Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello fellow autistic people! Today is the day (among every other day) to celebrate your autistic identity!
How will you celebrate? Are you proud to be autistic? If so, why?
I am definitely proud to be autistic for numerous reasons but I shall list my top 3:
I think pride should be reserved for things we have done, not innate qualities. I have an ability in visual art, my father also had the same, so I inherited it. I am not proud of this, it is just a part of me. However, when I produce a painting or drawing that looks close to what I intended and it works, then I am proud of it.
Likewise I inherited autism - mostly from my father, again - I am not proud of that, it is just part of me. My autism has given me a very precise eye for detail and an ability to hyper-focus. I have used these autism-derived qualities to proof-read many PhD theses. As a result people I know, including friends and my wife, have benefitted by having an easier time in gaining a research degree, which has led on to productive careers. I am proud of what my autism has enabled me to do to help others.
I dunno Martin, I think the autistic community has done very well so far in fighting to increase and protect our basic human rights as autistic people, even if we still have far to go before we obtain true equal treatment and the end of ableism and anti-autistic prejudice. For example, things like how we aren't just carted off to Bedlam and other assylums to be forgotten about by society like we used to be is it's own kind of acheivement imo.