u/Just_a_schwa

Hi all! I lost my favorite stim toy recently and I could never find anything even remotely like it, so I thought of making it at home. But I need advice on figuring out what the material was…

It was a hard ball. I could squeeze it as hard as I wanted and it would never break. It would just dent. The outside was knitted, with a quite rough and thick fabric, while the inside was "grainy", almost like rice in size judging by the feeling, but smoother, and it made a nice "crunchy" sound when I rubbed it between my hands. It can't have been rice because I've washed it and it didn't change, rice would have gotten soft.

Since I've lost it, I have no idea what the inside material was. I'm guessing something like small marble spheres. Do you think this adds up? And do you know where they might sell them?

Also, any advice on what the fabric could have been?

Little extra: if you're wondering what it looked like, it was yellow and had a smile on one side and a frown on the other. It also had a keychain.

If you by some miracle know any place that sells something like this (don't care what it looks like), please enlighten me! Thank you.

Title is complicated but basically: I'm looking to getting into masking (again, because I obviously wore masks during the high of COVID). I already have a chronic illness (POTS) probably derived from a virus since I'd never really been careful about not catching something before COVID, and I'm just now looking into it as a friend who masks enlightened me.

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However, I am prioritizing a reusable and clear mask, because I a) don't want to commit to creating daily waste (no shade to those who use disposable masks, I understand it's worth it in the long run over hospital waste, I just can't stand the thought of it for me personally), and b) I aim to be working with Deaf people for a living and need the mask to be clear to allow them to lip read me. Plus I'd appreciate my face being visible since it looks more approachable.

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I found the OmniMask, and it seems perfect (I don't mind the price since it appears to be a one-time purchase for basically forever except if I somehow bang it up badly? Please correct me if I'm wrong!), however one caveat I have is some people have noted that your voice is more muffled than with other brands. I have a big problem with people hearing me since my voice comes out very quiet. (If anyone has this issue in general and has advice on how to speak louder, I'm all ears…)

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If my research here led me to the correct mask for me in your opinion, I've also been considering whether to add the filter adapter option as I've heard many suggest using M3 filters. My caveat, though, is that those things are huge and would look a bit "overkill" and weird.

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I know safety is more important than aesthetics but I also want to feel comfortable since I'd be wearing it everywhere all the time and nobody around me even masks at all. I don't have anyone in my circle who actually needs me to mask around them so having super ultra perfect protection is not terribly necessary. The mask with the original filter seems to be NIOSH-approved anyway. Plus I feel like if I go around with a mask that doesn't look that funny, I'd be able to convince more people to follow my lead.

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Also, something that isn't clear to me is how often you need to change each type of filter. I need to understand the pricing of this because I'm still a student and if I commit to the 130€+ for this mask I don't want to spend a crazy amount for filters as well. I've heard the figure "once a year" for M3s but I'm not sure about the standard filter or other types.

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Apologies for any mistakes, I'm still trying to understand. Thanks to anyone who might help.

Hi all, I am a single person and I plan to move to Poland. I'm still 22 but in the future, I'd like to adopt (to be precise I don't necessarily crave the experience of parenthood itself although I'd enjoy it; I mainly just wanna save at least one kiddo from an orphanage or parents that would adopt them for the wrong reasons—somehow every single adoptee I know has the shittiest most abusive families…).

However, I probably have ADHD and if I get a diagnosis in my country, I may be put on stimulants. If that's the case, I don't know how it will work with adoption because I know adoption agencies are very strict and since I'm already a single person (and queer, but I can hide that) and neurodivergent I don't exactly have a good starting point.

To be clear: my disabilities are not very disableing; I can look after myself and I go to therapy when I need help, I think I can give a kid the stability and love they need.

And although I know single-parent families aren't ideal for a kid, I'm definitely of the belief that having *one* parent is better than having *none*. One friend who grew up with a split couple said this to me and it kind of stuck. Also, I wouldn't adopt until I had a support system, close friends or platonic partners who would be like aunt/uncle/pibling figures to this hypothetical kiddo.

I'm just wondering whether I should hide my diagnosis if I do get it. And whether it's even legally possible at all to not disclose it. Especially if I'm put on stimulants in the meantime and find that they help me.

Another couple notes: I'm planning on entering the field of disability assistance and will attend specific courses for special pedagogy and other similar things. I'd actually prefer and aim to adopt a disabled and/or older kid because they're the ones who are ignored the most by the system as everyone prefers adopting babies.

Does anyone have advice for this situation? Thank you.

(Still don't really get the difference between the two, i used both names and just explained I didn't want DI and he agreed to it)

He said it would be very simple and drew me a little representation of the kind of cut it would require. Pretty sure it was something like a horizontal (); however he said I'd be left with two dots for scars and not a line.

The only post-op pic I've ever been able to find of this specific type of no-nip surgery was this guy's here so I expected it would look like this instead. I guess I'll know once I get through it!

He also said keyhole/periareolar with his team generally requires a second fix-up surgery but it's all covered by public healthcare (yay Italy) and will be done on local anesthesia and be a very simple procedure.

Just sharing this information to anyone who might be wondering if it's possible. Yes it is. I hope I get a date by the end of the year and I'll be sure to post some pictures!

Cześć! I've been learning Polish for a couple years now and something recently happened that made me seek an answer to this question:

What would be the difference in connotation between compliments such as ładny, piękny, śliczny, miły, przystojny (I know this one is similar to English "handsome"), słodki, fajny, itd? What are the closest English equivalents for each?

(A dear friend that I have a platonic crush on replied to my selfie with "Wyglądasz ślicznie" and now I need to know how charged it was lmao)

Dziękuję wam!

Don't take the title the wrong way; I know all autistic people are 100% autistic.

I'm going through some stressful feelings about my social existence as a late-diagnosed, low supports need autistic person, and I need to get this off my chest. Thanks to anyone who will take the time to read.

Basically I've spent my entire formative years feeling wrong, having little to no social life, and my only two friends were very obviously neurodivergent. Even after my diagnosis (that I got only after getting a second opinion), seeing other autistics always triggered some massive imposter syndrome. I wasn't "clockable" like them. Nobody ever told me I seemed autistic. Nobody caught it. Even my first assessment when I was 17. My parents don't believe my diagnosis at all.

And yet an aunt suggested them to get me checked up when I was a child because she thought "something was wrong with me". And I've been bullied for years by my peers. Been called a weirdo. Been talked to like I was a baby by my high school classmates. I'm simultaneously "not autistic enough" and "too autistic".

I've been unmasking since I got my diagnosis a few years ago, and it’s been awful around allistics and neurotypicals in general. Now that I let myself yap, no longer feeling like what goes through my mind isn't worthwhile, "embracing the cringe", I have started speaking too much. I let myself infodump all the time. I can sense I make allistics low-key uncomfortable, confused, or just bored, but I can't help it. It just needs to come out. If I don't communicate in an autistic way, I just wouldn't talk at all.

Worst feeling is when my sister, who is very neurodivergent-positive (suspecting being ADHD herself), interrupts me when I infodump because she gets bored. She does that in jest, but it hurts me so much, idk why. I guess I like to think we should be allowed to act in socially inappropriate but harmless ways in an ideal world where people accept autism, but her doing this is like telling me it's not acceptable?

Does anybody else ever feel this way, or has gone through something like this? I'm not necessarily looking for advice but it is very welcome.