4/ When I say, โIโm #autistic,โ Iโm not saying, โThatโs all I am.โ Of course it isnโt, but it is a very important part of what makes me me โ probably more so than any other label that could be applied to me, except (maybe) โhumanโ. That label helped me to finally make sense of my life to a degree I hadnโt previously thought was possible.
And yet, there are many people who think I should distance myself from it, because of the misconceptions they have about what it means.
3/ In other cases, itโs because THEY associate certain negative stereotypes with that label.
Hereโs thing, though: you donโt fight stereotypes by avoiding a label. That rarely works because the stereotypes just attach themselves to the new label over time. Often, itโs better to embrace the label and show people that it doesnโt mean what they think it means.
1/ Thinking today about labels. Specifically, when people say โI hate labelsโ or think people should distance themselves from certain labels.
Labels are just words. Nouns. Adjectives. Nouns and adjectives donโt imply that other nouns and adjectives canโt also apply to the subject. Theyโre just descriptors relevant to the topic at hand.
I read a book about Autism recently, the author told a story about a friend that he was visiting too often and and the friend said "you don't have to visit so often" and he stopped visiting all together, when the friend inquired about why he stopped coming around he said you told me to, and the most surprising thing to me was he had a friend he could visit.
A dear pal gifted me Amnesia: The Bunker a few days after release date (6th June 2023), and I must say, it is very good fun! ๐ I think it's better than Machine for Pigs, and Rebirth (that I like to jokingly call "Amnesia: Little One")... though I feel those bars are kinda low. ๐ I defo recommend The Bunker! ๐
: two latelies about my #AspieLife from over on my IG
#people #behavior #identity #apologies #humannature
#neurallyatypical #actuallyautistic #residentalien #theweirdkid
You learn so quick
Not to ask
There is no help
@Dogofalltrees It's so easy to dismiss "invisible" disabilities.
There's a growing consensus in the #ActuallyAutistic community that the "experts" who claimed that we "lack theory of mind" are projecting. We learn early that others don't think as we do. We don't have the luxury of imagining that everyone's brains function like ours, or that any evidence to the contrary simply means that they're "disordered".
I would posit that it's actually NTs who are more likely to lack theory of mind.
Be Excellent To Each Other โคโฎ
They/Them ~ UK
Friendly Neighbourhood Misfit
Autistic and Type 1 Diabetes