Only recently out of long-term difficulty...! Still overwhelmed, and mind is wounded. But better - safer.

• Slow processing: months or years. Primarily shutdowns. Finally using AAC...! Still gaining confidence.
• Don't speak much anyway. Never have. Knows, eventually, won't speak to anyone but my partner. Already kinda do.
• Cannot be independent in public...!
• At home: can only be during day, like when someone is at work.
• Struggles to self-maintain daily necessities: hygiene, food and drink, movement and exercise, chores...
• Am a sensory-sensitive neat freak though - so hygiene is okay! I like smelling good (or like nothing) and not feeling my skin for once. Spaces I frequent are (obsessively) tidy, too...