So, today is the international Autistic Pride Day. On this day we aim to celebrate autism and finally put more and more focus on the neurodiversity. (just a couple of days ago I was interviewed by Anti-Speciesist Women about neurodiversity and how social justice movements could be a little bit more inclusive, that you can read here).
We live in the world that wants to acknowledge only one way of being - neurotypical. Everyone else who falls under the neuro-atypical umbrella is seen as not valid. Obviously, our society is very ethical, so we are allowed to exist. Thank you for the permission, very kind of you. Autistic people are also part of the neuro-atypical scale, so yai!, at least we fit somewhere.
I think it's really important that everyone who is not on the spectrum takes a step back and listens to what actual autistic people have to say. There are autistic people out there (what a surprise, autistic children grow up and become autistic adults) and we have a lot to say, but the world does not want to listen to our thoughts.
The biggest problem is that neurotypical voices are much louder than neurodivergent. They market their message better. Society not only patronises autistic people (and actually everyone who is not NT), but as well dehumanises us. Autistic people are seen as broken, wrong, less humans... It's difficult as hell to speak up when all your life you were shunned and told that there is something wrong with you.
They tell you you have no future. They tell you that everyone else knows better what you need, even when they are wrong. They tell you are a mistake. Actually the biggest mistake in this planet. And you learn to believe them.
But there are more and more autistic advocates who spoke against organisations like autism speaks, harmful therapies like ABA and the search for magical cure. I'm not going to go into more details why those things are harmful and why autism speaks does not speak for autistic community, maybe use google or ask if you really can't find.
There are more and more autistic people who speak about their experiences, ideas and sometimes we are even heard (thanks to the internet).
So, what if autistic people do not want to be cured? What if people with brown eyes want to stay brown eyed? What if your message that people suffer from autism is not only a lie, but also causes lots of harm? What if there is not only one way of being or thinking?
I'm wondering what would happen if one day people would stop pushing their harmful views on others and dictating everyone around how to be. Would the world come to the end?..
Shouldn't everyone just start challenge those structures and ideas?
Oh, and there is something else I wanted to say. For some reason majority of people tend to believe that autistic people have no imagination. How far from the truth is it! The world in my head is much more real and much more interesting then the one I'm forced to live in. Sometimes it's so awesome that I have troubles staying in this one, and not because I do not respect people around me, but because in my own world the conversation we are having right now has finished a while ago and we did lots of other things in between. And it's not only me who thinks so (about the wild imagination), most of autistic people I heard talking said something very similar.
P.S. in case you missed, there is a kickstarter campaign running right now to get my next picture book about neurodiversity published, so you can go HERE to support my work and pre-order the book. Yeah, I'm very pushy: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aiws/the-girl-who-didnt-know-how-to-be
I said it once, but will say it again. My problem is not me, my problem is the world that can't stand the fact that not everyone is the same and not everyone has to fit into the fucking patterns someone created to control the society.
HAPPY AUTISTIC PRIDE DAY EVERYONE!
We live in the world that wants to acknowledge only one way of being - neurotypical. Everyone else who falls under the neuro-atypical umbrella is seen as not valid. Obviously, our society is very ethical, so we are allowed to exist. Thank you for the permission, very kind of you. Autistic people are also part of the neuro-atypical scale, so yai!, at least we fit somewhere.
I think it's really important that everyone who is not on the spectrum takes a step back and listens to what actual autistic people have to say. There are autistic people out there (what a surprise, autistic children grow up and become autistic adults) and we have a lot to say, but the world does not want to listen to our thoughts.
The biggest problem is that neurotypical voices are much louder than neurodivergent. They market their message better. Society not only patronises autistic people (and actually everyone who is not NT), but as well dehumanises us. Autistic people are seen as broken, wrong, less humans... It's difficult as hell to speak up when all your life you were shunned and told that there is something wrong with you.
They tell you you have no future. They tell you that everyone else knows better what you need, even when they are wrong. They tell you are a mistake. Actually the biggest mistake in this planet. And you learn to believe them.
But there are more and more autistic advocates who spoke against organisations like autism speaks, harmful therapies like ABA and the search for magical cure. I'm not going to go into more details why those things are harmful and why autism speaks does not speak for autistic community, maybe use google or ask if you really can't find.
There are more and more autistic people who speak about their experiences, ideas and sometimes we are even heard (thanks to the internet).
So, what if autistic people do not want to be cured? What if people with brown eyes want to stay brown eyed? What if your message that people suffer from autism is not only a lie, but also causes lots of harm? What if there is not only one way of being or thinking?
I'm wondering what would happen if one day people would stop pushing their harmful views on others and dictating everyone around how to be. Would the world come to the end?..
Shouldn't everyone just start challenge those structures and ideas?
Oh, and there is something else I wanted to say. For some reason majority of people tend to believe that autistic people have no imagination. How far from the truth is it! The world in my head is much more real and much more interesting then the one I'm forced to live in. Sometimes it's so awesome that I have troubles staying in this one, and not because I do not respect people around me, but because in my own world the conversation we are having right now has finished a while ago and we did lots of other things in between. And it's not only me who thinks so (about the wild imagination), most of autistic people I heard talking said something very similar.
P.S. in case you missed, there is a kickstarter campaign running right now to get my next picture book about neurodiversity published, so you can go HERE to support my work and pre-order the book. Yeah, I'm very pushy: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aiws/the-girl-who-didnt-know-how-to-be
I said it once, but will say it again. My problem is not me, my problem is the world that can't stand the fact that not everyone is the same and not everyone has to fit into the fucking patterns someone created to control the society.
HAPPY AUTISTIC PRIDE DAY EVERYONE!
Copyright © Lex Kartanė
All rights reserved.
All works are copyrighted and not to be used without the permission of the author.
All rights reserved.
All works are copyrighted and not to be used without the permission of the author.
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