"I am social when I am among my own group of people". - Elke

I am Elke, 22 years old. I LOVE the colour pink. I’m creative with my clothes, my hair and my makeup. I also love various races of horses, dogs and cats, and I enjoy learning about them. I’m also very interested in true crime, astrology and personality types.

Autism causes me to have an ‘other worldly sensation': life on another planet than others. It is hard to be fully myself for 100 percent, knowing I am ‘different’, and having worn a mask for so long, that it’s hard and even scary to take it off completely.

I am social when I am among my own group of people. I like to communicate online because I can take more time to think about my answer. But then I do miss a lot of things, as well as the the tone of a message, that’s why I think emojis and stickers are great. Talking in person is really the best, because then I can read more body language, and whenever I don’t understand something I can immediately ask, ‘Wait, what do you mean? Could you be more specific?’.

My communication is more verbal than nonverbal. For example, I could be standing with my arms crossed while I say something supersweet. My body language is often more closed, but my face ALWAYS betrays me. If I have an opinion about something, positive or negative, before I say anything, my face will already tell it for me.

I’d wish tasks were easier, spontaneity were easier, that it would be easier to handle unexpected events or changes, that talking to new people wouldn’t be so stressful and that sensory stimuli didn’t come in so strong.

I am proud of myself, my friends and family. My mother supports me deeply! She is my superwoman, my ‘Mega Mindy’. In addition, my partner and friends also support me emotionally.

My tips to others with autism: never stop learning about yourself, and YOU are the most important one in YOUR life! It doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like, which diagnoses you have, you are enough, more than enough! Don’t stay at a school, workplace, around people who aren’t good for you, and you know best, because this is about YOU.