u/egordon326

I'm curious how many of you have guide dogs, where/when you got them, who trained your dog?

And any good guide dog stories you have!

Hi all-

I saw the mods post about doing intros. I'm sighted, but one of my best friend is blind. She refuses to answer my stupid questions (usually stuff like "how do you do (that) as a blind person?" Her answer is usually something along the lines of "I figure it out")

I also have so many questions for her about what was it actually LIKE going blind?!

For context, we went to high school and summer camp together. She has retinitis pigmentosa. She knew she was going blind at that time, but she could still see for the most part. Now she is pretty much full blind, but she can see lights. We now live a few hours apart in different cities, and I see her a few times a year. And we text back and forth a lot.

So I'm stuck lurking on Reddit because I have no life. Haha! It is cool to hear about blind people with so many different hobbies, etc

Here's the context: my friend's in-laws are under the belief that "blind" is an offensive word, so they bend over backwards to use terms like "visually impaired" and "absence of vision" to describe her disability. She has reminded them many times that "blind" is one syllable and the most accurate.

They also are very ableist, and they recently were asking her if she was feeling ok "you know, because of your eyesight handicap".

So I'm wondering what terms you like, hate, or find absolutely ridiculous.

There are few works of fiction that have stood out to me and really resonated with me. I am re-reading the book "a man called ove" by Fredrik backman. And I just re-watched the movie "a man called Otto" based on the book (but set in USA)

The author never explicitly said that ove/otto is autistic/aspie, but it resonated so hard with me. I'm just trying to reach out to others to share this experience.

I just want to do the right thing in this world. I am looking for connection, but I go through periods where I try to separate myself so that when I die, the impact of my life/death won't burden anyone else. It is nice to be reminded that even when we are not actively seeking connections, they do happen. Even for people seen as "curmudgeons".

I'm looking for some advice here-

Yesterday I had a meltdown at work. Crying, stimming, you name it. I'm really embarrassed.

What can I do to apologize? I'm going to send an email this morning to try to explain it, but that also feels weird.

Is bread and butter autism food?

And if so, can you make an argument that it is EVIL autism food?

I love bread and butter.

I know there have been other posts about telling others about your autism. I'm wondering if others can relate to this-

I was told as a kid that I had Asperger's (it was the 90s). But at that time, I was simultaneously told it is NOT autism, and I have also been told that I grew out of it. So it hasn't been a big deal or a big part of my identity for the vast majority of my life. I've now been exploring my "autistic identity". I feel like I have been "coming out" as autistic at work. It feels good mostly.

I'm just wondering how the rest of you aspies are doing with "coming out", and if anybody has any good stories.

For me, So far everybody has been really accepting, or sometimes like "we know". I work for a big company, so this is not a one time announcement or anything like that.