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It's April

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WitherMite
1,609 posts
Joined August 2019
Topic Starter
WitherMite
and that means its...

Autism Acceptance Month


Now I know how the internet sees autistic people very well, and am aware most of the time when people use the term as an insult its only a joke, but the fact of the matter is that most people have absolutely zero idea what autism actually is and what it means to be autistic. So I'm making this thread to at least try and teach the people of OT what autism really is.

Before I begin, I want you to forget everything you think you know about autism, because the condition has a very dark past when it comes to the doctors that study it, the "charities" that support it, and the public's view of autistic people.

Technically April 2nd is autism day, but I've decided to wait longer, for hopefully obvious reasons, whoever picked that day had to have done it intentionally. Though April is still considered autism month.

I thought about posting this in General Discussion because of the serious nature of the thread, but 2 seconds later I realized that that was stupid and actually serious threads don't belong there anymore, all it is is lost G&R peeps and people posting dumb surveys.
"Why do you care about autism Wither?"
I've mentioned before that I am socially disabled, well I am self diagnosed autistic. Now that may turn your head, who am I to diagnose myself? well, one I'm a poor American, so healthcare isn't something I have much of and mental disorders/disabilities aren't exactly something the government cares enough about to help pay for, especially for adults.
At this point I've done so much research about autism that I can confidently say I know more about it than most doctors. I've looked around in many autism/Asperger's communities and have found my self fitting in so well its scary. Autism is the only label I've been able to find that accurately describes the way I experience the world. Maybe Ill get into my symptoms If people ask me, but this thread is already long enough. Please, don't treat me any differently, I've been reluctant to ever tell people online about this as I have no idea if they unironically see autism the way 4-chan does, or the way suburban moms do. I would prefer to not be ridiculed or babied, I am an adult and wish to be treated as such. I would hope that I've proved at this point that I'm not stupid either.

What is Autism?

Autism is a developmental disability that affects the way people experience the world, move, communicate, and socialize.
It is a spectrum of symptoms and no two autistic people are affected by autism in the same way. Here's a post later on in this thread detailing these symptoms: community/forums/topics/1291040?start=8022838

It is only a disability because the world is built for neurotypical people, and autistic people have different needs.

Autistic people are different, not less.

What is Autism not?

Autism =/= Retard
It can be comorbid with intellectual disabilities, but an individual's IQ, and capacity to learn has no bearing on their autism diagnosis.

Autism does not only affect young white boys.
Children with autism grow into autistic adults, women can have autism, and people of any ethnicity can be autistic. The numbers that say otherwise are because of under diagnosis, and as doctors become better at diagnosing other demographics the gap has been narrowing.

Autism cannot be cured. It affects the way the brain fundamentally interacts with the world and changing that would be like trying to change someone's personality, we don't know enough about the brain to even attempt to do so and the ethical implications are questionable

Heres a couple resources to learn more if you are interested:
https://autismacceptance.com
https://autisticadvocacy.org/
https://www.reddit.com/r/aspergers
(reddit link Ik but these are actual autistic people sharing their experiences and that is a valuable resource.)

Charities

I mentioned that some of the charities that support autistic people aren't the best, and none quite live up to this awful legacy as Autism Speaks does.


TL;DW: Autism Speaks only focuses on the families of autistic people not the children themselves, are looking for a cure that doesn't exist, are a big reason Antivaxxers think vaccines will give children autism, pretend autistic adults don't exist, and have absolutely zero autistic representation in their ranks. They also have put out awful ads that demonize autistic children and are like a big part of why autism has such negative connotations.

Here's the ad mentioned in the video on it's own.




Here's a list of actually good charities: https://www.appliedbehavioranalysisprograms.com/best-autism-charities/

Autism is still not very well understood by the public and even most doctors, and hopefully this changes In the near future. If you have any questions ask and I'll do my best to answer. I personally don't take offense to the autism jokes the internet like to use, but I would appreciate it if you could keep them out of this thread.

wew long thread. at least its better than that blank one yesterday... inb4 people get mad at me for not keeping OT a shitposting haven.
Last edited by WitherMite , edited 3 times in total.
Isshiki Kaname
935 posts
Joined May 2014
Isshiki Kaname
okay, have a nice day dude.
Last edited by Isshiki Kaname , edited 1 time in total.
pentaqola
43 posts
Joined May 2018
pentaqola
i like this! i don't understand why some people treat autism like it is a problem to be fair, its not a bad thing to me and it shouldn't be treated like a negative perk.

i personally do not know if i have autism or not, albeit i understand where they are coming from. i appreciate them though, and i like seeing them pursue their dreams and achieve things.

happy to see a thread like this here to be fair, they deserve to be brought to a good light :]
WitherMite
1,609 posts
Joined August 2019
Topic Starter
WitherMite

KatouMegumi wrote:

okay, have a nice day dude.
the post button is optional you know, if you dont care, dont post.
Isshiki Kaname
935 posts
Joined May 2014
Isshiki Kaname

WitherMite wrote:

KatouMegumi wrote:

okay, have a nice day dude.
the post button is optional you know, if you dont care, dont post.
harsh.
igorsprite
623 posts
Joined September 2015
igorsprite
i don't like autistic people. when i was 8yo, a autistic boy broke my glasses and when i was 14yo another guy tried to kill me with a sleeper hold, i could do nothing because he was autistic.
Penguin
324 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin

igorsprite wrote:

i don't like autistic people. when i was 8yo, a autistic boy broke my glasses and when i was 14yo another guy tried to kill me with a sleeper hold, i could do nothing because he was autistic.
"I could do nothing because he was autistic" what? How does this even make sense? Also, why would you judge every single autistic person just because of TWO experiences that you've had with people who happen to fall under the same category? That's a very immature and ignorant way of looking at things.

You don't generalize and judge things based on extremely anecdotal evidence. You're more than likely to come to illogical conclusions this way. Like I said in another thread, generalizations are dehumanizing.
Last edited by Penguin , edited 3 times in total.
igorsprite
623 posts
Joined September 2015
igorsprite

Penguin wrote:

"I could do nothing because he was autistic" what? How does this even make sense? Also, why would you judge every single autistic person just because of TWO experiences that you've had with people who happen to fall under the same category? That's a very immature and uneducated way of looking at things.

You don't generalize and judge things based on extremely anecdotal evidence. You're more than likely to come to illogical conclusions this way. Like I said in another thread, generalizations are dehumanizing.
both events took place at the school, and it was very humiliating and traumatic for me. the only 2 autistic guys i meet did it to me, i don't know what they are capable of, so i prefer keep distance from these people.
WitherMite
1,609 posts
Joined August 2019
Topic Starter
WitherMite

igorsprite wrote:

Penguin wrote:

"I could do nothing because he was autistic" what? How does this even make sense? Also, why would you judge every single autistic person just because of TWO experiences that you've had with people who happen to fall under the same category? That's a very immature and uneducated way of looking at things.

You don't generalize and judge things based on extremely anecdotal evidence. You're more than likely to come to illogical conclusions this way. Like I said in another thread, generalizations are dehumanizing.
both events took place at the school, and it was very humiliating and traumatic for me. the only 2 autistic guys i meet did it to me, i don't know what they are capable of, so i prefer keep distance from these people.
trust me you've met more autistic people than that, often they are masking, which is pretending to be normal - put super simply. it takes a lot of energy but it lets them fit in better and avoid being total social outcasts. the people you are talking about were for one really young and two most likely didnt have the ability/knowledge to really mask yet.

what you said is the equivalent of me saying,

"I dont like black people, I was often bullied by them when I was younger (<- this is true actually - the bullying not the racism) and it was traumatizing, I dont know what they are capable of so I keep a distance from them."

now how fucking stupid does that sound?

as I said, autistic people aren't less, only different and have the capacity to be either good people or really awful people, same as neurotypical people.
Last edited by WitherMite , edited 2 times in total.
- Marco -
Technical Support Team
8,315 posts
Joined December 2011
- Marco -
Take this 👑
pentaqola
43 posts
Joined May 2018
pentaqola
okay, i can understand from your viewpoint igor as i got the same experience but with special needs people that are... not the best people. one once lied about shit from me, even said i was harming another kid ffs when in reality i didn't. what scared me is how much control they have over me because of that reason that they are someone with special needs. their guardian even got angry at me when i didn't want to be near them

there are more than just that since i grow up in a school with them being kinda common, but did i generalize em to be bad? no, because that is just one of the bad eggs.

it still sucks you got to have two of em with ruined your viewpoint of autistic people. either way generalizing them won't help though
igorsprite
623 posts
Joined September 2015
igorsprite

WitherMite wrote:

trust me you've met more autistic people than that, often they are masking, which is pretending to be normal - put super simply. it takes a lot of energy but it lets them fit in better and avoid being total social outcasts. the people you are talking about were for one really young and two most likely didnt have the ability/knowledge to really mask yet.
as long i can't differentiate is fine to me.

WitherMite wrote:

what you said is the equivalent of me saying,

"I dont like black people, I was often bullied by them when I was younger (<- this is true actually - the bullying not the racism) and it was traumatizing, I dont know what they are capable of so I keep a distance from them."

now how fucking stupid does that sound?
different realities, more than half of brazilian population isn't white, so doesn't make sense saying that.

EDIT: just don't be too autistic. i almost cried just from remembering, i'm very immature and fragile about this topic.
Last edited by igorsprite , edited 1 time in total.
WitherMite
1,609 posts
Joined August 2019
Topic Starter
WitherMite

igorsprite wrote:

WitherMite wrote:

trust me you've met more autistic people than that, often they are masking, which is pretending to be normal - put super simply. it takes a lot of energy but it lets them fit in better and avoid being total social outcasts. the people you are talking about were for one really young and two most likely didnt have the ability/knowledge to really mask yet.
as long i can't differentiate is fine to me.

WitherMite wrote:

what you said is the equivalent of me saying,

"I dont like black people, I was often bullied by them when I was younger (<- this is true actually - the bullying not the racism) and it was traumatizing, I dont know what they are capable of so I keep a distance from them."

now how fucking stupid does that sound?
different realities, more than half of brazilian population isn't white, so doesn't make sense saying that.
I fail to see how this is reason enough to generalize all autistic people based on two kids.

and what do you mean different realities, I was using hyperbole to prove my point that using anecdotes to generalize is stupid, of course its going to be from my perspective and I doubt people dont know about America's issues with racism, we are some loud motherfuckers when it come to our politics.

EDIT: Wtf do you mean by just don't be too autistic?
Last edited by WitherMite , edited 2 times in total.
z0z
521 posts
Joined February 2018
z0z
you seem to really care if you're willing to post this at all
igorsprite
623 posts
Joined September 2015
igorsprite

WitherMite wrote:

EDIT: Wtf do you mean by just don't be too autistic?

igorsprite wrote:

as long i can't differentiate is fine to me.
this. i'm afraid of autistic people, ok?

EDIT: fuck, i cried. i will not reply anymore
Last edited by igorsprite , edited 1 time in total.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
When you are young and are still learning social interactions, how others treat you, and where you are in relation to those people, any experiences will create a life lasting impact. It's easy for you to say that that's not reason enough to generalize, but this is not a problem of deciding to generalize. This has deeper psychological roots due to childhood experiences that are not so easy to dig up.
WitherMite
1,609 posts
Joined August 2019
Topic Starter
WitherMite

abraker wrote:

When you are young and are still learning social interactions, how others treat you, and where you are in relation to those people, any experiences will create a life lasting impact. It's easy for you to say that that's not reason enough to generalize, but this is not a problem of deciding to generalize. This has deeper psychological roots due to childhood experiences that are not so easy to dig up.
I had no idea that he was talking about an irrational fear, and would have been kinder if I did. I am sorry for my harsh words igor.

however it is still an irrational fear of a group of people and is not a reason to generalize and say that you dont like autistic people. I am well aware of how much experiences in childhood can affect how you see the world, but tolerance is a skill that everyone has to learn, everyone has prejudices.

Autistic people should not feel the need to mask all day out of fear of somehow offending abled people.
the amount of mental and sometimes physical effort this takes is immense and often leads to a very poor quality of life.
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Penguin
324 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin

abraker wrote:

When you are young and are still learning social interactions, how others treat you, and where you are in relation to those people, any experiences will create a life lasting impact. It's easy for you to say that that's not reason enough to generalize, but this is not a problem of deciding to generalize. This has deeper psychological roots due to childhood experiences that are not so easy to dig up.
You can't excuse discrimination due to psychological trauma. It's one thing to understand why someone discriminates, but it's another thing to excuse their behavior. I'm not going to excuse a racist because he was bullied by a black kid when he was a child. Why should we excuse discrimination against autistic people?

People can work past trauma and I'm sure that Igor can too one day. Just because he has his own personal reasons to generalize, doesn't mean that they are valid. When it comes down to it, it is most likely ignorance that leads to the generalizations in this case, not the trauma itself. You can't use trauma as an excuse for generalizing. Nor can you use trauma as an excuse for ignorance.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
I am not using trauma as an excuse for ignorance, but as an excuse explanation for behavior. Behavior specifically that comes not from the underlying decision to do something, but from something more fundamental. Just like how some people are afraid of heights or spiders.
Last edited by abraker , edited 1 time in total.
Penguin
324 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
I understand that you weren't trying to make an excuse for ignorance or for his behavior, I never meant to imply that you were. My point was that the issue of generalizing essentially comes down to ignorance, not trauma, and that at the end of the day, it is still his decision to generalize.
Sugar_owo
586 posts
Joined August 2020
Sugar_owo
glad someone said something about this ^^
anywhere at anytime u should accept autistic people no matter what. as of i have a friend who is autistic, and she's always struggled with trying to act normal. if u people just accept them for who they are that's cool. i dont have much to say tho -w-
Nuuskamuikkunen
1,265 posts
Joined March 2013
Nuuskamuikkunen
Autism is a way more complex topic than it seems, and it's astonishing the ammount of ignorance regarding this topic.

I bet that if you ask someone what autism is, they wouldn't be able to give a clear answer, some might think that it is some sort of curse or disability or retardedness, but it is something that can be lived with, and that you can deal with an autist perfectly.

Even when some teachers since school, and even in university have told me that I might be an Asperger (something within that spectrum) I have never diagnosed myself, and I discourage doing so too, as autism can be easily mistaken by OCD, ADHD or Social anxiety, while they might be comorbility between autist spectrum and share some similarities, it is worth knowing that they all have their differences.

Personally I dislike talking about myself about this topic, I have been treated like an idiot or with double facedness (that they think I don't notice) because of that.
Last edited by Nuuskamuikkunen , edited 3 times in total.
WitherMite
1,609 posts
Joined August 2019
Topic Starter
WitherMite
Ive realized that I forgot to actually talk about the symptoms of autism, so I will do that.

Symptoms


It should be said that these symptoms exist on a spectrum and not every autist has all of them and not every autist has them to the same degree. many autistic people can pass for being completely NT, at a bit of an extra burden, living full independent lives, while others will need lifelong assistance. I'll provide my own experiences to show one way these symptoms can manifest, I am by no means a perfect example, especially considering I'm not professionally diagnosed. Remember if you've met a person with autism, you've met A person with autism, everyone is different.

Hyper/Hyposensitivity:
- Autists can have what is known as Sensory Processing Disorder and any of their senses can be either really strong or really weak, which can cause a lot of distress and pain. I personally am really sensitive to light, and sunlight can be really irritating and painful, especially in cars when its flickering behind trees. I cant block out touch very well and unless I am really focused on a task I am always super aware of my clothing, the texture and feel of anything I'm touching and need to make sure to wear loose, comfortable clothes that don't irritate me too much. I also have a really bad emotional/physiological reaction to certain sounds, known as misophonia and as a child I'd often get irrationally angry at people eating loudly. Some sounds make me itchy, some are painful - usually harsh higher pitched sounds, and some make me extremely uncomfortable such as eating sounds, or the rough sound of someone rubbing their bare hands together.

Executive Dysfunction:
- Executive function is a group of skills that people use to plan, start a task, stop a task, remember what to do next, and move on to the next thing. Autists can have a hard time using these skills. This is a symptom that is a big reason autistic people can be misdiagnosed as ADHD and also can cause huge issues with a person's quality of life. It can look like the person is just being lazy and procrastinating, but it isn't.
https://autofspoons.com/2018/02/23/what-the-fuck-is-executive-functioning-its-sure-as-fuck-not-being-lazy/
I have an extremely hard time with what's known as autistic inertia, and stopping and starting tasks is very difficult for me.

Meltdowns/Shutdowns:
- Here's the stereotypical symptom of autism that makes people think they are childlike and stupid, however what is actually going on is extremely scary for the person in question and it should be known that they are not in control and extremely distressed. Meltdowns happen when the person is overwhelmed and stressed and their feelings become too much to handle. They may scream, cry, run away, or lose control of their body.
Shutdowns can also happen when an autistic person gets too stressed. They will lose the ability to do things like talking or moving. I will often shutdown if I try and talk about anything that makes me too emotional and lose the ability to speak in sentences, this is really scary because I feel trapped in my own head, trying to say things, but being unable to, which only makes me more stressed.
Meltdowns and shutdowns are not tantrums and the person is not in control, they need space to destress and calm down. not all autistic people meltdown and not all shutdown either.

Motor Issues:
- Autistic people can have a hard time using their body to do some things, they can have difficulty starting and stopping movements, planning how they will move, and may bump into things, trip, or drop things. They may not even be able to speak at all.
I have a slightly harder time with the action of speaking and it is somewhat tiring for me, I am very soft spoken because It takes a lot of energy to project my voice. However, I don't have much of an issue with other motor skills.

Stimming:
- Stimming is a repetitive action used to calm yourself. Everybody stims to decrease stress, I'm sure youve tapped your foot when bored, clicked a pen repeatedly, things like that. But autistic people will do it more often. Its used to balance out senses, calm down, show emotion, or keep focus on a task. I personally stim when I feel that my sense of touch isn't symmetrical, repeating an action on the other side of the body until I feel it is, such as eating with one side of my mouth, scratching my palms, or rubbing the arch of my feet on carpet. I also stim when I'm stressed, shaking my leg when I'm sitting, popping my knuckles, pacing, etc. I will pick stims based on my surroundings and how socially acceptable they are, only hand flapping, repeating random phrases, jumping up and down, and other stims considered weird when I'm alone. Not all autistic people can or want to do this.

Social Difficulties:
- This is a long, complicated one.
Essentially social settings have a ton of unspoken rules that people "just know". They often cant list them all if asked and if someone breaks these rules they are seen as weird, rude, or antisocial. Neurotypicals also have a lot of body language that they use and interpret naturally and don't even think about.

Autistic people didn't get the rule book. They have to fumble through life learning all these rules, body language, and social norms the hard way, often becoming outcasts, ignored and bullied. and this of course leads to them being extremely anxious, always overthinking every social interaction out of necessity. This is social anxiety on steroids, as the fear isn't irrational.

Some autistic people are never able to figure out the game NT's play and some don't even realize there are rules.

Eye contact:
- Some autistic people have an aversion to eye contact, for different reasons. for some its painful, for others its not unbearable, but still uncomfortable.
I have a hard time holding eye contact because it makes me immensely uncomfortable and anxious. I couldn't explain why if I tried. I can fake eye contact by looking at the bridge of their nose, but this takes a lot of mental energy and I cant focus on the conversation very well and it leads to me having a hard time remembering what was said.

Special Interests:
- Autistic people can get fixated on a certain topic and become able to hyper focus on it. This is where the stereotype of a young autistic boy who knows literally everything there is to know about trains comes from. Special interests can be lifelong, or temporary. A person can have one or many special interests. They can be extremely broad or very narrow. Not all autistic people have a special interest.
I get short lived special interests.

In general autistic people also just think, feel, and learn differently. they may have difficulty expressing emotion the same way NT's do, which can lead to them being seen as having no empathy, when in reality, most autistic people have an extreme amount of it.

These of course aren't all the symptoms, but they are a good number of them, and hopefully this paints a picture of why its called a spectrum.
ghoulybits
78 posts
Joined January 2017
ghoulybits
Would just like to say that this is a good thread and pretty well researched thread, and whether or not you eventually get a diagnosis, I hope that the amount of research you've done on this topic helps you. I'm autistic myself (though I don't really mention it at all online for similar reasons as you put in the thread), and I think a lot of people have a few misconceptions about autism that this post does a pretty good job discussing.

Also, don't worry about if you're able to get a proper diagnosis. Self-DXing is a controversial thing, but imo when you're autistic you're kind of able to just tell you are. Even if I never got formally diagnosed, I'm pretty sure I would have figured it out eventually.

Not really sure what to end this post with except that I wish you and anyone else on the "am I autistic" journey the best of luck.
keremaru
227 posts
Joined November 2017
keremaru

WitherMite wrote:

and that means its...

Autism Acceptance Month


Now I know how the internet sees autistic people very well, and am aware most of the time when people use the term as an insult its only a joke, but the fact of the matter is that most people have absolutely zero idea what autism actually is and what it means to be autistic. So I'm making this thread to at least try and teach the people of OT what autism really is.

Before I begin, I want you to forget everything you think you know about autism, because the condition has a very dark past when it comes to the doctors that study it, the "charities" that support it, and the public's view of autistic people.

Technically April 2nd is autism day, but I've decided to wait longer, for hopefully obvious reasons, whoever picked that day had to have done it intentionally. Though April is still considered autism month.

I thought about posting this in General Discussion because of the serious nature of the thread, but 2 seconds later I realized that that was stupid and actually serious threads don't belong there anymore, all it is is lost G&R peeps and people posting dumb surveys.
"Why do you care about autism Wither?"
I've mentioned before that I am socially disabled, well I am self diagnosed autistic. Now that may turn your head, who am I to diagnose myself? well, one I'm a poor American, so healthcare isn't something I have much of and mental disorders/disabilities aren't exactly something the government cares enough about to help pay for, especially for adults.
At this point I've done so much research about autism that I can confidently say I know more about it than most doctors. I've looked around in many autism/Asperger's communities and have found my self fitting in so well its scary. Autism is the only label I've been able to find that accurately describes the way I experience the world. Maybe Ill get into my symptoms If people ask me, but this thread is already long enough. Please, don't treat me any differently, I've been reluctant to ever tell people online about this as I have no idea if they unironically see autism the way 4-chan does, or the way suburban moms do. I would prefer to not be ridiculed or babied, I am an adult and wish to be treated as such. I would hope that I've proved at this point that I'm not stupid either.

What is Autism?

Autism is a developmental disability that affects the way people experience the world, move, communicate, and socialize.
It is a spectrum of symptoms and no two autistic people are affected by autism in the same way. Here's a post later on in this thread detailing these symptoms: community/forums/topics/1291040?start=8022838

It is only a disability because the world is built for neurotypical people, and autistic people have different needs.

Autistic people are different, not less.

What is Autism not?

Autism =/= Retard
It can be comorbid with intellectual disabilities, but an individual's IQ, and capacity to learn has no bearing on their autism diagnosis.

Autism does not only affect young white boys.
Children with autism grow into autistic adults, women can have autism, and people of any ethnicity can be autistic. The numbers that say otherwise are because of under diagnosis, and as doctors become better at diagnosing other demographics the gap has been narrowing.

Autism cannot be cured. It affects the way the brain fundamentally interacts with the world and changing that would be like trying to change someone's personality, we don't know enough about the brain to even attempt to do so and the ethical implications are questionable

Heres a couple resources to learn more if you are interested:
https://autismacceptance.com
https://autisticadvocacy.org/
https://www.reddit.com/r/aspergers
(reddit link Ik but these are actual autistic people sharing their experiences and that is a valuable resource.)

Charities

I mentioned that some of the charities that support autistic people aren't the best, and none quite live up to this awful legacy as Autism Speaks does.


TL;DW: Autism Speaks only focuses on the families of autistic people not the children themselves, are looking for a cure that doesn't exist, are a big reason Antivaxxers think vaccines will give children autism, pretend autistic adults don't exist, and have absolutely zero autistic representation in their ranks. They also have put out awful ads that demonize autistic children and are like a big part of why autism has such negative connotations.

Here's the ad mentioned in the video on it's own.




Here's a list of actually good charities: https://www.appliedbehavioranalysisprograms.com/best-autism-charities/

Autism is still not very well understood by the public and even most doctors, and hopefully this changes In the near future. If you have any questions ask and I'll do my best to answer. I personally don't take offense to the autism jokes the internet like to use, but I would appreciate it if you could keep them out of this thread.

wew long thread. at least its better than that blank one yesterday... inb4 people get mad at me for not keeping OT a shitposting haven.
Long read.

My brother has autism, and we (my family) love him. Yeah, he gets into trouble sometimes, but we love and care for him regardless. His younger brother has a speech delay, and so they both get to go to school together. He watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse every single day, he rides a scooter at the park. He doesn't listen to some things that we say, but he's so focused on what he likes that he influences our conversations and redirects our attention. And yeah, whenever he just isn't feeling sunshine-y, he breaks down. We don't yell at or scold him, nor do we afterwards or at any time. We just help him get past that breakdown, and move on from it. We comfort him, and we love him, even though he slams doors sometimes. And he loves us, even though it's extremely hard to show it. Out of nowhere, he'll hug anyone he knows and loves. It's so wholesome, and I love his behavior.

That being said, the "I Am Autism" video is fucking disgusting. We don't rest, but we also don't actively try to fix it. As a family, we know that he can't change. We wouldn't want him to regardless. Even if people looked at him weird, like "What the fuck is that kid doing?," we wouldn't want it any other way. Even if there was no cure for autism, we wouldn't want one anyway. Even if he will never get better, my brother is just fine the way he is, even if he's sporadic and unpredictable. Autism isn't a disorder, a disease, a plague, a problem or a reason to cry at night. It's a person's brain, and you can never change a person's brain and walk out of hell just fine.

I hope you, and anyone else who lives with autism, make the best of your life(s), regardless of if you're on the spectrum or not.
May whatever be above bless you.
samX500
54 posts
Joined January 2018
samX500
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