Hello and welcome back to Tales from the Pit. I'm your host Michael Swaim and this is your trigger warning. On today's episode, I'll be speaking with friend and twitch streamer alabral about adult autism, depression, and the challenges of intersectional identity,

among other topics.

Please enjoy our conversation and the fact that there's no new short story to skip through because I'm saving them up for a special project.

So without further ado, here's Alabrael. You're all. Even as an autistic individual, I am relatively atypical but I think that feeling atypical is

actually the typical autistic experience it expresses in so many different comorbidities that I don't think that there is any general experience that there is.

The only core defining characteristic of autism is that it is a

sensory processing disorder and you can be overwhelmed by things in life.

Sometimes that is external stimuli, sometimes it is internal.

Most of the time it seems to be both for most of us,

but that's not even universal.

Beyond that, I have a lifelong difficulty with understanding social cues in some contexts.

I'm actually very socially adept.

I am what in prior eras we would have referred to as high functioning or asperger's

but now is generally more politely referred to as

low assistance need. I am pretty much able to live on my own and I see pretty much

having come to the realization just this year that I probably am not capable of living alone entirely and that's

really terrifying and frustrating given the way that we approach adulthood in America.

Right.

What makes, what's the missing link there that makes it difficult for you to live fully

independently?

Primarily executive dysfunction, mine is, you know, like anybody that deals with ADHD or depression or anything just that

that horrifying disconnect with I know I'm fully capable of performing this

...