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]
I find the general feeling is, “there can’t be that many ‘new’ autistic people, we will go along with it, but you don’t look or act autistic”. Basically we don’t believe you and you’re attention seeking.
One that I can tell people think regarding later diagnosed people is, “You never used to be autistic and you seemed to cope quite well.”
That’s just how I’ve often felt, there are some people who understand autism but they are in the minority, I can’t think of any other condition that requires someone to practically have to plead their case so much. That’s where so much energy is lost.
Do people think that autism didn't exist before some arbitary date? So many of us have grown knowing that we're somehow different to everyone else and being told off, abused, ignored, etc, its not a bandwagon it a recognition that we've always been here, silently suffering and just getting on as best we can.
One of the things I notice is the difference between the older and younger members of this site and their experiences of being autistic, being diagnosed and any help they recieve.
Yes, I do see a difference in younger and older members of this site. As you mentioned, just knowing why you are different changes everything. Obviously the same struggles exist but having them recognised as not being bad behaviour at an early age makes all the difference. I’m really glad most have had a better pathway. The abuse some of us received does scar us, I’m sure most of the younger members have been subjected to bullying as well.
I have noticed that the world only sees autistic children, they think we are some sort of ‘Peter Pan’ that never grows up. Where do they think we go to?
In something like a cafe, if an autistic child is wearing earphones and rocking back and forth, people will pass by, do ‘that’ smile of sympathy to the parent and carry on. If say a man in his 50,s was to do the same they are normally treated as weird.
I watched an actress this week talking about her three neurodivergent children, her eldest has Down’s syndrome and rightly gets all the help and care package that he needs. Her other two children are also neurodivergent, she has to fight constantly to get any sort of help for either of them. She said herself that her eldest obviously looks different, her two younger children don’t, all three have needs but only one looks different.