Being Autistic

Autistic is not a dirty word. It is not a sad word, nor is it a word that is asking for a slightly tilted head and apologetic look.

We need to normalise it without trivialising the impact of the lack of understanding of and around it.

A barrier that I come across far too regularly with young people is acceptance of the name given to their neurotype... it is strange enough that what is fundamentally our personality is given a pathological diagnosis.

This barrier is made far more obstructive when it has become an insult amongst our young people.

I believe the biggest issue in schools is that you can be neurotypical and have learning difficulties, sensory processing, emotional regulation, anxiety, auditory processing ... you're still neurotypical and just need a little help.

However, when these present in someone who is also autistic it is all bundled under the autism 'diagnosis' ... so only those with additional needs are identified and supported in schools... leading to presumptions around being autistic, stigma, imposter syndrome and an awful lot of masking, anger and low self esteem, especially amongst our teens.

Yes we have communication differences... this is not a communication disorder. Yes, we experience the world differently through our senses... again not a disorder.

We must change the rhetoric around being autistic... firstly by diagnosing based on strengths not perceived 'deficits', then separating autistic traits from co-occuring conditions/the impact of living in a world that won't meet us halfway and finally by saying it out loud, as naturally as we would state our name or job title.