I get a lot of people asking me, when they find out that I’ve been diagnosed with autism and write about it frequently, if such-and-such relative is autistic.
“They don’t care what anyone thinks.”
“They have zero empathy.”
“They just blurt out the rudest things.”
“They refuse to go out in public with me.”
“They have a monotone voice and sound like a robot.”
“They have the worst imaginable manners.”
“They move so awkwardly, are clumsy and are terrible at sports.”
“They are obsessed with a very strange thing and talk about it incessantly.”
“They can’t stand to read books out of order.”
“They’ve never been on a date even once in their life.”
“They make no accommodations for other people.”
I sigh and try to do my best to respond to these without directly pointing out that the person asking the question is expressing a disdain of autistic characteristics and even acting as if anyone with autism is less than fully human. Because I am autistic, do they remember that? And while there are things about being autistic that are annoying and things that I wish I could change, I don’t hate myself. I’ve lived with myself…
