Mental Health and Autism

Personal Accounts

“Reality to an autistic person is a confusing, interacting mass of events, people, places, sounds and sights. There seem to be no clear boundaries, order or meaning to anything. A large part of my life is spent trying to work out the pattern behind everything. Set routines, times, particular routes and rituals all help to get order into an unbearably chaotic life. Trying to keep everything the same reduces some of the terrible fear.” (Therese Jolliffe)

''Life is such a struggle; indecision over other things that other people refer to as trivial results in an awful lot of distress - if someone says 'We may go shopping tomorrow' or 'We will see what happens', they do not seem to realise that the uncertainty causes a lot of inner distress.'' Theresa Jolliffe

"Junior high was a real mess for me and then came puberty. My anxiety attacks came during puberty, and then all of my nerves started." Temple Grandin.

" I can only speak for myself when I say that if one subject is on my mind or I am fascinated by something, then literally everything else is insignificant -  I feel an overwhelming excitement in me that I cannot describe. I just have to talk about it and the irritation at being stopped can easily develop into raging fury." (Source: Luke Jackson, Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome)

Updated

16 Jun 2022