Published on 12, July, 2020
I have never been cool, and I never will be. So, to hear people claim that being autistic is a ‘trend’ is as laughable as it is offensive. I never wanted a label to be special. The autism label has opened a door to understanding how my brain works and who I am. I have no desire to be cool, and plenty of desire for knowledge and acceptance.
Autistic Not Alien: 'It's cool to be autistic...' WHAT?![edited by moderator]
Autistic Not Alien said:plenty of desire for knowledge and acceptance
I think that sounds like the important direction of focus.
I know I am lacking any ambition to join any "cool club".
However, I am interested in the quest for more knowledge about Autism (both as it means to me and to other Autists), plus I am keen to work towards acceptance of all Autistic people and the availability of individually suitable reasonable adjustments (I suspect that may be the case for a lot of our fellow Community Forum members too).
Even as a group of Autistic people; we are each an individual.
While we may share some of the different styles of thinking, communicating and experiencing things compared with non-Autistic people, I don't believe there is something to be gained by people claiming the label of Autistic when they are not (that sounds about as unwelcome as being forced to wear a really thick Winter coat in the middle of Summer - just too uncomfortable!