Jax Bayne

29/07/2026

23/07/2026

You call it “high functioning”.

I call it a different kind of hard.

Sure, some of our kids can walk and talk..even socialize, they seem to “fit in” just fine..on the surface.

But here’s where it gets tricky.

This is where they struggle...and it’s huge.

As they get older, they gradually realize they are different from their peers.

So they pretend.

They mask their challenges.

They learn to talk and act like the kids around them the best they can which takes up all their energy.

They may even want to try new hobbies, sports and clubs, overload themselves with activities because they are trying to find that right fit, the one where they feel they belong.

They may also feel like they can’t fit into any of them. They aren’t “disabled enough” to be with the special needs classrooms and groups. And they aren’t what others feel is “normal” or “skilled enough” to be in the typical ones.

It’s hard to find the box they can fit perfectly into.

Many times that leaves them even more isolated and alone.

They hold in their need to stim and self regulate for fear of being made fun of or bullied.

They cautiously speak, navigating every word they say, looking and listening for social cues and question each interaction or simply avoid people or walk away because it’s all too much.

It affects them everyday.

They try to be good and perfect and well behaved for their teachers and pay attention in class.

But they crash or explode when they get home.

It exhausts them to where they may need a nap by the end of a hard day.

They may need days to recover and recharge.

They may stay home a lot.

Their social battery may simply run out and social anxiety takes its place.

Shutdown and burnout. Depression.

Even suicidal thoughts.

They have to work harder, and they process things in a unique way.

It makes them socialize and play differently.

And even with all the pretending, they stand out eventually.

Because their peers get older. They surpass them socially.

Then exclusion and getting ostracized for being different begins.

Listening to a teacher give a lesson can be confusing as their brain is trying to process the words.

Too many voices in one room, too many instructions at one time, can put them in sensory overload.

They take that test they studied all week for and their memory fails them.

They can’t start a project..or maybe they never finish one.

Executive functioning might not be their strong suit, and as their world gets bigger, things become more difficult to manage.

The list just goes on and on..

Their struggles are invisible to most which means they can go many years without getting proper accommodations and help that they deserve.

They can even get denied help because no one believes they exist.

Or…”they aren’t autistic enough.”

But eventually it all comes to head.

Academically, socially and emotionally.

And it presents itself. And you wish you had known sooner.

You wish they had known about themselves sooner if they get diagnosed later in life.

Because it’s still hard.

And you still have to fight for them.

And they have to fight to be in a world that doesn’t understand them.

So remember these things when you choose to call an autistic person “high functioning.”

Remember there are hidden struggles.

Remember they are socially unique.

And remember that it doesn’t mean easier.

It may appear that way but that’s because they pretend so the world will accept them.

🐦🐦🐦

25/05/2026

Before I experienced skill regression & burnout as an autistic adult… I was in the best shape of my life, earning close to 100k per year working 3 jobs

In one of those jobs I was a store manager for a well known furniture company, a position that only took 6 months for me to get promoted to.

I was an award winning store manager, won numerous competitions within my district and countless awards, plaques and achieved over 10k in bonuses during my role within that company.

In this job I was extremely physical, lifting heavy furniture and delivering them to homes and apartments in which I was expected to carry heavy pieces upstairs

Here’s the thing…

people look at me today & don’t see the life I lived before I regressed & hit burnout

they don’t look at my story and see autism unsupported… they see someone who gave up.

But I didn’t give up.. I actually fought really hard.
Which is a big reason why I hit burnout.

I overdid it.

I overworked my body. I over-wore my mask. I put trauma on my brain that I shouldn’t have, but didn’t know about.

I just knew I had to “work hard for my children”

I masked my struggles until I couldn’t anymore. I lost important skills & structure that people just brush off as things everyone should know how to do consistently…

It’s like my brain over time forgot the muscle memory that was built for so many years…just suddenly nonexistent.. but it didn’t just end up like that. The loss of skill was gradual, over time.

Slowly

I became unable to work in certain environments

I started needing someone to go to the store with me

I started needing accommodating devices 24/7 like sunglasses and noise canceling headphones

I started needing someone to come with me to run the smallest errands

I started needing someone to help me organize things

I started needing someone to sit with me while I complete tasks

I started needing someone to do so many things with me.

Or remind me how things were done.

My structure… MY SURVIVAL was dependent on someone being there helping me, while I was in burnout.

Because what isn’t discussed enough about autistic burnout

Is that it’s more than just being tired

It’s more than just being exhausted

It’s your nervous system shutting down from not being able to thrive within the systems that exist.

It’s your body in a crisis that can’t be cured by high fives and feel good one liners.

It can’t be cured by tough love.

It can’t be cured by rigidity

Burnout requires a change in environment to be helpful.

To some autistic people, that could look like:

-Moving in with parents or roommates to save money and to have direct, in home support

-Switching jobs to keep your sensory overload under control better

-Switching jobs to get away from people so that you don’t have to mask

Some people can’t do this without support, especially in burnout

Some people can barely survive each day in burnout.

Burnout also requires a lot of rest. A lot of self care. And in many cases, extensive therapy.

This isn’t help that a lot of people in society are ready to give out willingly. Or, help that people even know how to give.

Or help that is accessible at all.

Do you see the problem?

Recovering from burnout is a privilege, and that concept isn’t even understood by a lot of society yet.

Watching yourself who was once extremely independent slowly need people to survive, does something to you.

It does more whenever those people don’t adequately understand and support you.

Burnout drives a lot of autistic adults to consider leaving this world

Once in a state of extreme burnout crisis, if they are unable to rest, recover and access an appropriate safe place, an autistic person is at higher risk.

There needs to be a safety net for autistic adults experiencing regression and burnout.

But there’s nothing.

Instead, we come online and we try to make our voices heard all while being told that we should be happy we can participate online

Make it make sense?

Autistic burnout in adults can be deadly, especially since autistic people are at higher risk of su***de.

High masking, late diagnosed autistic experiences matter too.

Some of us were able to build a life just to watch ourselves destroy it.

And that in itself is enough to make anyone lose their mind.

Please start listening to us.

So we don’t create another lost generation.

This is a crisis unfolding right in front of us.

And has already happened to an entire generation before us.

30/04/2026

🧠 🌍 ❤️‍🩹

30/04/2026

Intellectual disability professionals have a way of taking something human and dressing it up until it no longer looks like it belongs to a human being. Singing becomes “repetitive vocalisation.” Anger becomes “an incident.” It sounds professional. But in the process, something gets lost. The person disappears behind the language used to describe them.

Kevin isn’t a behavior. He’s a man who sings. Maybe because he’s happy. Maybe because he’s bored. Maybe because the song is stuck in his head like it gets stuck in yours. It might sound more professional, but it’s not as true. People should be described in ways that show who they are, not hide it.
..

ID: Image shows a person in a suit talking to a support staff person. The person in the suit is saying "Kevin Engages in repetitive vocalizations. Kevin is sat in his wheelchair to one side with a thought bubble that reads: I was singing.

18/03/2026

Feel free to share with the b*gots in the comments.

For the people claiming “there are no anti-LGBTQ laws,” here are actual laws and policies currently passed or being implemented in the United States:

FEDERAL POLICIES

• Executive Order 14168 (2025) — defines s*x in federal law strictly as male or female determined at birth and removes federal recognition of transgender identities across government programs.

• Federal policy changes following that order require prisons and detention facilities (including immigration detention) to house people according to s*x assigned at birth rather than gender identity.

• ICE detention standards now align with that policy and replace references to gender identity with biological s*x.

• The U.S. Supreme Court allowed enforcement of a federal passport policy requiring passports to list s*x assigned at birth rather than gender identity.

• Federal immigration policy now only recognizes two biological s*xes in immigration documentation and systems.

• Executive order banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military and prohibiting gender-affirming medical care in the military system.

STATE LAWS

• Kansas Senate Bill 244 (2026) — invalidates driver’s licenses and birth certificates if the gender marker doesn’t match s*x assigned at birth and forces transgender residents to surrender those documents.

• The same Kansas law also enforces bathroom restrictions in public government buildings based on s*x assigned at birth.

• Several states (including Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Tennessee, and Texas) now prohibit driver’s licenses from reflecting a transgender person’s gender identity.

• Multiple states also block gender marker changes on birth certificates (including Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Montana).

BROADER LAWS PASSED ACROSS STATES

• Gender-affirming healthcare bans for minors in more than 20 states.

• Laws banning transgender girls and women from participating in women’s or girls’ school sports teams (roughly half of U.S. states).

• Bathroom laws requiring people to use facilities based on s*x assigned at birth in schools or government buildings.

• “Don’t Say Gay”-style education laws restricting discussion of LGBTQ identities in classrooms.

• Forced-outing laws requiring teachers or schools to notify parents if a student uses different pronouns or identifies as LGBTQ.

• Drag performance bans or restrictions in several states.

• Laws allowing businesses, adoption agencies, or healthcare providers to refuse services to LGBTQ people based on religious beliefs.

Hundreds of these bills have been introduced in recent years and dozens have already become law.

This isn’t about “opinions” or “feelings.” These are real laws affecting healthcare, identification documents, schools, immigration detention, and civil rights.

12/11/2025

Leo Garcia Venegas, a natural-born American citizen, has been swept up in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids at work — not once, but twice — where he was assaulted, handcuffed and treated like a criminal by agents of the U.S. government.

11/11/2025

11/11/2025

Survivors of the 1975 Oglala Shoot Out. Dino Butler and Leonard Peltier with members of Indigenous Protectors Movement of Mpls, Minn at the screening of “Free Leonard Peltier” movie!