Autism Acceptance

well you only leave them alone if they mind their own businesses. sounds like she’s not minding her own business, so you’re in the right to tell her to *** off. just don’t attack people who are doing their own thing that doesn’t affect you.

I have but the problem isn't me, it's everyone else treating me like I'm some joke that has made everything up for attention. 

Masking has messed me up so much. 

Indeed!  Important we put the right information out there

I haven't accepted my own diagnosis yet

Thanks for your replies Dawn, Jim, and the now unfortunately 'deleted user'. 

I definitely agree that these types of events are opportunities to educate but I worry that autistic people's voices aren't listened to and drowned out by well meaning but ultimately misinformed professionals. Autistic people should be treated as the experts on their own experience. 

Something that frustrated me was the advertisement (probably to line up with Autism Acceptance Month) which characterised autism as a dysfunction of the brain caused by brain viruses. For the author, autism, ADHD and chronic fatigue syndromes are essentially the same thing and are fundamentally 'curable' diseases. This sort of nonsense is amplified during these events. 

They are an opportunity to educate, so important that we get our voices out there, I think. NAS video of the lovely Chris Packham proudly posted on my fb page and wearing my autism positive T shirts all week: "What is my autism showing?", "Woke up autistic again!". :-) 

Oh and I just bought autistic pride fabric from Spoonflower, so tomorrow I'm making a new pair of trousers, which yes, I will be wearing to work lol