this comment sort of perfectly encapsulates the way verbal disabilities are still disabilities even when they’re invisible. like, yes, maybe you have over-trained yourself to the point that you can pass as neurotypical. (this is why autism is so difficult to diagnose in adults, who are more likely to have coping mechanisms that disguise their symptoms.) But passing doesn’t make you neurotypical or non-disabled. What the comment above is describing is a hard-earned, imperfect coping mechanism that makes it easier to hide a communication disability, but not easier to experience.
Let’s say that maybe, after hundreds of hours of self-training like the person above has put themselves through…let’s say that just maybe, you can speak and sound like you don’t have a verbal disability:
- as long as you aren’t too tired
- as long as you’re prepared to deal with the constant stress & anxiety
- as long as you’re able to put up with a long recovery time after socializing
- as long as you’re willing to spend hours and hours practicing & overthinking & preparing & agonizing over something that comes naturally to other people
- as long as you don’t feel entitled to actually enjoy the conversation
- as long as you’re willing to feel stilted & anxious & self-conscious & exhausted no matter how successful your ‘performance’ is
- as long as you’re willing to put in 100x the effort other people have to
Stop telling people “Oh you aren’t really [x]. you seem normal.”
