Patreon members and YouTube channel members had access to this video on January 31, 2022. The video’s public release will be March 30, 2022 – almost 2 months early!

When I tell people about Autistic Pride they say, “how can you be proud of something that you have no control over? That doesn’t make sense? How can you be proud of being Autistic?”

Which is actually the reason we need pride. It is because we need to be able to be proud of ourselves, even in situations where society wants us to be ashamed. It is about being defiantly proud, when the NeuroMajority tells us that “the NeuroMinority is inferior – less than.”

Thumbnail image is of Lyric, a pale skinned nonbinary human, with short green, yellow, and orange hair, with shaved sides (in need of a haircut). They are sitting in an RV with dark wood panel walls. In front of them the words Autistic Pride | When Everyone Expects Shame in pale blue & green text.

Transcript:

Welcome back. April will be here before we know it, and I wanted to talk about Autistic Pride, as I talk about each and every year. I talk about it every year, because it is so important for Autistic People to be able to feel pride in ourselves, especially when society, often, tells us that we are defective, broken, and that our ways of doing things: interacting with, engaging with, and experiencing the world, are wrong; and that we should strive to cover up the NeuroDivergent parts of ourselves.

If you’d like to know more, please do stay tuned, as I dive into this.

When I tell people about Autistic Pride they say, “how can you be proud of something that you have no control over? That doesn’t make sense? How can you be proud of being Autistic?”

Which is actually the reason we need pride. It is because we need to be able to be proud of ourselves, even in situations where society wants us to be ashamed. It is about being defiantly proud, when the NeuroMajority tells us that “the NeuroMinority is inferior – less than.”

Something else that people get confused about when I talk about Autistic Pride, is they think this means only talking about the best parts of being Autistic, only talking about Autistic strengths, and ignoring Autistic weaknesses, and ignoring our struggles, and ignoring the hard parts.

In reality, Autistic Pride is about those hard parts, about talking about the struggles of being Autistic. Talking about how hard meltdowns are. Talking about how hard sensory overload is. Talking about how hard it is being misunderstood, and having people misinterpret your communications. Talking about those hard parts, and having pride in yourself anyway, despite the fact that life in this world can be exceptionally difficult, for those of us it was not designed for.

When I talk about Autistic Pride, I think it’s important that we show both sides of the issue, the good, the bad, the great, the awful, and everything in between.

Autistic People are People. We have a diverse experience, and things can fluctuate. Some days are better than others. Some days are fricking great, and some days are horrible; and that’s okay. That’s a very human experience.

To, really, show Autistic People as people, and be proud of who we are, it has to show all of those moments: the good and the bad, the easy, the great, our skills, and also our troubles, and our difficulties.

In April, we have what has been, historically, known as “Autism Awareness Month, which in my opinion, is the complete opposite of Autistic Pride.

Autism awareness campaigns often want you to be “aware of autism” like it is this boogeyman that will come take away your child. Also, in Autism Awareness Month, we are often only talking about Autistic child- children’s – Childs… and we are ignoring Autistic adults.

Awareness: “be aware” “be afraid”… is a very far thing from acceptance, appreciation, and inclusion.

Awareness campaigns make it hard to be proud of yourself, because these campaigns warn the world that parents “might be unlucky enough to have a child like you”.

For Autistic People all over the world, these awareness months and awareness campaigns, by these medical providers, and professionals, and people who stand to benefit off of these fear-based gloom and doom narratives, feel like we are having salt rubbed into our wounds. All of these people talking about how Autistic People are such a huge burden on society and all these different ways. It’s hurtful and damaging, and how can you be proud of yourself, when the world wants you to be ashamed?

That’s why Autistic Pride is very defiant in nature. Just like I am also non-binary, trans… and trans pride, you have to be a bit defiant, because the world wants you to be ashamed, not everybody in the world, but a lot of people, really want you to be ashamed, so that you don’t share your experience – you don’t shine your light, and you don’t put yourself out there. If you do that, they’ve won.

Autistic pride can be dangerous… in good ways and bad. I believe it is very dangerous to the industries that serve to profit off of the shame and stigma. Autistic People, having pride in ourselves, in my opinion is, what will likely, one day, probably many years from now, after I am no longer here, and screeching into the void… will be what brings down those who oppress and harm us.

 Autistic Pride, in today’s times, can be risky, because of all of the situations in the world where being authentically Autistic can be dangerous. For example, with authority figures, poliece, people who have abused their power… family court ,and other negotiations. The stigma, and abuse from society; society constantly telling you to be something else, be yourself, but not like that. That is a wound. That is a danger to Autistic mental health, and self-esteem, and self-worth.

Right now, having Autistic Pride can be dangerous for Autistic People, but I also think that having Autistic Pride is something that scares people who profit off of Autistic shame.

Autistic shame is Autistic death. The top two killers of Autistic People are, currently, listed as seizure and suicide. This is why Autistic life expectancy is lower than non-Autistic life expectancy.

The rates of co-occurring anxiety, and depression, and mental health issues with Autistic People are very high; and depending on polls, I’ve seen estimates between 70 to 90% of Autistic People have diagnosable co-occurring mental health conditions.

We aren’t mentally ill because we are Autistic. We are mentally ill because we live in a world that is constantly pushing us to be ashamed of things we have no control over.

Autistic Pride is something we need. Autistic People need to be able to say “I am Autistic and that’s okay.” Humans need to be able to be accepted for the whole person, that includes their strengths and their weaknesses.

This is a human experience. If I ask you right now, “if the expectation to be someone or something, you’re not makes you miserable?” regardless of your neurotype, you’re going to say, “yeah, that makes me miserable, when people need me to be someone, or something, I’m not.”

But with Autistic People, and NeuroDivergent People, it is often expected, by default, that we try harder to be someone, or something, we’re not…. and this double standard could have deadly consequences.

Thank you for hanging out with me until the end of this one. I know it got dark quick, but Autistic Pride is not all sunshine, rainbows, gumdrops, and happy things. Autistic Pride is needed because of some very big, serious, systematic, societal, problems.

I hope this explained to those of you, who ask “why do Autistic People need to be proud of being Autistic?”

If you found this video helpful, educational, useful… Go ahead, hit that thumbs up, so I know that this was useful to you. If you think someone else might find it useful, hit that share button… because, hopefully, someone else will get something out of it as well.

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All right, All, I will see you next week. Thank you all for being here. Thank you subscribers, followers, commenters, people who share the video, people who just watch, even as you’re silently watching…. thank you for being here. I am so grateful for each and every one of you.

I will see you next Wednesday. Bye!

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With gratitude,

– Lyric