hey fyi there are things i really like about my autism. most of the best things in my life and my favorite things about myself are very much related to my autism & my experiences as an autistic person.
it’s just…more than 1 out of every 54 people is autistic. that number is going to go up as we get better at diagnosing it. there are tens of millions of us. we exist everywhere. autistic people are members of every community, and we’re not going away. being on the spectrum comes with a lot of struggles (many of which are preventable, the result of lack of social accommodation), but it shouldn’t just be seen as something in need of treatment. we’re not something in need of fixing. there are a lot of really good things this world wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the contributions of autistic people–contributions made because of, not in spite of, being on the spectrum. so please stop boogeymaning and othering us. acknowledge our disabilities & need for accommodation while also being aware of the positive things we bring into the world.
talk about this more, please
read this post please. i’m not autistic and i’ve never really met anyone that’s autistic (in real life, that is) but please read this post.
statistically, you’ve almost certainly met someone on the spectrum. but the combination of social stigma and issues with diagnosis make many of us invisible to casual acquaintances. one big reason i’m a fan of autistic headcanons is that many creators create characters with autistic traits without having a name for it, and without realizing the real-life people who inspired these characters were probably on the spectrum.
as someone who didn’t have a word for it until adulthood, there are a number of people I encountered during my upbringing who looking back were probably also on the spectrum. there are simply so many of us. And we deserve to be seen.
I’m autistic and I know several other autistic people. There are more of us than you think, and we need people to acknowledge and accept us as part of society.