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]
Long before my autism diagnosis, especially after I’d been rejected (and had never been really accepted) by the gay community for being “different” (in some way - I had no idea at the time) I started to become very interested in the vocation stories of priests, friars, brothers and religious sisters (nuns) both enclosed/contemplative and otherwise as I’d always been searching for God (sometimes in all the wrong places) and although I’d discussed some of this with my Muslim friends who had encouraged me to return to the regular practice of my Catholic faith and to reconcile with my family, I found that the most useful discussions via email about faith that I’d had were with two longtime family friends who were enclosed religious sisters (Poor Clare Nuns) and this eventually led me past Vatican II to the traditional Catholic faith (Mass in Latin), so that by the time I was eventually diagnosed, my Catholic faith was a huge asset - on subsequent visits home and being able to go behind the cloister, joining with the community of Sisters for Divine Office, was a huge step forward on my faith journey, just like how Covid had the effect of strengthening my faith