My Christmas Wish as a Person With Autism

As I sit in front of the crackling fireplace with my beloved husband, I think of all the millions of individuals with autism around the world. The vast majority of them are not as fortunate as I am to have someone in their life who loves them and to love back. Abraham and I were just reminiscing about Christmases past. We both shared how our one big wish was to find that special someone out there with which to love and share our life. We both got our Christmas wish, and there’s no gift greater than this. The overwhelming feeling of peace, comfort, and security brought us to tears.

But I do actually have another Christmas wish. And that is for every person on the autism spectrum to find a love like ours. For that to happen, we all must be accepted in this world. With all my years of wisdom, I still can’t figure out why all neurotypicals can’t seem to accept us. In fact, the way I see it, they truly have it all wrong. Some neurotypical people view us as the inferior ones. But we are the ones who have the ability to accept others who are different. We can accept neuro diversity. We are the ones who don’t bully, harass, nor discriminate others who are different.

Why are those with autism often so hard on themselves for even the slightest social blunder? My advice to my autistic community is to focus on feeling at peace with yourself and enjoying life. I wish the rest of the world would realize that indeed we do have emotions, dreams and desires. We do want to be included, respected, and understood. Have an open mind. Don’t be so judgmental of us just because we don’t act like you. Embrace our different way of being. Be happy that there are people like us in the world.

I’m wishing that 2017 is the year the world learns to accept and embrace those who are different from themselves. We have already done that. You can too.

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Thinkstock photo by a_namenko