I know a lot of people put great stock in terminology, an autistic person vs a person who has autism. My position has always been it really shouldn't matter. But that subtle shift in thinking, in my own thinking, is important to me. Since my diagnosis I've been too focused on what I can't do, on what people won't let me do. This may be the right way to make an argument about fairness and equal treatment but it's not a good way to live your life day to day. I've spent the last 2 or 3 years fighting to try and reclaim my personal life because I was treated unfairly and the diagnosis still remains highly relevant in that battle but it can't dominate everything and certainly not how I go about interacting with others going forward.
I need to find a way to put my thoughts about autism in a box so they don't distract me from living my best life. Everything in its proper place and I'm still figuring out where my thoughts about autism should sit, in the area of standing up for myself for sure. In standing up for others, quite probably. In figuring out where I go to make friends or how I approach others, probably not. It's too limiting to approach others if you are always second guessing yourself. I suspect I'm too open to self sabotage if I'm always worrying the autism will screw things up to.
What do you think. For going about daily life is it often helpful to forget about the label?
