Hi all - I'm new to FDS. Wanted to introduce myself and share a little of my story.

I'm an Autistic woman (recently diagnosed) and have been through a series of relationships with abusive people, most of them men. Some of them I was dating, some not. I got the last one out of my life (actually my former landlord) at the beginning of July and for the first time since I remember, I don't have anyone using me as an emotional trash can.

Disabled women are 3 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than non-disabled women. Autistic women in particular are frequently victims of abuse because we struggle to read social cues and understand the potential danger in situations. I suspect that we are also more vulnerable to tactits like gaslighting due to memory differences.

I found FDS a week before I got the landlord out of my life and y'all have honestly changed my life. I've been praying for a rule book with clear information about what behaviors are red flags and what to do when I see them in potential friends/partners. I'm someone with a lot of capacity and privilege (had a very Autism friendly educational experience, hyperlexic, able to find work in environments that suit my sensory sensitivities) and I recently started working with Autistic kids and found my calling. I'm at the beginning of what promises to be an incredible career and I'm already able to support myself. I have many incredible girlfriends and I literally don't need a man for anything. The only thing that could take me off track now would be trying to save another LVM/NVM - and now you all have given me the tools so I never have to do that.

I've also been sharing posts on this forum w an Autistic friend of mine who is getting out of a relationship w a very abusive man and it's made a huge difference for her as well. I'm thinking pretty hard about how to get FDS out to more Autistic women - we're typically great with clear rules and structures, and also typically really vulnerable to shitty men for a variety of reasons.

So THANK YOU FDS for helping me remember that I'm a queen and get back on my level up game. I've always known who I was, but I kept getting derailed by these NVM/LVM. That's done now and I feel amazing. I wake up every day and take care of myself and my people and there's no one here to drag me down, and when I start to slide back into those old bad habits of putting myself down to put a man up, I can come back to this forum and snap out of it.