“We may socialize differently, but the
important thing is that it works for us and
that we’re very happy to be friends!”
How We Met
Chloe: Lydia and I first met in July 2011 after I
reached out to her via her blog, Autistic Speaks.
I had been a reader of Autistic Speaks for a few
years but did not comment much. Finally, a post
Lydia wrote prompted me to comment on her
blog, asking her to either email me or give an address to which I could email her. Then we began
emailing each other, and our friendship took off
from there! We then began chatting on Google,
video chatting, became Facebook friends, started
texting and finally met in person! Before I knew
it, Lydia told me she was going to come to my
hometown to be with me for my 21st birthday!
Lydia: I can still go back and see those early blog
comments! Once we had chatted one evening, it
was like we had been friends for years. We first
met in person at a conference in July of 2013. I
had backed out of advocacy for a while due to
health issues, and I only went to the conference
to meet her, but I became totally hooked on the
presentations and amazing spectrum advocates
that I dove back into writing and speaking and
haven’t stopped since. I have Chloe to thank for
that!
What We Have in Common and Enjoy
Doing Together
Chloe: Lydia and I have many things in common;
we both enjoy arts and crafts, card making, Facebook, advocating for autism, writing, the color
pink, Hello Kitty, and Disney to name a few. We
don’t get to be together very often, but when
we are, we like to hang out, talk, and enjoy each
other’s company.
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Zoom Autism Through Many Lenses
Lydia: Since Chloe hit all the important ones, I’ll
mention that we also have sensory and communication challenges in common. I love when we
are together because I never have to apologize for
needing a break or even explain it. I think we get
along well because we both love writing and advocating, but we both tend to seem younger than
our actual ages and still enjoy typical kid stuff.
It’s really nice to be able to share that quirky
combination with someone who doesn’t just get
it but joins in with me on both aspects.
Our Friendship is Not So Different from
Neurotypical (NT) Friendships
Chloe: Our friendship, in my opinion, really isn’t
that different from NT friendships in some ways
as nowadays even NT individuals have friends
that they mainly talk to and stay in touch with
via social media due to the fact that they may
live long distances from each other. This is true
of our friendship. One way our friendship may
differ from NT friendships is that we knew we
were going to be best friends before we even met.
Another way our friendship may differ from NT
friendships is that when we are together, just
being there together is enough for us.
Lydia: I like that we can interact and communicate in whatever way feels natural in any given
moment, whether it’s the way we talk about two
totally different subjects at the same time (but
we’re listening!) or being very clear about what
we need. Talking online for so long (two years)
before we met meant that we both had the chance
to communicate in the way that works best for us
and got to establish our friendship through typing. I think we even knew each other better when