gaze into mayz’ maze<p>I really enjoyed the event me and many of my friends went to. It’s called ‘Chaos Communication Congress’ or 38C3.</p><p>I was there last year as well for the first time but I could not enjoy it wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, during build-up of the event, a friend touched a topic that as it turns out might have given me PTSD (no official diagnosis, too scared for that) and I had several pretty severe dissociative episodes and meltdowns over the course of the remaining build-up and the event itself. </p><p>This year I was incredibly careful not to overwhelm myself and wanted to take in the event fully. <br>I am very proud to report that I was ~95% successful in doing that!! I had an amazing event, still managed to do many ‘angel shifts’ (that’s what the voluntary work is called) and took some time-outs at the hotel or a quiet room at the venue when i started to feel overwhelmed.</p><p>There are many neurodivergent people at the event and a team specialised to help during overloads/meltdowns. This year there were additional hidden disability badges and communication cards. <br>I wrote down instructions on my hidden disability badge what to do if I have a meltdown, who to call, not to touch etc. I had communication cards in the plastic pouch for the badge as well as my angel badge with my name, pronouns, etc that identified me as a helper for other visitors of the event. </p><p>On the second day I also got a gift, a big 3D printed badge with an adorable t-rex wearing ear defenders that read ‘too loud, too bright, too many (people) here - autism spectrum antifa’ and a small button that read ‘distracted but still here - adhd antics’ with a kitten distracted by a butterfly. <br>I was ecstatic. I fucking love both of these items. I showed them to every friend and spent a good amount of time just happy flapping and making high happy noises. I added them to my lanyard with the angel badge and the hidden disability badge and wore it 24/7. It made me feel safe knowing if anything were to happen I had communication cards and instructions for others. </p><p>Everything went perfectly well right until the end. Literally. In the last possible shift during the event, access control in the main entrance hall during a time where most people leave the venue, I realised that I was not wearing my lanyard. <br>I got so scared. <br>I knew where I last had it, there was basically only one place I was before the shift and I remember taking it off to cuddle with someone without crushing the badge. So I called a friend to look for it. At that point I was aggressively stimming, trying to ignore how busy the entrance hall was. But I could feel the noises bothering me more and more, I wasn’t bubbly and excited anymore but a bundle of anxiety instead. </p><p>And then my friend came. I thought he’d just bringe me my lanyard and it would be fine. <br>But it wasn’t. <br>My lanyard hadn’t been found at the place I had been last. </p><p>And inside of me, a switch flipped. <br>The anxiety turned into an onslaught of shame and self-hatred. How could I be so stupid and loose a dear gift? How could I have forgotten? <br>My friend motioned to hug me but all I could do was shake my head. Thankfully, I was wearing a mask so he could not see all of my face but some of my expression must have shifted and he asked “are you okay?”.<br>At that point, speech was already out of the question. Wanted to explain that I could not verbalise. But then I realised that my communication cards were also gone. </p><p>And with that realisation I just lost it. </p><p>Tears poured down my face, I felt myself flapping aggressively while at the same time wanting to hug myself real tight to keep myself together. I was wearing a neon coloured vest which showed I was an “angel on duty” and all I wanted was take it off but I could not move. I wanted to inform the other person in my shift that I could not continue and somehow told my friend to talk to them. <br>I remember being so incredibly ashamed of having a full blown meltdown in the middle of the main entrance hall. I felt like a thousand eyes were watching me, I hated myself for not keeping it together. </p><p>And then I heard my name. Disoriented I looked around with unseeing eyes, somewhat registering that the other person in my shift stood next to me. Asked me what was wrong. <br>All I could think of was “too close”. I did not know them, I could not speak, so I hastily took some steps to get away from him. </p><p>He kept repeating the question, saying my name and all I could do was wince. So he did the worst thing he could have done:<br>he followed me and then touched my shoulder. </p><p>To absolutely nobody’s surprise I totally fucking lost my shit. <br>I flinched, breathed out something akin to “no touching” and then just whimpered and cried harder while trying not to hurt myself. I was completely out of it. </p><p>The next thing I remember is my partner. My friend had called him, emergency mode got activated and he stood in front of me without touching me and in the sweetest voice possible, entirely calm, all he said was “hi, TuffTuff.” (cute pet name I really like)</p><p>I kept crying, entirely unable to verbalise anything. My partner did not know anything. Only that I was in a full blown meltdown in the middle of my shift. I would have loved to move out of the entrance hall but the meltdown was so bad that i could not even allow him to hug me. I just grabbed his soft hoodie so I did not scratch myself.<br>No idea how much time passed but we wobbled together, I got lucid enough to put some earplugs in that I had in my pocket as always and the reduced sound as well as his voice helped me calm down. I was still crying and didn’t want touch but I was not aggressively flailing my hands anymore and just wobbled more calmly with him. </p><p>Then he tried to push my glasses back onto my nose like he always does and nearly brought me back to the full on panic mode. Usually it’s a cute silly gesture between us even in meltdown situations it tends to make me laugh. But this time it didn’t. I have never been out of it like that. Especially not in public. </p><p>But he immediately apologised, did not try to touch me otherwise and we just got back to wobbling. When I stopped crying and calmed down a bit he asked if I wanted to go back to the hotel, to which I agreed. He lead me there, while I had my eyes glued to the ground. <br>In the hotel room he gave me my plush shark and I rushed under the blankets. Curled into a ball I managed to tell him the “silly reason I blew out of proportion” (my words) for my meltdown. And all he said was that he understands how upsetting it might be to feel like you have lost something precious to you, especially a gift. And he promised to look for it. </p><p>He held my hand while I laid down and felt the exhaustion hit like a truck. He got ready to go back when he got a call. The friend. <br>I was basically falling asleep at that point already so no idea what they were taking about but the friend came to the hotel. </p><p>With my lanyard. </p><p>I drowned in relief. I just grabbed it and held it tight and mumbled a “thank you”. My partner gave me a kiss and I fell asleep clutching the lanyard in my hand the whole time. </p><p>That whole ordeal was exhausting. And embarrassing. And I have never had a meltdown that bad in public ever before that. <br>I will share follow up thoughts but I also wanted to share this experience. </p><p>Thanks for anyone who has read this lengthy description!</p><p><a href="https://autistics.life/tags/actuallyautistic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>actuallyautistic</span></a> <a href="https://autistics.life/tags/meltdown" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>meltdown</span></a></p>