Published on 12, July, 2020
I was diagnosed autistic not so long ago in my early 40s, the psychiatrist who diagnosed me said I mask phenomenally well that it goes almost undetected.
My family say I should wear a badge that lets others know I am autistic because I can come across rude when shopping or in other social situations where people are new to me. I wore a lapel badge that said I’m autistic to trial it a few weeks and it did make a huge difference when i was shopping, I realised sales assistants willing to help more, more smiley.
The flip side of it is, do I really want people to know I’m autistic ? It feels like a label and does that mean I am giving people an opportunity on passing judgement without knowing me??
Thoughts please? X
but if you do that then you get them saying that your using autism as a excuse... i even see facebook posts like that, about using autism as a excuse for what they call bad behaviour.... like, wow, they dont think, its kinda like saying to leg amputees to not let their lack of legs be a excuse to stop them from standing up. so i generally would just take them thinking im rude instead, then if they call me rude ill call them rude back as its kinda rude to call someone rude anyway lol
I get that, why do we want to make it a “thing” and let some people tap into our vulnerabilities. The truth is though we live in a judgemental world whether we like it or not, I wouldn’t say I use autism as an excuse, it’s making people aware. I stopped wearing the badge because I hate any type of attention and I understand my social skills come across as ignorance, I like you would rather people think I’m rude.
I would never ask someone with a white stick, “ how blind are you?” I don’t think you’re actually blind enough, it would never happen. Autism is a condition that is recognised and exists. If wearing a badge helps you and lets others know why you are acting differently, it can only be a good thing. We are not second class citizens, we have a condition that should always be recognised and accommodated where possible.
Roy I completely agree, this is something people should know about because the spectrum is so wide from one to the other. My life has been about trying to hide my differences to blend, being told to dampen down my academic abilities so others didn’t feel “dumb” I have now come to realise my autism makes me who I am and when I point out anomalies and flaws in systems and processes others can’t see that makes others uncomfortable because our skills and mind works different. We are different and we should embrace that ! X