Do you ever feel ashamed of being autistic?

Hi,

I know it sounds like an awful thing to say and I'm sure it will spark controversy but this is just a question I have never felt able to ask other autistic people and tonight I just thought, "Why not? People are welcome to disagree with me if that's how they feel."

Anyway, I've been having a rough time lately and feel very ashamed of a lot of things. One thing I'm certainly ashamed of is being autistic. Everything about it feels like a threat - a threat to my femininity, to my appearance, to how others will perceive me. It's hard to put into words but it's almost as though the symptoms don't worry me (I don't actually have a great deal of symptoms, really; not nowadays anyway) but the label itself is damaging me more and more every day.

I feel so guilty for feeling like this but I don't want to wonder anymore. Does anyone else feel like this?

Thank you,

LivAgain 

Parents
  • Where you’re personality with pride, labels only exist to help with explanation.  Take the benefits that exist within autism, that’s what I’ve done, it can be like having a superpower.  It’s made my life much easier and certainly more interesting, it’s nothing to be ashamed about.  Now therw is certain drawbacks but every personality type does, the first step is learning to love yourself and we are all beautiful in our own way, why be a normy, learn to embrace the quirky personality traits and run with it, let off the shackles and embrace the joys of life!!! 

Reply
  • Where you’re personality with pride, labels only exist to help with explanation.  Take the benefits that exist within autism, that’s what I’ve done, it can be like having a superpower.  It’s made my life much easier and certainly more interesting, it’s nothing to be ashamed about.  Now therw is certain drawbacks but every personality type does, the first step is learning to love yourself and we are all beautiful in our own way, why be a normy, learn to embrace the quirky personality traits and run with it, let off the shackles and embrace the joys of life!!! 

Children
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