We Are Not Tragedies, Burdens or Puzzle Pieces

I am a 27 year old autistic adult. I’ll be 28 next month. I have been through so much these 27 years, with the ableism and bullying that I have faced throughout my life. There is too much hate and discrimination against autistic people, and other disabled people besides that, and we as autistic people will not tolerate it.

I was bullied in fourth grade and in high school. When I was in fourth grade, a fifth grader was mean to me, and he called me nasty, mean names. In high school, I was called a “pig” by several boys. It was a really rough time for me. I was told by my aide in high school that I smelled like urine and body odor.

A few years ago there was a Christian faith healer on Facebook who was the administrator of a facebook page. When I told the admin that I was autistic that person told me, “You’re not autistic!” And there was another Christian who told me to “claim” my healing and she also wanted to pray my autistm off of me. I unliked the facebook page and never came back.

Ableism is wrong and unacceptable. It saddens me that society is not accepting towards us autistic people. As an autistic adult, I don’t have a car or a job. Some autistic people, however, have those things. I wake up at ten every morning and go to bed at 11:30pm.

Ableism is never okay, because we as autistic people notice the stares, the looks, and the whispers behind our backs. We are not tragedies, burdens, puzzle pieces or monsters. We are human beings just like everybody else. Sadly Autism Speaks doesn’t think so because they think that we should be eradicated. That saddens me, beccause they also compare us to lepers.

I think that churches need to do a much better job at helping autistic people instead of making them feel less-than or othered. We are not lepers, monsters or anything like that. We have feelings and compassion. We don’t lack empathy. We are not something that people should use as a punching bag. We have a voice, and we are not voiceless.

Churches, synagogues, synods, theme parks, restaurants, baseball fields, bowling alleys, concerts, etc. need to include us in every way, shape and form, because we need to be included and we all matter! Please don’t silence us. Please don’t talk over us, talk TO us! Listen to us and don’t turn your backs on us! Include us in birthday parties, Christmas parties, and all the other things I’ve mentioned as I right this paragraph. Don’t dismiss our feelings and don’t dismiss us! We matter and you need to let us have a seat at your table as well.

We need to be welcomed and included into everything. We need to be loved and have somebody care about us. Please have patience and compassion with us. We need acceptance as well.

Autism Speaks is not a good organization and that is why I write this aritcle. Autism Speaks wants us to crusade against autism and to hate our autism. They also want us to battle against autism which is wrong and ableistic. They also support the Judge Rotenberg Center which does shock therapy on autistic people.

We should battle against ableism, not autism. I think that if we include autistic people in everything, then everything won’t fall out of place. We should crusade against ableism, not autism. We notice the negative comments that we recieve. Ableism needs to stop and it needs to stop completely.