I know, this is a bit of an oddity among all these tech-related posts, but I feel this must be addressed by someone at some point. I am someone who is victim to a discrimination that seems like most “normal” people don’t take notice to. This discrimination is ableism (or disablism if you’re bri’ish (yes, that was on purpose)). Before you start assuming, no, I can walk and I can see or whatever physical disability you think I have, the disability I have is purely neurological, I am talking about autism. There is a something I remember hearing about assuming, it makes an ass out of U and me (I can’t remember where I heard it from).

People just assume wrong things

Yeah, that assuming thing I said earlier had a point, this will be a tangent, I just need to get this out of my system (especially since I am going through the start of a burnout). I had some experiences where people have said things they may not see as ableist, but I can tell you, they are ableist. Some people have said that I do well in a certain area that, to them, says that I am not qualified to be autistic. One example is “But you do so well in XYZ!” Well, X, Y, and Z do not disqualify me from being on the autism spectrum. I need to remind you people, Autism is purely about being disabled socially, with motor skills and other sensory sensitivities on the side! I may look like I am good at socializing, but you don’t know one thing, It was all a lie.

I probably am the best autistic masker I know, but everyone else doesn’t know this, you people are exhausting (except for my fellow people on the spectrum, I can at least let down the mask without worry). I may sound like I am nagging on other people, but they are part of the problems I have in some ways. People just either assume I am neurotypical (a non-neurodivergent person) and hold me to the same stupid social rules that I may not stand by, or just treat me like a child or a burden. I AM NOT A CHILD, I CAN AT LEAST SPEAK FOR MYSELF! Well, unless you are a stranger, then I won’t speak to you.

Okay, this is just rant territory

One thing I want to rant about is the hell that is the schools I went through. School, I should say, is not right for me (yes, I am still in school). School is just my worst nightmare, numerous people, constant schedule change, and terrible faculty that didn’t help me much (at least during my IEP days). Within a few years of my primary school or grade school, I had an IEP, which means I constantly went to different rooms to be taught how to communicate “properly” among people. This overall just doesn’t help since I only still don’t make eye contact, don’t take turns talking sometimes, and still take things literally. I just hated every living second of it, then I got a 504 plan just before I got to secondary school, or middle school more specifically. The sudden change to middle school just destroyed me, massive anxiety across the board, friends abandoned me or moved away from my home town. Don’t even get me started on the cliquish neighborhoods that was near my elementary school and high school, some parents in the neighborhood insulted the house I live in with my parents, thinking it is a tiny house. Like, REALLY?! MY PARENT’S HOUSE ISN’T EVEN A TINY HOUSE, A TINY HOUSE IS 500 SQUARE FEET MAXIMUM! My parent’s house is over double that, triple if they added a few hundred extra square feet to it. I could show them a van being used as a house, then they would just have a heart attack. They think their suburban hellscape just makes them better than us, like, can you just fuck off and let us live our lives, before I just start to ruin your egotistical lives.

Some people associate autism with different things

This one I at least have not experienced (yet), this form is where people just say “Well, you’re not like my cousin” or something like that. I really want to just shout this out to anybody who says this, but I need to say it here: Autism is a spectrum! Everyone who is under the autism spectrum is all different and unique in what must be accomodated for, I mostly need to be accomodated for communication, and sometimes environmentally (though it is less common). I am someone who actually performs better with some background noise, one time, I was put under a fan that was making white noise during school, and I performed better on a test. That still doesn’t fully mean I am entirely sensory-seeking though, social gatherings or parties with large amounts of people or tons of different sounds just suck, and really exhaust me.

Anyways, yes, I am not like your autistic cousin who stims constantly and barely is able to talk. That is true, but not everyone is like that autistic cousin who stims constantly and barely talks, again, it is called the autism spectrum. Some are able to mask very well and function “perfectly okay” (with some difficulties). There are some who just cannot function without an assistant accomodating them, and there are those who are somewhere in between (me, though somewhat leaning towards the less accomodated).

This is just internal ableism

There are some communities of autistic people who have ableism internally, which I have heard sometimes has come from the level 1 autistics (or equivalent, they’re just the less accomodated autistics). I have seen it come from level 1 autistics just cutting them off since the ones who need more accomodations speak less, which just sucks, they also have a voice, and just let them have it. Besides, they can give much greater insight to the heavier struggles of autistic people that most don’t get to see.

Treated like a child or thought to do basically no work

I am gonna rant a lot about this one, WE ARE NOT CHILDREN! Plus, autism just doesn’t magically go away after we reach adulthood, ADHD doesn’t go away after adulthood, so why shouldn’t autism get the same treatment too? (Yeah, not a great example, but I can’t think of anything else) All the resources are made for children, which means that once people become an adult, so as soon as you’re in college, good luck. I am not technically an adult yet, but I will be soon, and I highly bet that I will struggle to live independently.

Another thing is that some assume that we don’t do work. Well, here is my rebuttal, I bet that you failed to accomodate them, and if you say that it just makes them more of a burden, then you should just fuck off forever. We are not a burden, you just make it feel like a burden, we just have different needs, and you must accomodate for it, otherwise you will fall down with them. One “friend” said that his partner in a group project didn’t do work, which I don’t know if it was the autistic person’s fault, or if it was his fault. Either way, that “friend” said this after the experience: “If I had a business, I wouldn’t hire autistic people.” Yeah, I didn’t say it, but first of all, that is illegal where I live because that is discrimination, and also that could mean less people who pay attention to detail get into his business, which could mean so much depending on the industry.