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In the DSM-5 in 2013 Attention Deficit Disorder Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was added to the family of neurological developmental disorders. Neurodiversity includes ADHD. Many Autistics have ADHD. What are the similarities and differences between Autism and ADHD? Tas Kronby will be back on Today's Autistic Moment to give their insights about Autistics who have ADHD.
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Transcript
Autistics with ADHD
October 2, 2022
Segment 1
Welcome everyone to Today’s Autistic Moment: A Podcast for Autistic Adults by An Autistic Adult. My name is Philip King-Lowe. I am the owner, producer, and host, and I am an Autistic Adult. Thank you so for listening.
Today’s Autistic Moment is a member of The National Podcast Association.
Today’s Autistic Moment is always a free to listen to podcast that gives Autistic Adults access to important information, helps us learn about our barriers to discover the strengths and tools we already have to use for the work of self-advocacy.
This first segment of Today’s Autistic Moment is sponsored by The Autism Society of Minnesota; Minnesota’s First Autism Resource. For over fifty years The Autism Society of Minnesota has been honored to support Minnesota’s Autism Community. Visit them online at ausm.org.
Please visit the new todaysautisticmoment.com to listen to this episode and all previously published shows. The transcripts for all shows going back to February 2021 are available. Transcripts for 2022 are sponsored by Minnesota Independence College & Community.
In addition, please note that my email address has changed to todaysautisticmoment@gmail.com. Please send all emails concerning the podcast and/or any part thereof to the new email address todaysautisticmoment@gmail.com.
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On Wednesday, October 19th at 2:00pm Central Standard Time, I will be joined by four Autistic individuals for live virtual Autistic Voices Roundtable Discussions: Busting the Myth About Empathy. Contrary to what many believe, Autistic people do experience empathy. Some Autistics experience double empathy. Others experience empathy by spending a lot of time alone, fidgeting to help process what they are feeling. Many Autistics do not express empathy physically through their body language or facial expressions, however, that does not mean they are not experiencing any empathy. The virtual event will be livestreamed on Facebook and will be recorded and made available on Today’s Autistic Moment’s YouTube Channel.
During this month of October, we are recognizing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness Month. I do hope that someday, October will be ADHD Acceptance Month. There is tremendous overlap with Autism and ADHD. There is a study underway to look at how many Autistic people are also ADHD. In the DSM-4 between 1994 and 2012, ADHD was in the category of a mental disorder. It was also believed that ADHD was another mental health disorder that many Autistics got because of the social stigmas we experience. When the American Psychiatric Association published the DSM-5 in 2013 they moved ADHD into the same category as Autism as a neurological developmental disorder. Since then, there has been a lot of progress to recognize those who are ADHD as part of the movement for Neurodiversity along with Autistics. The social model of ADHD as with Autistics are a neurological social difference.
Tas Kronby of tasthoughts.com is my guest today to talk about Autistics with ADHD. Tas are members of the disability community with developmental, and physical disabilities. They are a DID system, person of color, nonbinary and proud to be a member of the LGBTQ+ communities. With this unique combination of diversity, they advocate for inclusion. A passion for equal access to education, healthcare, and human rights motivate them to advocacy for inclusion, equal access, acceptance of neurodiversity & disability. There is published over 100 publications on Medium. Their book The Autistic Survival Guide From Application to Hire Advice from a Neurodivergent Autist on Navigating the Workplace is available on Amazon.
Please stay tuned after the first commercial break when Tas will talk about some basics about ADHD and those who are Autistic.
Commercial Break I
Segment 2
Welcome back. And now, please join me as I welcome Tas Kronby.
Philip King-Lowe
Tas Kronby, it is my privilege to welcome you back to Today's Autistic Moment. Thank you for being here today.
Tas Kronby
Thank you so much for having us. Super excited to be here again.
Philip King-Lowe
Yeah, good. I'm excited to have you back. Um, it is October. And we are recognizing, um, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Some also experienced it as just Attention Deficit Disorder, I think it also applies to them. And we know that Autistics like myself, and I think you too, we also have ADHD. We also know that since 2013, that ADHD was added to the family of neurological developmental disorders in the DSM-5, in 2013. So, on Today's Autistic Moment, I want to recognize ADHD, and in particular, Autistics who live with ADHD. And I think that this topic will indeed touch many who are. So, as I always do, what important information do Autistic Adults and our caregivers need to know about regarding Autistics who also live with ADHD?
Tas Kronby
That is such a great question and important. And when you had mentioned about the addition of that, to the diagnosis criteria, that is something that I think a lot of people don't know. And that also has led to a lot of people being late diagnosed as adults with ADHD. And so that's our experience personally. We were actually diagnosed a couple of years ago officially, with ADHD. And one of the most important things that we personally learned as an Autistic Adult is it kind of added in more clarification to why things are the way they are with processing and doing things. And it also added in another piece of it, which is understanding that when you are Autistic, and you have ADHD, your way of doing things will look differently than someone that is only possibly one of those neurodivergent people. Yes. It adds layers. So, it takes a lot more patience with yourself. And also, patient with those around you to understand like, oh, it's not one size fits all. And when you have kind of the double stacked cake, I guess.
Philip King-Lowe
That's a good explanation. Go ahead.
Tas Kronby
Yeah, when you have that like double stacked cake, then you're going to be having different types of mechanisms for dealing with things like tasks, scheduling, sensory. It makes it different than it would for someone else. I know one of the things that we personally have found out about ourselves is where we don't actually procrastinate. That's not a thing. Procrastination is one of the biggest myths that causes so many problems for people. And our issue is our Autistic Self, and our ADHD are competing with each other. One of those ones structure and we want schedule and then the ADHD and as is like no, no, no, we can do this last minute. It'll be fine. Like we can get it done. We don't need all this time. Which makes it even more complicated. Navigating it is a lot. God is it.
Philip King-Lowe
Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And the other thing that I would add is that executive dysfunctioning plays a role in both. And that's something we need to pay attention to. What do you think?
Tas Kronby
Oh, yes, definitely, definitely. You know, executive dysfunction is something that I think has a lot of stigma around it specifically for adults. Because people don't understand that it's a default for your neuro-type. It's not something that you're going to, in, quote, outgrow. It's not, that's not what it is. And so, with ADHD and Autism having that executive dysfunctioning that makes some days nothing happens. I know personally. It's like a complete stalemate.
Philip King-Lowe
I know exactly what you're talking about. I have my days when my answer is no to everything. You know? Yeah, I agree with you. Go ahead.
Tas Kronby
Yeah, in in no things. That was executive dysfunction that can be struggles, like remembering to drink water. Or if sensory wise water is hard for you because sensory issues can be present in both ADHD and Autism. So, water actually might be hard to drink. Sometimes. Things like hygiene, keeping up like showers, or bathing, whatever that looks like can be a struggle and just might not happen. Eating another thing really hard, because you're dealing with all these layers on top of layers of things that a neurotypical person looks at, as that's just what you do every day. That's just a normal part of daily life. But for somebody that's Autistic and ADHD, you don't have that same outlook. It's a task that you have to push yourself somedays to do. It's exhausting.
Philip King-Lowe
Yes. Yeah. Maybe we should see if we can give our audience a little explanation about what the difference might be. And I'm going to have a few more things to say about this as we move along. Can you sort of give our audience especially those who may be new to either Autism or ADHD? Can we give them a little bit of an idea of what the differences might be?
Tas Kronby
Definitely, definitely. I know, when it comes to, it's always ADHD and Autism will have a lot of diversity within it. But some of the things that you might not see in one or the other, so when you're Autistic, you may also have a cognitive processing piece to your neuro-type that may not be there with ADHD. Also, sensory processing disorder, while it is common in both it doesn't mean it'll be there in both. That is also something that can be it's something that you see a lot of but may not actually be part of that.
Philip King-Lowe
Yep. Yeah.
Tas Kronby
Sorry go ahead.
Philip King-Lowe
No, I was gonna say, another matter that we want to just talk briefly briefly about is that sometimes ADHD is misdiagnosed when the issue is really Autism. And sometimes Autism may be a miss for ADHD. They have enough similarities. And sometimes, of course, you know, we're all different because neurodiversity means everybody diagnosed, we're different. They look the same, and then they can look different, but they can also they also actually work hand in hand. So, I think we need to, we need to be clear about that. That sometimes the misdiagnosis of each is highly possible. And that's why we really need therapists who can clearly diagnose both and will know the difference and can talk about the difference. Can you please continue with that if you can?
Tas Kronby
Yeah, definitely. You know, misdiagnosis is something that I think plagues the neurodivergent world, like the neurodiverse community that is a big thing. And especially like you were saying, like some things can mirror each other, or it can be one or not the other or it can be both. And I think one of the biggest pieces of it when they are looking at the assessment process for both of these things. So personally, I went through the assessment for Autism as an adult, and I went through the assessment for ADHD as an adult. Which I'm sure it'll look completely different as a child. But one of the benefits of doing those assessments as an adult, is there's clarification on things that the person assessing, you can ask that you can't ask a child, they can't answer it. So, you'd have more of that introspection to be able to separate certain pieces of those things and make it easier on the assessor. But at the same time, assessors have to be able to be knowledgeable in their field to that expert level to distinguish it. And, and not just rely on the textbook definition of things. Having that in person and people experience with it, for longer periods of time will always in our personal opinion, in our experience make it a more favorable outcome as far as diagnosis, the experience of the person assessing matters a lot.
After this next commercial break, Tas and I will talk about barriers such as how the educational system predicts a dim future for Autistics with ADHD, and what you can do if you need accommodations in the workplace. Please stay tuned.
Commercial Break II
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Segment 3
Philip King-Lowe
Let's turn our attention to barriers. What are the barriers for Autistic Adults and those of us with ADHD? We named the matter the matter of diagnosis. We named the matter of executive dysfunctioning. And one of the biggest barriers that can exist is when people don't understand what may be happening. Actually, I was diagnosed just the opposite. My ADHD was diagnosed first, then came my Autism diagnosis. And all the years that I was in elementary school, up to middle school, I was regularly accused of daydreaming. Often looking into space, no expression on my face. I look like I'm not doing work. I'm not doing anything. I'm just staring into space. And that is a huge part, an example of something that someone with ADHD might experience. Can you talk about that?
Tas Kronby
Yeah, definitely. You know, there if I had a jar to put money in for every person that has said that to us, that hasn't had that experience it, it would be a lot. Because yeah, you know, in the education system, there's a big push to have everyone acting neurotically and now including how they learn. So that accusation of like, You're not listening. You're not focusing. You're you're not doing anything productive. That is such a dangerous and harmful ideology around it. Because that's not what it is. What's happening is your ADHD is kicking in. And if you wanted to focus you would. It is, in a way, like we think of it for ourselves personally, it's like a survival space out. Like your brain isn't stopping. You're trying to focus so hard, and you just get so exhausted to the point. You just can't anymore, and you shut down.
Philip King-Lowe
Yep, exactly.
Tas Kronby
And that is often always misinterpreted as disengaging, not focusing, being rude, being disrespectful, not learning, when that's not even close to the reality of it.
Philip King-Lowe
Exactly. Yep. I know exactly what you're talking about. Actually, a story that I have told on numerous occasions. And mind you this was in the 70s before we really started diagnosing these things. And what I'm about to say, is an experience I had. When I was in fifth grade, I had a lot of troubles paying attention. And I was being told things like you're not fooling me. I know you're just not wanting to do your work. And then the other big one came when that teacher told my parents at an open house. "Let's face it, your son is just not college material." My father was not a person to hold his tongue. In fact, that was one of his challenges that he didn't always hold his tongue. But he told me on various occasions after that, that had he not been concerned about the teacher you know, being vindictive to me for the rest of the school year, he would have asked that teacher the question, how the hell do you know that? You know, there, there are a lot of assumptions, unfair, unacceptable assumptions made about Autistic and ADHD people from educators regarding whatever their potential might be, because we're having an issue a challenge due to our neurological social difference. And one of those incredible barriers is that the presumptions, the assumptions, the future forecasting people do with young people who are Autistic, and/or have ADHD. What do you what do you think about that?
Tas Kronby
Yeah, you're not given the same opportunities as neurotypical people. Exactly. Yeah. They look at how you're not acting like the other kids. And then, they chastise you for it and say exactly. And it is something that puts a lot of barriers for potential and just opportunity. It's taking it away. There is no equality in that. Exactly. Yep. And especially when that happens when you're that young, then you are stigmatized through that education system, because it's all put on record. It's all put on file, it goes with you, whatever school you go to, and it stays.
Philip King-Lowe
Yep. Yeah, you know, another, another obstacle or barrier that some will sometimes experience is what people will not understand about someone is that fidgeting, or stimming is a tool that is used by many to help with their attention, not to divert not to make an excuse for not, not working the way people think it should work. I think we have all been in a room, a classroom, or a, maybe you work in a place where there are business meetings, and you might see somebody biting down on a pencil. You might see somebody who is of course fidgeting and turning something, put it you know, moving something playing with something. That person is not being disruptive, and they are not being you know, disrespectful. Actually, they're doing something to help them concentrate better. I think we need to emphasize that. Go ahead.
Tas Kronby
Yes, that is such a good point. So stimming is something that is so stigmatized, and people try to prevent that as much as possible, which is the most damaging thing you can do. Because yeah, like if someone is thinking back when you were when you're sharing that it made me think of as a kid so like, we were eraser eaters. So, like you give us a pencil and the top of that pencil is gone within the hour. And that is something like later we're like, oh, yeah, that was totally a stimming thing, because we're able to focus better on what was being told to us, if we were doing something, if we were chewing something, if we were playing with something in our hands like playdough, or slime, like those things helped us focus and listen. Or like when people will do a do a task and have music playing, same thing. You're, you're using that to focus on what you're doing. And I think society has created this narrative around it where proper behavior is sit still, complete eye contact, you don't move a muscle until that person is done talking. But that is not the reality of learning or listening that that is not how it works. Right. Yeah, it's a lot more productive. When you allow Autistic and ADHD, people to openly stim, then you're gonna actually see more positive things happen with what they're learning, you're gonna see more things happen with how they interact with you, in certain circumstances, even in places of work. Like when, when workplaces don't like people to have fidgets like the stress balls that you can squeeze or it's actually harmful not to allow that because you're actually that person is helping themselves do better.
Philip King-Lowe
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm glad that we're talking about this. What steps should Autistic and ADHD people take to advocate for our needs? And this is when we're where we're going to have to, I think, give some really great feedback, because I think many who who live with these two conditions or have these identities, I'm trying to be careful with that. We need to advocate, but I think we often need some help to figure out how to do that. So, let's give our audience some great ideas for that. Go ahead.
Tas Kronby
Yes, that is great. So self-advocacy is one of the things that is it's hard not going away, it's stressful, and it can be really overwhelming. But once you're able to find what works for you, it helps so much. One of the things that we've personally found has helped us with our self-advocacy and what we always tell other people know what your rights are. That is a huge one. Because if you're at work, let's say you have a job, and you are Autistic, ADHD, you want to be able to take in a quiet, fidget toy that won't disrupt anything. But your boss says that you have to have an accommodation or a medical reason for it. Well, the great news is go to HR, and you still have to start the reasonable accommodations process. And the piece about it is, is all of your medical information which Autism and ADHD are considered protected medical information it's covered under HIPAA. So, your human resource department cannot then go and disclose to your department, like "oh, so and so gets to bring this in because they're Autistic or their ADHD." They can't do that. So, if you're not comfortable disclosing to your team or your supervisor, the reason you need an accommodation, you don't have to, you can do it all through human resources, and they cannot share that information without your permission. The second thing is to is you know, it's really hard to speak up for yourself. Every day people try to prevent you from saying what you need. They tend to look at you like they try it. You know, sometimes they just try to make you feel bad for saying things to defend what you need. But in reality, it becomes building your own self-love and working through it internally. So that you're able to speak up for yourself when things do happen that are not okay. And this takes time. It has taken us years to do this. And we still sometimes need support from other people to help us to speak up when something isn't happening correctly. But if you're having accommodations refused, if you're not allowed to do what you need for your neuro-type, if you need to stand and work at your desk instead of sit, things like that are reasonable accommodations that can be made for you. But it won't happen unless you say something.
Philip King-Lowe
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Um I feel that one of the most important parts of self-advocacy regarding ADHD, and Autism, is that you need to know enough and become the expert about your Autism, your ADHD, and you need to become the expert about communicating about it in a way that works best for you. Um, you know, I have, I have a thing that I've developed, when it comes to Autism, and even ADHD, each person has their own brand, make and model, and they are different. And therefore, it doesn't, it may help if people have a general understanding of, but it's really up to the individual to know their own their own Autism and ADHD and communicate it in a way that works for them. And this is where I continue to emphasize telling our stories. Once again, it would be nice if people understood the basics of, but there is no substitute for them hearing about it directly from the person who lives with those conditions. If they're not hearing it from you, then they're not going to learn. Each person needs to get to their comfort level with what they share how they share it, what works best for them. But I do think being aware of yourself and being able to communicate about yourself is extremely important. And I don't feel that that can be overemphasized. What do you think?
Tas Kronby
Definitely 100%. And, like you were saying, finding the best way to talk about how it impacts your life, some of the things that can be helpful, if you're not sure how to do that, try a couple different methods. One of the things that can be helpful is writing a script. If you are able to put down on paper, here's how being Autistic impacts my life. Here's how being ADHD impacts my life. And then using that to then explain it to whoever it is that you're having to speak to about it can be really helpful. It can get exhausting to have to repeat yourself over and over. And that's a way of having like a summary that you can just give to someone that needs to read it so that you don't have to constantly feel like you're on the spot to share it. And sometimes verbal communication won't work, it just isn't going to be there. So, in the moment, if it's another thing that we have seen work for ourselves is recording it. So, if you know that somebody will be more open to hearing the information, verbally, like auditorily, hearing it from you record yourself record a little like audio. No, you can record a little video if you want to just whatever you're comfortable with, and then you're able to just show it to them. I guess a personal example for our university, we struggled really hard, getting accommodations, and had to fight very long time to be able to get them. And one of the things that we did for the professors we just recorded a little YouTube video. And in the video, we just said here is what my neurodivergence is, here's how it's goanna look in the classroom with you. And here's why these accommodations helped me and it's four minutes. And they can choose to watch it or not to more than often we've had the professors watch it and it has made it so much easier to work in the class because then we're not getting a bunch of questions all the time that we've answered 1000 times before.
Philip King-Lowe
Right. Yep. Yep, that's an excellent idea. Great idea. Another thing that I might suggest to go with that is if there is a person, a neurotypical person that you feel understands you best, I think it would be a good idea to read that list or use that list. with someone else and let them give you the feedback. Oh, that sounds understandable. Or wait a minute. I don't, I don't, I don't quite you know, you might want to reword it this way. It's okay. It's actually a good thing to get that feedback so that you can work as hard as you can to help. Help them understand you best.
Tas Kronby
Yeah, that is actually a great idea. And it's always good to get feedback. And it can only help it be easier later on. Sometimes it can be hard to take feedback, even if it's someone you know. But just remembering that if someone says, Hey, this doesn't make sense, they're really trying to help you make it as clear as possible. So that then you're not having to get those questions from a stranger.
Philip King-Lowe
Right. Yep. Yep, I agree. Um, yeah. What are some other ways that you have advocated for yourself that you have found that had been helpful to you?
Tas Kronby
Oh, gosh, that's a good question. You know, the biggest thing, going back to when you're talking about sharing your story, personally, that has been the most impactful when it comes to being able to advocate for things happening, getting access to things, getting accommodations, because, honestly, it gives a level of accountability for ourselves like, Okay, this is my story. It's right here, you can see it yourself, here's what I struggle with daily. And it also gives accountability to that person because they can choose to ignore it or not to. And, unfortunately, but also, fortunately, when we have spoken on a public platform, and people ask questions, and we just send them certain things. And when people choose not to learn, it's a great way of seeing what will work out and what won't. Right. Because if someone's not willing to listen to us on an open platform, then in a workplace or in an educational environment, they're not going to be willing to listen either. So definitely speaking about our story, and also just having an open platform and being transparent as we can, which doesn't work for everybody. And we want to just say like that might not be the best option for people. It's very personalized. But the other thing, too, that we honestly, were recently just thinking about is getting involved with the Autistic community has been a huge, huge piece of it. You have like-minded people, have people that have different resources have experienced different things. There's an insurmountable level of support that is found in that community because of all of the experiences. And that has been a huge piece of it, too.
Philip King-Lowe
Yeah, I agree. Yeah. The community that shares on LinkedIn is absolutely fascinating, don't you think?
Tas Kronby
Oh, definitely, definitely. That was one of the first platforms we got active on. And it was the best choice ever, because that's where we were able to really connect with a lot of professional neurodivergent people that are just doing so much in the advocacy world and just so much in general in the world. And it's nice to be able to go on and be like, Oh, this happened. And I have no idea what this is, and just be like, Oh, wait, this person might know, I saw a post about this a few weeks ago. Like it's a good network of people. And it's mutually supportive, which is a wonderful experience that you really don't get from neurotypical environments that often.
Join us after this final commercial break as we talk more about the importance of connecting with the Neurodivergent community, followed by Today’s Autistic Community Bulletin Board. Please stay tuned.
Commercial Break III
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Are you Autistic and the owner and/or host for a podcast that is by and for Autistics? If so, I have a very exciting networking opportunity for you. I am cordially inviting you to attend a live virtual initial meeting to talk about the creation of the International Autistic Podcasters Association on Thursday, March 16th, 2023, at 11:00am-12:30pm Central Standard Time. During this meeting we can talk about what we might like an International Autistic Podcasters Association to look like and what we could do. The association members can share with each other what our podcasts are about, what is working well, what might need improvements and promote ourselves and each other to attract more listeners. The meeting will be recorded with a transcript and made available on Today’s Autistic Moment’s YouTube channel. To read more about the meeting go to todaysautisticmoment.com/apa/. Please share the news and link with any Autistic person you know who owns and/or hosts a podcast for other Autistic people. If you have any questions or concerns, send an email to todaysautisticmoment@gmail.com .
Future Shows
On October 16th, Pete Wharmby an Autistic Advocate and Journalist from the UK will be my guest for the episode The Intersection of Autism and ADHD. Autistics and ADHD intersect as Neurodivergents. Pete will talk more about how they intersect and what we can do to offer more mutual support and understanding to the movement for Neurodiversity.
On November 6th Nicky Collins will join me to talk about a topic that is long overdue. Autistic Parents Raising Autistic Children. There are many who believe that Autistic Parents do not exist because of the false notion that there are no Autistic Adults. Many of the wonderful aspects about being Autistic can be helpful to Autistic Parents, but they can also add to their challenges. Most educational systems and community assistant opportunities are not prepared to help Autistic Parents get the supports they need. Autistic parents have been bullied and/or ignored by educational professionals when they ask for accommodations for their Autistic children. Nicky Collins and her wife are the parents of an Autistic Child. Don’t miss this important episode.
On November 21st, Robert Allan Claus III will be my guest for Autistic Adults Are Not Children. Autistic Adults are often stereotyped as children that never matured properly. Autistic Adults are infantilized by neurotypicals who feel that they know better as to who we should be and how we should behave and therefore should teach us to be more like neurotypicals. Robert Allan Claus III is an Autistic Adult who is going to talk about how being infantilized has affected him, and why he feels it is important that Autistic Adults be respected as Adults.
Thank you for listening to Today’s Autistic Moment.
Segment 4
Philip King-Lowe
I didn't even started using LinkedIn until I started the podcast. And once I started connecting on there, I just found this really safe place to build networks and communicate with networks, get some great feedback from people like yourself and just find a support that I have yet to you know, other than the from myself, other than the Autism Society, Minnesota, which has always been one of my greatest helps, but that community on LinkedIn, it's, it's, it's absolutely incredible. And you know, my audience hears me talk about that quite a bit, but I can't stress enough about what an exciting thing that is, because among the things is that we have found one another, without concern about how someone is going to respond to what we write. Most of the time when we write something on LinkedIn or share something on LinkedIn, with the rest of the Autistic community, we will get some pretty positive feedback and information. And that's exactly what among the things that we need so desperately. ADHD, autism, and a lot of the neurological community. I can’t, I can't be more grateful for that for that environment.
Tas Kronby
100% agree with that.
Philip King-Lowe
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's, it's been a blessing to my life. I can I have to say that. Um, what would you? Do you have anything that you might say, to some folks who are Autistic and ADHD? I'm trying to think of how to phrase this question. So, it will bring about the response I'm asking for. I think I think there's some things that we need to say to the community, communities, I'd like to say, you know, if they're, if they're struggling or suffering, and, you know, I'll start it by saying, we know what you're experiencing, we experience it too. And finding others who know that suffering know those experiences, is one of the best ways of finding support and energy, positive energy that can sometimes really feed the positivity where there is so much negativity. And I'll let you give some of your responses to it that now if you like.
Tas Kronby
Yeah. Definitely. And agree with that. 100%. And also, to just remember that there can be very, it can feel isolating, and it can feel very lonely. Yes. And you’re what you’re feeling is valid, to feel that that way, the way that treat people are treating you is not okay. So just know that you are worthy of more than that. And you can find that other places to have that positive experience. And there’s always it sounds I, but there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel, because they’re personally having experience that there is in it, the light looks different for everyone. It may be blue, it could be green, it could be yellow, who knows? Everyone’s light at the end is different. But the suffering you have now is not how everyone will treat you.
Philip King-Lowe
Exactly, yep. Yep, there is hope to find some, some community and to find supports. And you know, one of the reasons why I host Today’s Autistic Moment is because I know there are people who live in areas where you they don’t have the supports that we are very privileged to have. So, I host the show, so that those who are in places where their supports may not be so positive that this can be at least one positive means of growth and self- acceptance, and also just finding information that you feel like you can feed your life with more positive energy. Yes, yeah. Well, Tas, it is always a pleasure to have you as a guest on Today’s Autistic Moment. And this is another one of those exceptional experiences. I feel like we have given our audience some important information, and I think they’re going to appreciate it. So, thank you for being on today. And I wish you well with all the things you’re working on.
Tas Kronby
Yes. Thank you so much for having me again, always a pleasure to be here.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Today’s Autistic Community Bulletin Board
All of these events with their links can be found on todaysautisticmoment.com/bulletinboard.
Understanding Autism virtual classes will be offered by The Autism Society of Minnesota. These classes are perfect for Autistic individuals, caregivers, those who want to understand the basics of Autism and support Autistic people. Classes will be held on October 17th from 6pm to 8pm. November 21st from 10am to 12pm. December 19th from 2pm to 4pm. Classes are free of charge, but you must register to attend.
On Tuesday, October 25th beginning at 7pm to 9pm, Kathy Woods will present a virtual skillshop at the Autism Society of Minnesota entitled Learning to Drive While Autistic. This skillshop will share information and invite discussion on the critical skills needed for driving and how being Autistic can impact learning how to drive. Kathy Woods is the supervisor of the Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute’s Driver Assessment and Training. Kathy is an Occupational Therapist, Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist and MN State licensed driver instructor.
On Tuesday, November 15th beginning at 7pm-9pm Jason Schellack an attorney and the Executive Director of Autism Advocacy & Law Center will present a virtual skillshop at the Autism Society of Minnesota entitled Guardianship: Do We Need It? Learn about how legal guardianship works for many Autistics over the age of 18 who might need additional supports in Minnesota.
Go to ausm.org for more information about these and other events at The Autism Society of Minnesota.
If you have events for Autistic Adults and our supporters and would like them announced in Today’s Autistic Community Bulletin Board on the next episode on October 16th, please send to todaysautisticmoment@gmail.com by 4:30pm on Wednesday October 12th.
Today’s Autistic Moment is sponsored in part by Looking Forward Life Coaching. Looking Forward turns stumbling blocks into stepping stones towards success. Go to lookingforwardlc.org for more information.
If you have a topic that you think will be a great contribution to talk about the strengths and achievements of Autistic Adults and/or want to be a guest in season 3 in 2023; want your business or organization mentioned or have questions about Today’s Autistic Moment please send an email to todaysautisticmoment@gmail.com.
Thank you for listening to Today’s Autistic Moment: A Podcast for Autistic Adults by An Autistic Adult.
May you have an Autistically Amazing day.