Dear Barbara

Thank you so much for all of your comments and your unwavering and lightning fast support. I didn't go into it here but skin picking is the way that I, as an autistic, STIM. Natalie has asked me to do a whole article on stimming (not a word i knew before I discovered the autistic community). It stands for self-stimulating behaviour but in truth it is a way of self-soothing. I THINK what happened was that, as a child, I was probably forced to stop stimming (whether that was hand waving or fidgeting or something . . .) and it got converted into the skin picking, which is just one step away from or IS self-harming. Educators are much more clued up now about autism and stimming thank goodness. I hope my generation is the last one having to deal with the fallout from a total lack of understanding about females with autism and how differently it manifests from their male counterparts. What is tricky for even my family to understand is that I cannot stop. I might be able to distract myself for a while but the distress it causes me to HAVE to stop for any length of time is unbearable. Sorry, I have gone a bit, haven't I? Just want to explain a bit more and say thank you. Again. A🙏💚🌷