extemporarysanity: Autistic People Should

More reprints! The original is here.

Be loud and proud!  And when I say “loud” I mean that in many ways beyond the production of phonemes that most of society seems to place such a high value on.  Anyone who truly believes that there is a connection between being able to produce verbal speech and being an intelligent human being should should Google “Tea Party Politics”  and look for some quotes. But I digress …

Autistic people should be loud.  We should not be hidden away, silenced or denied access to communication.  That happens when “experts” decide that we are too “low functioning” to be worth the investment of resources, or too old to learn. Sometimes they also decide we are so “high functioning” that we don’t need support and we are silenced by bullies. In other words ignorance keeps us silent, not autism.

Autistic people should be loud.  It’s okay to “sound” Autistic. We should make noise if we need to to self regulate.  If I need to hum to concentrate then I should bloody well be allowed to hum as long as it’s not making it impossible for others to concentrate. Further, nobody should ASSUME that it is making it impossible without asking them.  If I echo the last word of every sentence then I echo the last word of every sentence.  What’s it to you?  FYI – Einstein did that too and he turned okay.

Autistic people should be loud.  We should be asked what we think when the topic is autism. We should tell people when we disagree.  We should not be afraid to say what we think and we should not let ourselves become slaves to social anxiety.

Autistic people should be proud.  We have done some really great things – even if they have not been recognized by the history books.  It’s true, many people speculate that some great historic figures have been Autistic and I agree that most probably were.  I’m not talking about their contributions though.  I’m talking about the brave folks who battle sensory integration dysfunction, to take public transportation or navigate through a crowd.  I’m talking about folks who face down social anxiety to go to work everyday. I’m talking about people who survive abuse.  We are strong.  We’ve had to be.  We should be proud of that.

Autistic people should be proud – of who we are.  Because every one of us is unique and beautiful in our own way.  Autistic people – let’s be loud and proud together.