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"Autism is a superpower"

Rainbowgirl

I see this type of message everywhere, people talking about the amazing talents that autistic people they've met have and calling it a superpower. They act like being autistic just comes with these amazing abilities.

I appreciate putting a positive light on autism rather than a negative one but it makes me feel like something is wrong with me. I don't have a superpower.

I'm slow, I'm bad at math, my memory is so bad that I fear I may have amnesia, I only ever did average at school and I've been learning the same language for 4 years yet I can't hold a real conversation. 

I'm not really intelligent or talented. The thing I'm best at is just being really interested in certain things (I consider it a good quality of mine) but it's nothing that would be considered a superpower.

Does anybody else feel this way? Is this type of thinking actually damaging to the image of autistic people?

Parents

  • I agree with you Rainbowgirl. I think these steryotypes are just as harmful to autistic people as negative ones. It makes those of us who dont have a "superpower" feel even more of a failure than we already do. Its like the whole "Oh your all like Sheldon" thing people come out with, annoys the hell out of me. Every autistic person is different, they cant fit us all into a box

    Personally I think I am quite intelligent but I have the short term memory of a goldfish, have no ear for languages and am terrible at maths and science. Seriously, I dont even know what an atom is. 
    I do have an idetic memory for sports resutls from years ago, that's about it

    We are all different and we dont have to have "superpowers" to be valid autistic people 

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  • I agree with you Rainbowgirl. I think these steryotypes are just as harmful to autistic people as negative ones. It makes those of us who dont have a "superpower" feel even more of a failure than we already do. Its like the whole "Oh your all like Sheldon" thing people come out with, annoys the hell out of me. Every autistic person is different, they cant fit us all into a box

    Personally I think I am quite intelligent but I have the short term memory of a goldfish, have no ear for languages and am terrible at maths and science. Seriously, I dont even know what an atom is. 
    I do have an idetic memory for sports resutls from years ago, that's about it

    We are all different and we dont have to have "superpowers" to be valid autistic people 

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