You don't really know as much as you think you do about autism.
If you got your information from an "autism awareness" thing, chances are, you don't know as much as you think. Unfortunately, a lot of people take part in these events or they read about them and think they know all about autism. (N.G.) They know it exists, and to them, that's all they need to know.
That's not really true.
Sometimes, people only know the kids on the "low-functioning" side of the spectrum. And there have been many things about them that I've heard people say that's not true about the whole population of autistics. They take those things and then turn them on the "high-functioning" autistic population and that's not fair to us.
"I always thought he was 'weird.'" (C.)
The knowledge of autism that we're putting out should be balanced between the low- and high-functioning autistic population. There's more to autism than what happens on the low-functioning side of the spectrum.
One thing that should be noted regardless of the functioning of a person can be summarized as follows: "People with autism are not. helpless. I thought they were, but they can still be extremely bright and self-sufficient." (Elizabeth M.)
Sometimes people consider us to be volatile because we aren't predictable like they'd like us to be. Allistics (non-autistics) generally find it hard to understand how autistics think, so we seem to just "blow up" at the silliest of things. Some of us are volatile, but others have had too much happen at once and couldn't handle it anymore.
"...I saw them as unpredictable - kinda like those underwater mines where if you touched them in the wrong place, they'd explode." (Loren)
Autistics are usually under a lot of stress, get overstimulated really easily, and can be pained by many things. And they have to deal with these things as they try to socialize, which may end up with them slipping up and "exploding" briefly. We aren't all volatile, but sometimes we may be, despite us trying not to.
While getting notes from friends, they actually quite blessed me by complimenting me and using me as an example of an autistic who's not volatile at all. That encouraged me a ton because I know I myself have been "volatile" at times because I couldn't handle all the pressure that was being put on me. Even though we shatter and lash out, that doesn't mean we're aggressive by nature.
"Now that I know you, I can understand now that you aren't volatile at all - you're one of the kindest, most persevering people I've ever met!! Yes, you might be under a LOT of stress and pain, but you bear it in a way that's simply beautiful to witness." (Loren)
The truth is, autism needs to be brought to people's awareness in more ways than the "autism awareness" things that people do. It's one thing to know that autism exists. It's another to see it as a part of who a person is and know what kind of person it could make a person out to be. We need to love people who are different, not note their differences and condemn them. "Oh yeah, I know you're mentally retarded." That's not how we should be responding to people.
My goal is to give people an inside view of what it's like to be autistic. If you ever have anything you'd like to see in terms of that, please send me a message and tell me. I'd love to know!
Special thanks to my friends for helping me with quotes for this article:
N. G.
C.
Elizabeth M.
Loren
You've all blessed me in so many ways. <3 Thank you for your assistance and your open-mindedness when it comes to autism.