Thread by @hmm_cook

🧵about autism "treatment"

When I got my #autism dx (at 35) and started trying to figure this stuff out, I scoured the Internet, researched standard “treatment” options, and searched high and low for anything that would help.

#ActuallyAutistic #AutisticTwitter #AutismAcceptance

I was quickly frustrated that most autism services were only available to kids, but later learned that most of those were crap anyway. So, blessing in disguise.

That forced me to look for unorthodox solutions. To find my own way. And confront a lot of my assumptions, internalized ableism, and prejudice against using my emotions or body signals as any sort of useful information.

I also gradually figured out that what I wanted "treatment" for wasn't autism itself. It was the effects that being unrecognized and unaccepted had wrought in my life.

I had genuine mental health challenges, and lucked into a great therapist who helped with the trauma. She wasn't autistic, and didn't know much about it, but she listened and accepted me and showed true compassion and kindness, and helped me process the times I hadn't known that.

But I didn't need "treatment" for autism. What I wished for was help figuring out my sensory world, recovering from autistic burnout, how to get energy back, and other things. But those weren't problems with autism, but with trying to live an NT life.

I've been on this path for about seven years now, figuring myself out more and more, healing old traumas, dissolving internalized ableism, meeting my sensory needs, unmasking, and all of it gives me back a little more energy, more perspective, and freedom.

I am more at peace with myself than ever in my life. And also more motivated than ever to be a part of healing the world, one overlooked autistic at a time.