Intellectual Disability

(P.S.: This is a ramble, so it'll not follow formal English essay rules. If something'snot accessible here, please tell me! This is my first time writing on this site!)

Hi, I'm Bebe! I'm autistic (ASD) with high abilities / giftedness (HA/G) and low support needs (LSN). I've seen a bunch of people spreading misinfo and/or generalizations about autistic folks, mostly due to ignorance / lack of knowledge.

While some autistic people DO have one or more traits listed there, people speak as if ALL autistic people are like that, ultimately painting us in a very rigid light, which can make people close up without getting to know us better as people!

Therefore, I'm gonna make a list of a bunch of stuff I've heard people (either here in Brazil or in social media) say from the top of my mind that I can easily refute based on personal experiences, some research from 2023-2025 and also personal experiences of other people I either know or heard of. Yeye! :)

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1- All autistic people have [high / low] IQ.

This is not really exclusive to autism. A bunch of people have high IQ, autistic or not, may it be HA/G or just having an above average score.

Same thing with low IQ. There's a bunch of people with low IQ, autistic or not, may it be intellectual disability or just having a below average score.

And a bunch of people who are autistic have average IQ. They're not less autistic because of it. No one is more or less autistic due to their IQ, and no worth should be based on IQ, either.

I, for example, have high IQ: around 128─138 the time (2023) I checked with a professional. Though, that was separated as an entirely new diagnosis entirely (hence HA/G).

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2- All autistic people have low/no empathy.

While some autistic people do have low empathy or no empathy**, some autistic people are hyperempathetic, some have fluid empathy, and some don't have their empathy affected. Saying ALL autistic people don't have empathy is wrong. Empathy manifests differently for everyone (again, autistic or not).

Under society's slightly skewed standards, saying that none of us have empathy makes people not trust us because we're autistic. And that honestly sucks for anyone. Empathetic or not, it's bad when people you trust don't trust you back.

I, for example, consider myself hyperempathetic. I cry over bugs, say sorry to objects and feel at least a little bit of sadness for everyone, lol. People also say I'm sympathetic, which is something I find rather nice.

** Empathy is the *feeling*, not the trait of being compassionate. Not being empathetic doesn't equal being a bad person. You can have low or no empathy and also be a great friend and be there for the people you love (even if it's harder, sometimes).

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3- All autistic people struggle with showing their feelings, which means they're always with a poker face.

(Or, alternatively, "autistic people don't have feelings," which... yikes. This one's totally skewed.)

(This may or may not walk hand-in-hand with the second topic of the list.)

Again, a bunch of autistic folks struggle with expressing themselves. Sometimes, facial expressions may not align with how they're feeling inside. Sometimes, the issue is with identifying what exactly they're feeling. Some now struggle telling their feelings apart because they masked for so long.

In spite of that, there's autistic people who don't have their emotional expression affected, and some others who are quite like me: they express their emotions in a seemingly "amplified" way and open up a bunch (even sometimes in slightly off timing).

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4- All autistic people are really innocent.

This category is for everything that infantilizes autistic people: "autistic people are not interested in romance," "autistic people will not understand your dirty-minded jokes," "autistic people can't consent" and all that stuff.

It honestly goes from person to person. I must confess my being feeds this stereotype a bunch, because... I'm aroace and also gullible as hell. Also, my literal mind often struggles to understand sexual slang or euphemisms.

Though, I've known some autistic people who have: 1. Very content love lives and also struggles of any hopeless romantic; 2. A VERY dirty mind, lol; 3. Romantic and sexual attraction. I don't, and that's ok, too. Anyone's lives are nice for as long as they're healthy, regardless of their orientation, and regardless if they've got love lives or not, and if they WANT to or not.

Also, if you go to a couple where someone's autistic and go "aaaahhh they can't consent they can't consent!!!!" without further analysis, you're flaming cute couples instead of... y'know... actual predators.

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5- All autistic people have a special interest in [insert thing here like maths, science, dinosaurs, sharks or trains].

False! Imagine literally ANY interest you have: that's probably someone's special interest. Also, special interests don't tend to stay for their whole lives, y'know? They can be very long, but they can be very short.

For example, my current special interests are MILGRAM (not the experiment: the music project!), which has been my special interest for around an year and a half; and the Parappa-Lammy trilogy (Parappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy and Parappa the Rapper 2), which has also been my special interest (with less intensity than MILGRAM) for a few months.

We're people, so we have varying interests. "You're autistic, Bebe? Speak to me about trains." I know... a whopping nothing... about trains. But some autistic person out there may know a bunch about it!

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Speaking of it with no topic, the puzzle piece symbol is harmful. It's made by Autism Speaks, a very harmful (unfortunately ongoing) organization disguised as a site to help with research, to say we have "a piece missing"; that we're doomed to "not be as successful as others" because we "need that missing piece," basically (I'm not really quoting them). A bunch of you know this, but some Brazilian companies don't, and they KEEP putting the puzzle pieces in the priority lines >:(

Anyways. No one who is autistic is any less autistic for having or not having any trait showcased or any other traits out there, ok?? People who "don't look autistic" aren't any less autistic, and people who DO "look autistic" aren't pretending to be autistic. And no, not everyone is "a little autistic." Autism is a condition, and it should be taken seriously.

And it's not a curse or inherently bad for our lives. It can cause really bad experiences, but it can also cause neutral ones, and really good ones. Disabilities should be viewed in a neutral light, and then people should be helped out. And not "they can't enjoy life because of their autism." which... well, ableists like people who quote these do make some of us enjoy life less.

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I hope you liked it! Please tell me if there's things to correct, and tell me if I need to make it more accessible. I'm not good at summarizing things; sorry for that. If you're able to comment in this (that's my first time writing, so idk if there's comments), feel free to share about your experiences or add things, if you want to!

I made this list from the top of my mind, so take some of my answers with a grain of salt, while still aknowledging that everything with everyone, anyone or no one, or with always, ever or never, is blown out of proportion (except, well... "all autistic people are autistic," "autistic people are always autistic" and "autistic people are never neurotypical," lol.)

Bye bye! Have a nice day! :) ☀

This is Bebe, signing off !! ^ ^

(#Autism )

Stimming can be funny sometimes. I do a lot of verbal stimming. So a few times a day I'll sing the corn song from tiktok "It's corn! A big lump with knobs. It has the juice! (It has the juice) I can't imagine a more beautiful thing. It's corn! I can tell you all about it! I mean, look at this thing! When I tried it with butter, everything changed!" My spouse always laughs and now often joins me for this one. I'll also randomly say "woohoo!" (I play a lot of Mario Kart) And I hum one of the Pokémon route songs from the older games (can't remember which) What is one way you notice yourself stimming or what are some funny stims you have?
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