Flashcards for spotting autistic experience

In my work as a counsellor, I often sit with people who are asking themselves:

“Could I be autistic?”

For many, it’s not a question they feel safe exploring out loud yet. There’s still so much misunderstanding. Additionally they may be seeking a formal diagnosis, and the process of seeking assessment can feel like a big step.

Over time, I found myself wanting a more accessible way into that exploration - something that allows people to reflect on their own experience in a visual way. So I made a resource of 90 flashcards to help my clients reflect on their autistic experiencing in therapy and they have found it really helpful.

What follows is a small glimpse into this way of reflecting.

You might notice that you are autistic in how you hold your values…

Does authenticity and honesty feel non-negotiable for you? Incongruence - in yourself or others might not just be uncomfortable, it could feel almost physical.

Or in the quieter ways your body self-regulates…

Do you do things like finger tapping, chewing the inside of your cheek, playing with jewellery, adjusting clothing, or small repetitive movements that are subtle, often unnoticed - but hiding in plain sight in regular bodily expression?

You might recognise it in…

Do you find that moving from one state to another can take effort? Like getting out of bed. Starting the day. Shifting from work into rest. It’s not just the action - it’s that your brain needs time to recalibrate.

Or …

How do you feel about plans changing at the last minute?A familiar route being altered.A supermarket layout shifting.Being interrupted mid-conversation.

These moments can feel more than inconvenient - they can feel genuinely stressful.

It might show up in…

Do you love collecting or cataloguing things - books, music, places, information, movies? These could be privately inside your head and heart, or sometimes in detailed systems that make sense to you.

What’s your sensory experience…

Do you notice background noises that others seem to filter out - clocks, keyboards, distant traffic, someone breathing nearby? They might feel impossible to ignore.

Or maybe you experience the opposite: a draw towards loud, repetitive, or familiar sounds?

Sometimes, the clues have been..

You might think there’s nothing to see here at all, but being autistic is lifelong and it may not have shown itself in obvious ways. It may have appeared in things like frequent stomach aches, difficulty with friendships, distress around transitions, or feeling overwhelmed in ways that weren’t always understood at the time.

And in the present, it might look like…

Do you find yourself constantly trying to make work or daily life sustainable, but finding yourself exhausted - needing long periods of recovery or feeling like you have to keep adjusting your life just to cope?

You might recognise yourself in some of this.

You might not.

Or you might feel a sort of “maybe” that’s hard to put into words.

All of that is part of a collection of nuances that may have hidden in plain sight all your life.

This is a small window into a larger set of 90 visual flashcards I’ve created — each one containing reflections and questions designed to help you explore different aspects of autistic experience in a personal, grounded way. (They are available at a small cost of £5).

They’re loosely structured around the DSM-5 criteria, not as a rigid framework but as a way of mapping out different areas you might want to reflect on; especially if you’re considering an assessment, or simply trying to understand yourself more clearly.

This resource was also shaped by the work of the Neuroqueer Therapist whose writing helped me see these experiences in a more nuanced and human way. I’ve credited her more fully within the guide itself. I am deeply grateful for her contribution in writing a series about the autism assessment criteria and would recommend that people read her series alongside the flashcards.