have fibro, and can definitely say I’m allistic for sure. But that’s just my personal experience, I have no idea if I’m an outlier or what. But this is really interesting! I’ll have to ask H (my bff) about it.

[feministingforchange]

Thanks for spreading this post, I’d really like to hear what others have to say!

That said, I just wanna clarify that I definitely believe fibromyalgia exists on its own too, as a real neurological disorder separate from ASD. BUT, I believe that there is so much overlap between fibro and autism, and both are HIGHLY gendered - both in the ways in which health professionals talk about and diagnose them, and also in the ways they are discussed publicly (fibro = mostly women, autism = mostly little boys & men). 

So I’m quite curious about this, and it has become a bit of a special interest for me (since it’s so personal & both are already special interests of mine lol).

sockknitterporg asked:

I have fibro, and my best friend has autism. We often talk about how the two are similar RE sensory stuff and overload. As an autistic fibro spoonie, would you write more about the two overlapping? Do you ever use spoons to describe the autistic experience?

forevrdreamingofbetterthings answered:

Hey there, that’s a very good question and actually I have already written a bit about it before, but you’re right, i should try to make the effort to say more. 

If you’re interested though, here are some messy links to other posts where I’ve already talked about it:

• https://feministingforchange.tumblr.com/post/166653371245/kindkinofpolyhell-feministingforchange
  
• https://feministingforchange.tumblr.com/post/166395537400/so-i-noticed-that-i-was-struggling-a-lot-trying-to
  
• https://feministingforchange.tumblr.com/post/164632050520/autism-spectrum-disorder-fibromyalgia-and
  

And in future, I’ll try to make even more of an effort to discuss the overlap in my experience and feel free to ask me about it if there are any particular questions you have. 

I’m no expert on either autism or fibro, but i do live with both and can give an insider’s perspective, if nothing else lol. 

Also, if any of my followers/mutuals/& any others out there also experience both, it would be great to hear your perspectives as well! 

[strangerdarkerbetter]

Shoutout to the autistics with chronic pain

To autistics who stim to try to ignore their pain

To autistics who are in too much pain to stim but need to anyway

To autistics who can’t tell anymore if their in pain or having sensory issues or something else

To autistics whose sensory issues are made worse by their pain and vice versa in a horrible cycle

To autistics who have meltdowns because of their pain

To autistics who feel weak or broken or anything else negative because of how they deal with their pain

You are so strong. You deal with so much pain with a brain that experiences the world intensely. You are so brave facing each day knowing the pain that is to come. You are incredible. I see you and I see your struggles. I see how hard it is to get out of bed each day. I know what it feels like to want to just give up. But you are so beautiful and you have so much to offer the world. Your existence matters. 

I hope you find relief. I hope you find a something that eases your pain. I hope things get better for you. 

[feministingforchange]

✨☀️🌈🌷🎉 signal boost to save a life 🎉🌷🌈☀️✨

disabilityinkidlit.com

Autism Spectrum Disorder, Fibromyalgia, and Invisibility

By JACQUELINE KOYANAGI

[feministingforchange]

O. M. G. This post made me tear-up bc it is essentially MY story too. It also helps put to words some of my questions & thoughts about the connections I’ve been seeing between ASD and Fibro. Honestly, half the time I’m playing the “is it the fibro or possible ASD?” symptom analysis “game”. Moreover, Jacqueline and I are not the only ones that see this link. x x x x (& so many many more)

Oh and ftr: I’m not yet officially diagnosed as autistic but I’m fairly confident I am and I will def get tested as soon as I get the chance. Fibro though, I’ve always had and was diagnosed less than 5 yrs ago (I’m 33). So you have no idea how hard I feel this post.

Pls signal boost!!!!! 💜

#InvisiblyDisabledPplExist

forevrdreamingofbetterthings asked:

So I noticed that I was struggling a lot trying to figure out which of my symptoms were from autism & which were from fibromyalgia, when it hit me - there seems to be a LOT of overlap b/w them. And when I did some research I found that I'm not the only one thinking that /perhaps/ afabs like me w/ fibro (something pretty rarely diagnosed in amabs) are the """missing""" autistic afabs? epiphanyasd.blogspot( )ca/2014/01/fibromyalgia-and-perhaps-what-happened( )html - Thoughts?

adulting-with-autism answered:

I mean, I guess it’s possible some people are in that category, but looking at the symptoms of fibro it seems pretty unlikely. Fibro has no social difficulties - which are necessary to be autistic - category (beyond obviously what might be caused by being in pain) and ASD isn’t associated - at least in diagnostic literature - with pain, fatigue or IBS.

I personally think that the “missing” afabs are down to

1) Autism generally presenting differently and so being missed

2) Autism being seen as a little boy thing, including by a lot of medical professionals

Liz

[feministingforchange]

Hey thanks so much for responding Liz, I appreciate it! And yeah you may be right, but I had heard from multiple seemingly reliable sources that autism IS associated with pain, fatigue, & IBS? There’s also all the memory problems, concentration, word recall failures, meltdowns due to sensory overload, anxiety disorders like woah, lots of depression, and more (which all cause me many social problems). Honestly, I think this is still possible but it’s really hard to say at this point, and since I have both I can’t really tell when one stops and the other begins, you know? There really needs to be some solid research done on this, quite honestly. 

All that said, even if my suspicions are true, this still doesn’t explain everything. It just means that ASD may be getting diagnosed differently as fibromyalgia for some afabs, due in large part to social constructions around gender. :/

[sockknitteranon]

I have fibro, and can definitely say I’m allistic for sure. But that’s just my personal experience, I have no idea if I’m an outlier or what. But this is really interesting! I’ll have to ask H (my bff) about it.

[forevrdreamingofbetterthings]

Thanks for spreading this post, I’d really like to hear what others have to say!

That said, I just wanna clarify that I definitely believe fibromyalgia exists on its own too, as a real neurological disorder separate from ASD. BUT, I believe that there is so much overlap between fibro and autism, and both are HIGHLY gendered - both in the ways in which health professionals talk about and diagnose them, and also in the ways they are discussed publicly (fibro = mostly women, autism = mostly little boys & men). 

So I’m quite curious about this, and it has become a bit of a special interest for me (since it’s so personal & both are already special interests of mine lol).

sockknitterporg asked:

I have fibro, and my best friend has autism. We often talk about how the two are similar RE sensory stuff and overload. As an autistic fibro spoonie, would you write more about the two overlapping? Do you ever use spoons to describe the autistic experience?

Hey there, that’s a very good question and actually I have already written a bit about it before, but you’re right, i should try to make the effort to say more. 

If you’re interested though, here are some messy links to other posts where I’ve already talked about it:

• https://feministingforchange.tumblr.com/post/166653371245/kindkinofpolyhell-feministingforchange
  
• https://feministingforchange.tumblr.com/post/166395537400/so-i-noticed-that-i-was-struggling-a-lot-trying-to
  
• https://feministingforchange.tumblr.com/post/164632050520/autism-spectrum-disorder-fibromyalgia-and
  

And in future, I’ll try to make even more of an effort to discuss the overlap in my experience and feel free to ask me about it if there are any particular questions you have. 

I’m no expert on either autism or fibro, but i do live with both and can give an insider’s perspective, if nothing else lol. 

Also, if any of my followers/mutuals/& any others out there also experience both, it would be great to hear your perspectives as well! 

[strangerdarkerbetter]

Shoutout to the autistics with chronic pain

To autistics who stim to try to ignore their pain

To autistics who are in too much pain to stim but need to anyway

To autistics who can’t tell anymore if their in pain or having sensory issues or something else

To autistics whose sensory issues are made worse by their pain and vice versa in a horrible cycle

To autistics who have meltdowns because of their pain

To autistics who feel weak or broken or anything else negative because of how they deal with their pain

You are so strong. You deal with so much pain with a brain that experiences the world intensely. You are so brave facing each day knowing the pain that is to come. You are incredible. I see you and I see your struggles. I see how hard it is to get out of bed each day. I know what it feels like to want to just give up. But you are so beautiful and you have so much to offer the world. Your existence matters. 

I hope you find relief. I hope you find a something that eases your pain. I hope things get better for you. 

[forevrdreamingofbetterthings]

✨☀️🌈🌷🎉 signal boost to save a life 🎉🌷🌈☀️✨

Anonymous asked:

I follow about 4 people who are chronically ill/disabled, and I'm chronically ill myself. I follow over 100 people who are abled. I only ever see posts about ableism, or activism for disabled people, coming from those 4 people. That's fucked up.

Yeah that IS pretty sad/fucked up :( *hugs if wanted*

disabilityinkidlit.com

Autism Spectrum Disorder, Fibromyalgia, and Invisibility

By JACQUELINE KOYANAGI

[feministingforchange]

O. M. G. This post made me tear-up bc it is essentially MY story too. It also helps put to words some of my questions & thoughts about the connections I’ve been seeing between ASD and Fibro. Honestly, half the time I’m playing the “is it the fibro or possible ASD?” symptom analysis “game”. Moreover, Jacqueline and I are not the only ones that see this link. x x x x (& so many many more)

Oh and ftr: I’m not yet officially diagnosed as autistic but I’m fairly confident I am and I will def get tested as soon as I get the chance. Fibro though, I’ve always had and was diagnosed less than 5 yrs ago (I’m 33). So you have no idea how hard I feel this post.

Pls signal boost!!!!! 💜

#InvisiblyDisabledPplExist