Recently I have been told that I should move on and break away from having Asperger Syndrome. Just like a click of my fingers and snap I am suddenly cured. I was also informed that I put myself down saying I carry the label. Well such comments do nothing but really show a clear misunderstanding in me as a person and what my family and some friends have endured over time.
I am not self concious about what people think of me. Either they like me or they don't, I am not here to please everyone. I have had my fair share of issues over the years with people instantly reacting to the way I am with sometimes uncalled for responses. I was labelled some years back as having no more intelligence than a high school student and furthermore I was constantly told that I would not go far in life. Well where I am today is no easy achievement. I have had to work hard to be the person I am. I was also advised to keep away from Aspies. Why? They understand me more than non Autistic people do. If I am supposed to try harder and break away from having AS then would I not be destroying part of myself. Asperger Syndrome is in my opinion within a person's genetic make up. It is the way my brain is wired, and it exists more so a label in the non Autistic world more so than it does in the Autistic World. I understand the world will not change and become using the word "Aspie". I don't expect it will but I refuse to go back to the painful experience I endured before as Dr Tony Attwood a second rate Neuro Typical.
I really welcome some kind of test that can show evidence that the Autism Spectrum does exist. Whether it be a blood test, a brain scan or whatever to assist people in realising that having the Autism Spectrum is a different way of thinking. I don't want the world to change but I would like to see in my life time at least more inclusion of people on the Autism Spectrum within society instead of fear and ignorance. The label will exist, well until the DSM V remove it, until society better understands the many positives to having Autism. Critics do not realise just how many friends I have now within the Adult Autism Community. I achieved this by dedication and hard work. I should not be ranked as sub intelligent because I cannot be tribalised to be like an NT. Well why would I want to anyhow? To me being Aspie is a means of seeing the world differently.
Critics do not see the heartache my parents have had to endure over the years. They do not see the anxiety which at one point was so bad that it nearly took my life. Critics just wear blinkers and refuse to believe. It is like you just have to shut them off and forget about them unless they try and understand. I get tired of people saying that I am not Aspie but Garry. Remember it is in my genetics. It is the way my brain thinks, interprets and processes information. Critics you need to realise that adult numbers are beginning to swell and so to the numbers in children. Why would I want to jettison this? Maybe it is your own thinking that needs to change to become more accommodating. An assessment carried out approximately 8 years ago which was undertaken on my so called intelligence clearly defined that having a job, or existing 'normally' in life would not be possible. Well it's just up to me to prove critics wrong and I must say shirking modesty that I tend to enjoy it. As I move forward I demonstrate that others just like me also can be afforded opportunity and a place in the world more so than being stuck on a welfare payment and told we have no brains. Really should I move on when I am moving ahead in my own way?
I like my Aspie friends and my NT friends. So why would I trade what I have for anything else? Take a chill pill critics and realise we exist as a people and we're cool too with all the knowledge, intelligence and facts that we know.
I am not self concious about what people think of me. Either they like me or they don't, I am not here to please everyone. I have had my fair share of issues over the years with people instantly reacting to the way I am with sometimes uncalled for responses. I was labelled some years back as having no more intelligence than a high school student and furthermore I was constantly told that I would not go far in life. Well where I am today is no easy achievement. I have had to work hard to be the person I am. I was also advised to keep away from Aspies. Why? They understand me more than non Autistic people do. If I am supposed to try harder and break away from having AS then would I not be destroying part of myself. Asperger Syndrome is in my opinion within a person's genetic make up. It is the way my brain is wired, and it exists more so a label in the non Autistic world more so than it does in the Autistic World. I understand the world will not change and become using the word "Aspie". I don't expect it will but I refuse to go back to the painful experience I endured before as Dr Tony Attwood a second rate Neuro Typical.
I really welcome some kind of test that can show evidence that the Autism Spectrum does exist. Whether it be a blood test, a brain scan or whatever to assist people in realising that having the Autism Spectrum is a different way of thinking. I don't want the world to change but I would like to see in my life time at least more inclusion of people on the Autism Spectrum within society instead of fear and ignorance. The label will exist, well until the DSM V remove it, until society better understands the many positives to having Autism. Critics do not realise just how many friends I have now within the Adult Autism Community. I achieved this by dedication and hard work. I should not be ranked as sub intelligent because I cannot be tribalised to be like an NT. Well why would I want to anyhow? To me being Aspie is a means of seeing the world differently.
Critics do not see the heartache my parents have had to endure over the years. They do not see the anxiety which at one point was so bad that it nearly took my life. Critics just wear blinkers and refuse to believe. It is like you just have to shut them off and forget about them unless they try and understand. I get tired of people saying that I am not Aspie but Garry. Remember it is in my genetics. It is the way my brain thinks, interprets and processes information. Critics you need to realise that adult numbers are beginning to swell and so to the numbers in children. Why would I want to jettison this? Maybe it is your own thinking that needs to change to become more accommodating. An assessment carried out approximately 8 years ago which was undertaken on my so called intelligence clearly defined that having a job, or existing 'normally' in life would not be possible. Well it's just up to me to prove critics wrong and I must say shirking modesty that I tend to enjoy it. As I move forward I demonstrate that others just like me also can be afforded opportunity and a place in the world more so than being stuck on a welfare payment and told we have no brains. Really should I move on when I am moving ahead in my own way?
I like my Aspie friends and my NT friends. So why would I trade what I have for anything else? Take a chill pill critics and realise we exist as a people and we're cool too with all the knowledge, intelligence and facts that we know.
