I started this blog when I was first unpacking a late Autism diagnosis. At first, it was hard to accept that I was Autistic.
Perhaps the doctor had made a mistake?
Back then, I was still in the bargaining/denial phase of processing the fact that I was, in fact, Autistic.
In the early stages of accepting my diagnosis (when I wasn’t accepting it yet), I would scour the internet, looking for information to disprove what the doctor said.
Luckily, I found the voices of Autistic People (online and in books and on podcasts) sharing firsthand experiences of their lives in the world today, and I saw myself in their stories.
The more Autistic stories I heard/read, the more affirmed in my Autistic identity I became. I could no longer deny what the assessor had told me. I am (and always have been Autistic).
Once I finally accepted I was Autistic, I realized there was a lot of misinformation about Autistic People out there.
I also realized this wealth of misinformation (and stereotypes) about Autistic People that have permeated the world is largely to blame for how long it took my Autistic mind to be identified (and likely many other Autistics as well).
Sometimes, when looking for myths to bust, I log out of Google (so it doesn’t have my historical search data) and start typing a question about Autistic People to see what people are curious about/what some of the common myths are.
Today, I typed the words “can autistic,” and the top result was “Can autistic people love?” – suggesting there’s a myth that we can’t love our love is different from non-autistic love.
I have MANY thoughts on this (and some of the other results that popped up in this search).
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– Lyric
