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Do you ever feel ashamed of being autistic?

LivAgain

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

  • I am fortunate in being autistic in a family with many autistic members. There are others like me and that makes me feel validated, I had an autistic parent and have autistic nieces too. We can look at each other and see its possible to live fulfilled lives. Not lives without problems or stress its true and there are dark times of course. But we know we're different and that the difference is a good and valid one.

    Like recombinantsocks I have found things I like to do and places I like to be. Daily I'm discovering new things about being autistic in a world that has no idea what I am. Pretend you're a Martian on a covert mission to earth, its pretty similar to being autistic! And remember there are heaps of other Martians to help you out.

    Ont the bad days remember what David Mitchell says in the preface to The Reason I Jump - every autistic person is a hero.

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  • I am fortunate in being autistic in a family with many autistic members. There are others like me and that makes me feel validated, I had an autistic parent and have autistic nieces too. We can look at each other and see its possible to live fulfilled lives. Not lives without problems or stress its true and there are dark times of course. But we know we're different and that the difference is a good and valid one.

    Like recombinantsocks I have found things I like to do and places I like to be. Daily I'm discovering new things about being autistic in a world that has no idea what I am. Pretend you're a Martian on a covert mission to earth, its pretty similar to being autistic! And remember there are heaps of other Martians to help you out.

    Ont the bad days remember what David Mitchell says in the preface to The Reason I Jump - every autistic person is a hero.

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