Identity and Reality

The Autistic Me describes himself, “At birth, doctors suggested I would be mentally disabled, in addition to the physical injuries I suffered. I have never been described as normal. “High-functioning autism” (HFA) is just another way to describe a few aspects of “me”. The autistic me is the creative me, the curious me, the complete me.

This introduction sent my mind into a flurry trying to determine what labels, characteristics, and attributes create me, and what I falsely carry, and what I strive to adopt. I’ll save that introspective rant for another place and time. But I do want to surface the concept of identity and self-acquaintanceship to keep in mind during this exploration of autism.     

“The Autistic Me” is a teacher and writer, which his blog largely reflects. On June 17^th, his tone differed slightly as he covered “Abuse and Autism”. He cites a survey that suggests that, “Half of [UK] autistic adults were abused by someone they trusted as a friend. “The Autistic Me” wrote, “I'm less and less trusting, but it took me more than 40 years to realize how many people have no moral compass. I still make mistakes, assuming the best of people and their intentions.”

Hands down, the weak and different will be bullied. It will take conscience effort to stand up with the oppressed before anything changes. So let’s identify as human and take a stance for equality*

*In these posts it may seem that I am attempting to make the playing ground level at the cost of minimizing the challenges autism brings with it. This not my intent. My intent is to bring awareness to the challenges people with autism face as well as their unique strengths WHILE acknowledging the commonalities we all share as members of the human race and calling on the commonalities to understand/embrace the differences.