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Do any of my fellow autistics wear an autism badge out and about?

Rosina
over 1 year ago

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 

Parents
  • over 1 year ago

    I wear a sunflower lanyard tbh, because the reason I might need help or understanding might not always be the autism specifically, and some people can be really weird when they learn I have autism, they make a lot of assumptions about my competency, like I need help with some things specifically that doesn't mean pity or patronise me. So I prefer not to out myself that way, and really it's nobody's business to ask exactly what criteria (or in may case whole list of criteria) you meet that you require a sunflower lanyard anyway.
    I don't use it for airports or to avoid wearing a mask but because sometimes I need just a bit more patience from staff, I have difficulty processing voices too so I can be slow to respond while I try work out what people said, but also I just cannot use a regular toilet cubicle if it's too narrow and especially if it doesn't have a hook on the door. GAD, OCD, and PTSD means I can panic in tight spaces and me and my stuff cannot touch either the floor or walls and if they do they become "contaminated" and I never have enough sanitiser on me to sanitise all of it including myself so it's just an immediate meltdown in a public loo and loss of executive function if that happens.


    I have politely had to explain that to someone only once though, that yes I realise I'm not literally in a wheel chair but THAT is as a collective mess of things one of the areas where I am disabled so if the regular cubicles are a neordivergents' nightmare I need to use the big loo.

Reply
  • over 1 year ago

    I wear a sunflower lanyard tbh, because the reason I might need help or understanding might not always be the autism specifically, and some people can be really weird when they learn I have autism, they make a lot of assumptions about my competency, like I need help with some things specifically that doesn't mean pity or patronise me. So I prefer not to out myself that way, and really it's nobody's business to ask exactly what criteria (or in may case whole list of criteria) you meet that you require a sunflower lanyard anyway.
    I don't use it for airports or to avoid wearing a mask but because sometimes I need just a bit more patience from staff, I have difficulty processing voices too so I can be slow to respond while I try work out what people said, but also I just cannot use a regular toilet cubicle if it's too narrow and especially if it doesn't have a hook on the door. GAD, OCD, and PTSD means I can panic in tight spaces and me and my stuff cannot touch either the floor or walls and if they do they become "contaminated" and I never have enough sanitiser on me to sanitise all of it including myself so it's just an immediate meltdown in a public loo and loss of executive function if that happens.


    I have politely had to explain that to someone only once though, that yes I realise I'm not literally in a wheel chair but THAT is as a collective mess of things one of the areas where I am disabled so if the regular cubicles are a neordivergents' nightmare I need to use the big loo.

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