As to autism, I am quite familiar with it myself.
Well, that's a funny thing to say, actually, because autism is now defined as a spectrum and includes many, many, many different types of human beings.
From people with Downs syndrome, all the way to people like "Sheldon", who has been mentioned here. I've never watched that show, but Bazinga and all.
My younger child has that kind, the kind they now call "high functioning" rather than Asperger's. Asperger's was a better name for it, in my opinion, despite the fact I believe he may have been a Nazi? Because it actually has no value in the label, "high functioning" is a terrible misnomer for the type of autism that many of these people bear.
My child is way up to the right on the smartness bell curve, but has a very difficult time managing the simplest things in life. So by high functioning, I suppose they mean someone that is intelligent, the quick processor. And just imagine being able to consider 200 things that you need to do before you can take a shower or ways that you could do it differently or not in the right place at the right moment. And it ends up yet another day in which you will not be leaving the house... And then suddenly that fast processor is no longer your friend and the label high functioning is more of a disconnected insult.
Again, I would say it is a terrible misnomer.
"High-functioning" is a misnomer, because it was defined in parallel to Asperger's. Then it all changed to the "spectrum", and that's really what it is, and that's the way it makes sense. In fact, one of the most important aspects of "high-functioning", which is oriented at neurotypical values, did you point out later in the same post. ...to be cotinued
After the years of discovery with my child and the lived experience of raising them I have come to realize that it probably runs pretty deeply in my family.
And I would dare say that there are those of us here, knowing or not, who may belong to that same camp.
Ya'll know that i know by now.
I might, but I'm not interested in a diagnosis. I don't know what good it would do me. And I also know that my ability to mask is very very high. So I think I've even fooled myself.
...and that's a strong flag there for "high-functioning". One of my friends, a psychologist who worked with many autistic individuals back then, told me that it's very likely for me to have Asperger's. Even when he explained it in detail to me why, i kept thinking: "dude, no way!". Seven years later i knew he was right. So far for "fooling myself".
But I do know that I am most certainly neurodivergent.
I am a complete aphantasic. I think I brought it up here before, so I will not belabor it. I vaguely remember discovering one or two of you others that have it, perhaps, xhomer.
That's funny, because when i try to "build" a inner vision of a close individual, they are always looking like comic representations, with constantly morphing faces, in dim light, very 2D, like printed on cardboard. They never look like they'd look to my eye IRL. But i had the ability to remember everything i had ever read under hyperfocus. I lost that, though, while psychologists say my aging brain needs mostly all the power to stay "high functioning", and it also quite feels that way.
So are we done talking about drugs now and we're off to neurodivergence? That's cool. And obviously there's sometimes a connection between these things. But it makes me sad... I was about to post a really good video on that prior subject.
We will never be done, i guess. Drugs are one topic that comes in here every now and then. And it's a part of everyday life, it always was. Use or abuse, that's the key.
I've only tried cannabis (smoked it) with my GF a couple of times (in my 20s, as a student), and also magic mushrooms recently (a couple of years ago), just once, with my nephew (he was the one who suggested it -- bad boy, he's in his 20s). The shroom trip was NICE. I saw vivid, saturated colors, distorted shapes, and talked about things I'd never really expected to talk to my nephew about. Now he knows all my dirty secrets!
The shrooms were an ego suppressor, at least that's how it felt. I just didn't care and was totally at ease, honest and uninhibited. Like an open book. Is this a normal reaction? Asking those who have taken are taking shrooms. It felt good. Not feeling addicted to it, but would like to try a higher dosage (the dosage I tried was pretty low -- we were scared -- 1st time for both of us -- and last, as of now).
I loved mushrooms too, until the one time the trip went bad. No details, but set&setting, and how well you know your ego already, these seem to be more important to make mushrooms a good experience that with LSD, where it is important already. I'd say, if you look inside, your current mood, stress levels and such, and there is the slightest suspicion of being unwell, or stressed, don't do it. Too high doses are also uncomfortably uncontrollable. The ego suppression thing is definitely what was going on. LSD is even more potent, while more "transparent" and controllable. Mushrooms are more emotionally altering, while LSD kind of really fucks your brain, but not in the unpleasant way.
Cocaine, heroin: never tried, absolutely don't want to, and I don't think I need to.
Risk/reward is unfavorable with both (and the likes).
I did Opium two times in my life and it bored the shit out of (lucky) me, i felt quite depressed afterwards too, so no intention to ever try again. I was thinking first time was a mistake or some fake stuff. I always was going after mind-expanding experiences, for curiosity. That's mainly what saved me from addiction. In case of THC (and Muscimol) it was about making life easier, not trying to distract myself from it.
