Welcome to my carrd.
Hello, my name is Pine.
I am Autistic, Tourettic and the host of a DID system. (We also have a few others disorders, including [but not limited to] ADHD, BPD and OCD. However, these don't impact our communication much.).
This carrd serves as education about the disorders we have that affect the way we communicate with others.
Tourette's Syndrome
Tourette's Syndrome is a neurological condition that causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements, otherwise known as tics.
If we are in a vc with you and you are irritated or distracted by (or just generally dislike) our tics, you are more than welcome to mute us. However, please do not tell us to be quiet or suggest we leave the vc as there is nothing we can do about our condition.
Our Tourette's can also manifest in typing tics, however these are more easily avoided and can be deleted afterwards.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that refers to a broad range of conditions characterised by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech and nonverbal communication.
All Autistic people present differently, here are a few ways the disorder affects our communication:
Difficulty with / Complete inability to read or regulate tones in messages. We try and use tone indicators when we can, however we often forget. Here is a linked page with some common tone indicators, that we use, for those that are curious:
Taking things very literally. Unless you clearly indicate that you are joking, we will most likely take your message according to literal definitions so please use the above mentioned tone indicators to reduce confusion and stress for all parties involved.
Difficulty with regulating emotions, often resulting in us "overreacting" over seemingly minor situations. This tends to happen more frequently when we are overstimulated, foggy or tired.
Semi-verbal and semi-scribal. The former means we are sometimes unable to talk, the latter means we are sometimes unable type. We will often revert to using sounds or emojis to communicate.
Tone Indicators
| Tone Indicator | Meaning | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| /j | joking | jokes |
| /hj | half joking | jokes that are based in truth or are semi-serious |
| /lh | light-hearted | not intended seriously or negatively |
| /nm | not mad | not to be read as irritated/angry |
| /s | sarcasm | mocking, irony or satire |
| /gen | genuine | authentic or sincere |
| /srs | serious | to be taken seriously |
| /nsrs | not serious | not to be taken seriously |
| /pos | positive | meant positively |
| /neg | negative | meant negatively |
| /neu | neutral | meant neutrally |
| /aff | affectionate | to show affection or warm regard |
| /t | teasing | to make fun of someone in a playful way |
| /ij | inside joke | a joke between you and the person you're speaking to |
| /hyp | hyperbole | for exaggeration |
| /rh | rhetorical | rhetorical questions |
Dissociative Identity Disorder
DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) is a disorder that involves the brain developing multiple identities, or "parts", to protect itself from trauma.
These identities are often referred to as alters or headmates. Some take turns in "fronting" (being in control of the body), whilst others may rarely or never front.
DID is a dissociative disorder, meaning it involves a disconnection and lack of continuity between thoughts, memories, surroundings, actions and identity.
Different Alter Roles
| Types of Alter | Their Roles |
|---|---|
| ANP | These are the identities who manages every day life and do not normally hold trauma memories. |
| Caretaker | A type of a protector, they help manage and care for other alters, and sometimes external people. Caretaking alters lack awareness of self-care and become exhausted easy. |
| EP | Hold traumatic memories, often being stuck in the sensory experience of the memory and unaware of the passage of time. Despite their name, some EPs are not emotional. |
| Fragment | May only have a small number of emotions, hold particular isolated memories or have a very limited job. Fragments can either have a range of emotions but only a limited life history, or a more substantial life history but be unable to feel a range of emotions. "Special purpose fragments" exist to carry out a very limited role and never act beyond that. Memory fragments hold very limited knowledge of an event, and only experience very limited emotions. These alters often cannot either solo-front or front at all. |
| Gatekeeper | Has the job of keeping certain alters from fronting. They may also hold back memories or control which alters can take control of the body, and when. |
| Host | The alter that "has executive control of the body for the greatest percentage of time during a given time period". Simply put, the alter that has the most control over the body for the longest period of time. A person with DID will have more than one host over their lifetime. |
| InternalHelper / InternalCaretaker | Have extensive understanding of different alters and how they work together, and often help by explaining things to the therapist. |
| Introject | Alters that are based off outside people/characters. Fictional introjects, specifically, are based off of fictional characters. Often formed due to the system "needing" the qualities of that person/character and therefore internalising them to form the introject in response to a trauma. They have the characteristics of another person, however often have/develop their own personalities/characteristics that differ to that of the original. |
| Little | Alters that are below the age of 13. May gradually age or may remain the same age. Littles often talk in a child-like way but, unlike a biological child, they can normally understand abstract concepts and long words. They often hold memories of child abuse which occurred at the age the Little feels they are. |
| Middle | Alters between the ages of 13 and 18. May gradually age or may remain the same age. They often hold memories of child abuse which occurred at the age the child alter feels they are. |
| Protector | Types of EP which have defensive intentions, despite their often self-destructive behaviours. Try to manage rage and anger, and avoid feelings of hurt, fear or shame. They focus on perceived threats, and find dependence, emotional needs and attachment threatening. Emotional: Might take emotional abuse or comfort other alters to soften the effects of emotional abuse.; Persecutor: Often acts in a harmful way but there is a protective logic behind their actions. Persecutors often have a distorted view of reality, and may disrupt therapy or intentionally injure the body for disclosing abuse that has been kept secret. All alters should be treated with equal kindness and, despite their behaviours, persecutors are often seen as "misguided protectors" which can be negotiated with.; Physical/Verbal: Might take or try to prevent physical/verbal abuse or become aggressive in an attempt to defend against the abuse.; Sexual: May be created to handle sexual abuse and rape, and to keep that knowledge away from other parts. They tend to front to prevent other alters from being triggered by intimacy. |
| Trauma Holder | An alter that holds significant trauma, often to keep others within the system safe from that knowledge. |
Our Alters
We currently have 25+ alters, some of which actually front.
Information on the fronting alters:
| Name | Pronouns | Role | Communication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arlo | it/its | Middle, Protector | mostly non-verbal |
| Ashleigh | they/them | Introject, Protector | verbal |
| Blithe | she/her | ANP | verbal |
| Bailey | she/it | Little, Trauma Holder | semi-verbal |
| Calipso | any | ANP, Middle | semi-verbal |
| Celest | he/they | ANP | verbal |
| Daisy | she/they | Middle, Trauma Holder | semi-verbal |
| Elijah | he/they | ANP | verbal |
| Fae | it/its | Caretaker | non-verbal |
| Felix | he/him | Internal Caretaker | mute |
| Hannah | she/her | ANP | semi-verbal |
| Jessica | she/they | Caretaker | verbal |
| Keiran | he/him | Protector | semi-verbal |
| Kristoff | he/they | Gatekeeper, Protector | verbal |
| Kyra | she/her | ANP, Co-Host, Middle | verbal |
| Logan | he/him | ANP | verbal |
| Malakai | she/her | Caretaker, Protector | verbal |
| Pine | he/they/it | Host, Protector | semi-verbal |
| Rhys | any + neos | Protector | semi-verbal |
| River | they/it | ANP | semi-verbal/scribal |
| Robbie | he/they | Gatekeeper, Protector | mostly non-verbal |
| Steve | he/him | Caretaker, Introject | verbal |
| Vargo | they/it | Little, Trauma Holder | non-verbal |
| Virgil | he/they | Introject, Persecutor | semi-verbal/scribal |
| Zachariah | he/they | Caretaker | semi-verbal |
Boundaries
Please do not tell ANY members of our system that you would prefer for them to leave and another alter to front instead. Especially not Pine.
Littles (alters under 13 years of age) are not supposed to be on Discord {or most other social-media} whilst fronting. Especially not in public spaces. Do not attempt to trigger them to front.
Please no sexualising any of our alters (unless you are explicitly given consent to do so). Especially not those that are minors (under the age of 18).
Please do not be rude to any of our alters. We don't mind answering questions about any of our disorders, but please refrain from "fake-claiming" us, making fun of said disorders etc.
We do not tolerate racism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism etc. Anyone who says anything along those lines will be blocked.
Try to use tone indicators with us.
Social Media
Just a few different sites/applications that we have accounts on that you are free to check out!