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‘Would you choose not to have autism if you could?’
I don’t even know how to answer that. It’s like asking me if I’d rather be someone else. I don’t know what it would be like to not be autistic. So much of my personality, the way I see & interpret the world is influenced by it.
I don’t even know how to answer that. It’s like asking me if I’d rather be someone else. I don’t know what it would be like to not be autistic. So much of my personality, the way I see & interpret the world is influenced by it.
For sure there are things about it which make my life difficult. I would choose for places to be less sensory overwhelming. I would choose for hand-dryers to not exist or not to make the noise they do. I would choose for people to respond to meltdowns compassionately and safely.
But is that a problem with me or is that a problem with society not accommodating my needs? Is that a problem with my navigation of the world or is that a problem with people not understanding me?
Autism is not simply a bad thing that you can separate from me and I’d still be me. If you did that I’d be a completely different person standing in-front of you. I wouldn’t exist anymore.
This absolutely does not mean I don’t have days where I hate being autistic. Where I wish more than anything that I could do things ‘normally’. Days where I wish my brain wouldn’t work differently.
