There's Nothing Wrong With Autism

I have autism. My brain is wired differently than the neurotypical brain, but I live in a world created by neurotypicals. I need support to deal with the sensory issues that arise in non-controlled environments. I work from home to circumvent both social and sensory differences.

But I can also solve problems better than the hundreds of people I work with because of my wiring. I’m the one they come to for help. I can see the forest as well as the trees. I can make connections where others cannot. I can understand complex processes in minutes whereas it takes others weeks or months.

Autism versus neurotypical. Blue eyes versus brown eyes. Either give us support to live in the neurotypical world and reap the benefits of our differences, or focus on making us conform and get nothing since all our energy will be focused on being like you instead of being ourselves. Your choice: support differences or conformity. We only have so much energy to spend each day, so you have to pick one.

Before you decide, what makes you happier? Being yourself, or being what others want you to be? I think the world would be a much better place if everyone, autism spectrum and neurotypical, could just be themselves.

There’s nothing wrong with autism, but people’s perception that everyone should be shoehorned into the same societal role has to change before the world can realize that.

The Mighty is asking the following: What’s one thing people might not know about your experience with disability, disease or mental illness, and what would you say to teach them? If you’d like to participate, please send a blog post to community@themighty.com. Please include a photo for the piece, a photo of yourself and 1-2 sentence bio. Check out our Submit a Story page for more about our submission guidelines.