Happy Autism Acceptance Month! It used to be Autism Awareness Month, but to be more inclusive and empowering to Autistic individuals, we call it Autism Acceptance Month. Autistic people may have brains that are wired differently so they think differently than neurotypicals, but autism is much more than just a “disability” despite people’s negative perceptions and persecution of the perspective. We as a community need to do more to support and accept Autistic people.
Autism is a spectrum. It affects people from all walks of life differently and at different levels. There’s a helpful diagram online by Autism_sketches that illustrates complexity in how the autism spectrum isn’t a linear system that implies that some people are generally more autistic than others as some people imagine. Instead, the illustrator chooses to display autism with different qualities measured such as social skills, fixations, executive functioning and stimming (movements or vocality that soothe or occupy stimuli receptors) in varying scopes represented with a circle chart with wedges that vary in size. Also noted in the image is that the terms “high-functioning” and “low-functioning” are ableist.
Ableism in physical and mental contexts is a concept that has existed for a significant amount of time. Like other forms of bigotry, they are caused by misunderstandings of identities. Autistic individuals are often scrutinized for being socially inept, awkward, weird or eccentric. Gifting someone grace and understanding where they’re coming from with the proper context is invaluable, especially when their point of view is not known.
Another ableist facet of Autistic discourse is the usage of the puzzle piece symbol. The myth I heard growing up was that Autistic individuals freak out when they’re missing even one puzzle piece. Autism Speaks, an organization that notoriously dehumanizes Autistic individuals instead of genuinely supporting them, stands by the puzzle piece symbol. The grand majority of us Autistic people reject the usage of the puzzle piece as Autistic iconography due to its ableist connotations in favor of the rainbow infinity symbol, which better represents the complexity and nuance that Autistic people have.
For more ableism, there was a famous article by Andrew Wakefield published in The Lancet (which was scientifically inaccurate and debunked, The Lancet retracting the article eventually) that claimed that vaccines, especially the MMR vaccine, directly caused autism. This is a gross example not only of confusing correlation and causation but also weaponizing misinformation for capitalistic gain in how Wakefield had financial conflicts of interest after being paid £55,000 to cover up the truth and to make that article.
Some parents still believe that vaccines cause autism despite the connection just being a coincidence. Regardless of whether you believe it or not, this view of autism being something to prevent instead of embrace and accept is problematic. Some parents wouldn’t love and accept their children if they were Autistic. Generally speaking, people naturally hate and/or fear what they can’t understand. This is why education on different identities is so important.
The Autistic experience isn’t all negative, though. There are positives to be embraced individually and as a community. We have a diverse culture with Autistic phenomena and habits having specific names as a means of normalizing and making sense of our identities. For example, one of my Autistic friends introduced me to something called “body-doubling,” which is when you and someone else study or otherwise do activities, you need it done together instead of isolated, both in-person or online. I found it to be helpful to have people in my corner silently rooting me on as I do my work. Stimming is another example of Autistic culture, though not every Autistic person stims.
Being Autistic taught me quite a bit about humanity; mainly, some people can’t grasp my complexity nor understand my ways of thinking. But still, I’m proud of my uniqueness and rejection of social norms in favor of authenticity. Empathy and open-mindedness are traits I hold dear to my heart, which can build community, and can be implemented in our lives to make us kinder to other people in general. I wish to be confident for the sake of other people like me out there (neurodivergent or neurotypical), ideally spreading confidence, like what Kyle Hill wanted.
If you’re neurodivergent, embrace your complexity. It’s not just a disability; it’s a different life perspective that we can share with others. We are stronger than ableism. Be proud of and accept your neurodivergence!
If you don’t know if you’re neurodivergent or neurotypical, know you’re valid no matter what. Testing is, ifnot covered by insurance, expensive, but regardless that shouldn’t have an impact on your self-worth. People shouldn’t treat you differently (unless they have been treating you poorly), but instead with the same compassion they would give for somebody else neurotypical or neurodivergent.
If you’re neurotypical, it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about neurodivergence. It doesn’t hurt to be more accepting and compassionate to other human beings and to treat them as human beings. Please don’t infantilize neurodivergent people. Normalizing neurodivergence culturally can lead to more acceptance for everybody and promote empathy.