Talk with pride. Are you proud to be autistic? How do you show the world your pride?
I am not proud to be autistic. Not because I’m ashamed or anything but because I take issue with the concept of pride itself. I have a bit of an issue with being proud of things that are outside of my control. How can someone be proud of something they didn’t accomplish? It just strikes me as kind of odd. I think in order to have pride for something, it has to be something you have accomplished or played a role in. I’m not proud to be trans or white or autistic, it’s just who I am. While I wouldn’t say I’m proud to be autistic I’m definitely not ashamed of it. I quite like being autistic; it’s who I am. I certainly would not want to be anyone else. Autism provides so many great experiences that typical people don’t get to have. So while I am not proud to be autistic I am quite happy being so and would not wish to change it.
I don’t show pride so much as I show my experience and thoughts, both with this campaign and year round. I’ve not been as forthright in the past, particularly with the people I am close to but I’ve not really held anything back in this campaign. Several of my family have approached me and said they understand me much better now and that’s really what I was hoping for. For people to understand the autistic though process and how we experience things on a day to day basis. I think I’ve definitely made a good start though this campaign and I will hopefully continue to be able to put my story out there.
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