Interests vs. Special Interests

so apparently someone said “everyone has special interests” and I need to explain why this is absolutely wrong.

1. Intensity

2. Social Aspects

3. Protectiveness

4. Infodumping

5. The DSM

That’s right - special interests are in the diagnostic criteria. You cannot claim everyone has them. They are defined in the diagnostic criteria as “abnormal”.

the well-known tendency for autistic people to speak in a weird mix of extremely formal and extremely colloquial speech patterns is so distinctive that even many unintentionally autistic coded characters display it. In fanfiction, however, these same characters are often written to speak in a stiff, purely hyperformal way. This may be because many allistic people can’t easily reproduce the mix, since most people divide their registers more. However, there may also be some “smart awkward character=formal speech” stereotyping that overrides their knowledge of the character’s actual voice. In this essay I will

If I could somehow find everyone who ever bullied me and ask them why they targeted me, not a single one would say it was because I was autistic. None of them even knew I was.

Instead they’d say it was because I liked Pokemon too much after it stopped being cool, or my clothes looked ridiculous and I wore the same pair of jeans 3 days a week, or that I was just weird/nerdy/unpopular. In many, many cases, that is what neurodiversity looks like. Not someone with an obvious disability, but someone who’s just weird.

I see so many allistics and neurotypicals on here that claim to be anti-ableism but turn around and make jokes at the expense of people who are eccentric but harmless.

If you’re an allistic that claims to support autistic people, but then you turn around and make fun of the woman wearing a bizarre outfit or the guy who speaks in a monotone or the teenager who carries a teddy bear everywhere, you are hurting autistic people who do those same things.

(ID: gold glitter text on a black square background that says “april is autism acceptance month”.)

non-autistic authors write autistic characters all the time. they just don’t realize it. they’d rather not admit it most of the time, either.

the thing is, non-autistic people have met autistic people more than enough times. however, due to their stereotypes about autism, they often can’t identify it as autism. they see something is up, but they can’t put their finger on just what is up.

so they see people like us and they know the ‘archetype’ which is autistic people. they write us all the time: airheaded professors, awkward nerds, pent up geniuses, etc.

when autistic people point out how strikingly obvious it is that this character is autistic, they usually deny it, or at best, they say the character is ‘if anything, extremely high functioning’, which is more of a kick in the gut than a confirmation. we hardly get those, either.

so, here’s the thing: there are some characters that are very obviously autistic to actual autistic people. pearl from steven universe and papyrus from undertale are two of the most agreed upon examples that i’ve seen. nearly ever autistic fan of steven universe i met says, “yeah, she’s autistic”, and the same goes for papyrus. 

when we, as a community, bring this up, however, we are shot down. “oh, he’s not autistic.” i once was told that - ironic as it was - my headcanoning papyrus as autistic offended autistic people or hurt autistic people. but i’m autistic and they weren’t. 

two autistic people were both agreeing - damn, this character is blatantly autistic - but non-autistic people felt the need to but in and say how horrible it was to “project” onto characters with such a horrible thing.

listen, if you aren’t autistic and you’re reading this -

if an autistic person says a character is autistic, can you just shut up about it?

because if you’ve watched any amount of tv, read any amount of books, whatever - if you’ve consumed stories, there are tons of autistic characters in them.

just because neither you nor the media’s creators knows shit about autism doesn’t mean that the character can’t be autistic.

either way, it’s none of your business.

we have little to none confirmed representation that isn’t terrible and inconsiderately offensively written. 

find something better to do with your time.

NT Author: *Writes lovingly nuanced character who is quirky, shy, physically sensitive, socially awkward, clumsy, brilliant at a few special topics and has the capacity to grow and learn friendship and love in a nontraditional way*

NT Author: They can’t possibly be autistic!

NT Author: I’m gonna write an autistic character!

NT Author: “Doesn’t talk, rocks back and forth, loves trains”

Gonna say this as an author:

It is 100% okay to use the phrase “well, they are now.”

If a ton of people approach you with a character you didn’t realize you coded autistic, and they’re like “fuck yeah, autistic character!”

You can 100% say “I didn’t even realize that’s what I was doing, but you know what? Sure. With the number of people who see it, I’m not gonna say no. They’re autistic now.”

Nobody worth having around is going to be offended by that.

ON THIS BLOG WE LOVE AND SUPPORT AUTISTIC ARO AND ACE PEOPLE

oh, of course nobody hates autistic people, that’s ableist and rude! 

they just hate anyone who misses social cues or has “odd” interests or doesn’t express emotions in a “normal” way or who has trouble articulating themselves or who understands and interacts with the world differently than they do

Hot take but nonverbal autistics should be valued as people and their inability to speak with their vocal cords is not a flaw nor is it tragic

If you’re mentally ill/disabled and are managing to reach all your goals and dreams regardless, that’s amazing! But here’s to the mentally ill/disabled people who aren’t living inspiring success stories. Here’s to the mentally ill/disabled people who get bad grades. Here’s to the mentally ill/disabled people who are failing their classes. Here’s to the mentally ill/disabled people who had to drop out of school. Here’s to the mentally ill/disabled people who had to quit their job. Here’s to the mentally ill/disabled people who got fired. Here’s to the mentally ill/disabled people who have to rely on welfare or disability benefits. Here’s to all the mentally ill/disabled people who haven’t managed to succeed in the ways society values. I see you and I hope you know that you’re just as awesome, worthy, valuable and important as the mentally ill/disabled people who are studying full time while working two jobs.

sometimes, people don’t understand that we are hated for being autistic. “But I don’t hate autistic people!”.

That’s right! Because you don’t know how autistic people are.

You know, people never bullied me for being autistic. Because neither me nor they had the terminology. Nah, they punished me for being weird. And what made me weird to their eyes? I spoke weird and often stumbled, and I spoke like a grownup anyway, and I wouldn’t shut up about Ancient Greece. I moved weird too, because I was (am) really clumsy, and I didn’t have any friends. I was boring and didn’t catch jokes (made at my expense) and I didn’t look them in the eye, and so on and on.

If you asked any of the people who bullied me for years whether they hate autistic people, they’d say “no!”. Because they don’t hate autistic people, but oh boy do they hate weird people. Perhaps they don’t hate autistic people, but surely they hated me for being obviously autistic.

I’ve been trying to explain this concept to a lot of people. You did a really good job summing it up.

ive seen people online claim to support autistic people and then kind of mock/ostracize others for not immediately picking up on all the unwritten online social rules

One of the really, really frustrating things about being autistic is that you feel like you spend your life trying to reach some sort of unattainable middle-ground:

- We’re criticised for not making enough conversation, but when we do actually really get in to a conversation we are told we’re ‘too intense’.

- We’re often trained to maintain unbroken eye-contact during conversations, yet in reality too much eye-contact is called ‘staring’ and makes people very, very uncomfortable. 

- We’re encouraged to ‘express’ ourselves more, yet our actual, genuine emotional reactions are usually deemed ‘innapropiate’ or ‘unnescessary’. 

- We’re told to be friendly and confident when approaching new people, but are then warned that we ‘come off too strong’.

- We are told to try and make interesting conversation, but are also taught that speaking about our interests will only ever annoy other people. 

- We’re asked to explain our difficulties and anxieties, only to be told that these explanations ‘make no sense’ or that our worries are unrealistic and invalid. 

- We’re expected to force ourselves in to social situations that feel overwhelming and draining yet still somehow remain friendly, good-tempered and pleasantly sociable. 

- We are encouraged to develop good self-esteem, while at the exact same time being taught that everything about us is wrong.

I don’t hate having autism - I’ve never hated having autism. But I do hate living with the never-ending pressure to attain this mythological ‘perfect’ level of social interaction that simply doesn’t exist in my case.  

-We are told to use coping mechanism when we need them, but when we implement them we’re told to stop, act appropriately, and push through the situation “normally”.