Autism Acceptance 3: Autism is NOT a bad word!

 Hey all,

A lot of people have an image of autism in their head when you mention autism or autistic. For many, it can be a bad word, invoking images of Rain Man. But autism and autistic is NOT a bad word! And many autistic people are not high support needs. There are many autistic people out there that are low support needs or have a middle ground between low and high support needs.

Autistic people are everywhere. Many can mask and you will assume they aren't autistic. For quite a few autistic people, masking can be tiresome. Masking is when autistic people work to appear not autistic and fit in with the neurotypical/non-autistic community. Autism is not a bad thing. I am working to promote autism acceptance to show the world that autistic people are good people with big hearts and a lot of love. We are not worthless, we are not useless. Even if a lot of autistic people don't have jobs or even can't work, doesn't mean we are to be cast aside. I work and I do enjoy working. I am not greater because I can work. I am grateful as an autistic person that I can and do work and maintain independence. Autism isn't evil, it is not a death sentence. Autism Speaks makes you believe that autism is a disease worse than cancer, but autism is not that at all!

Autism is a different way of thinking and processing things. It is not bad. Disabilities aren't bad either. People try to say that disability or disabled are bad words and try to say "differently abled" but disability should not be stigmatized, and neither should autism! For me, I prefer to say I am autistic rather than say, I have autism. Autistic is not bad! It is 2025 and there are many autistic people out there. We deserve a chance at life too. We aren't bothering anyone by existing! We will not be brought down!

curlyalicia