Thread by @ProfessorCrush

To my fellow white #ActuallyAutistic friends:

There's a HUGE amount of our lives that REALLY don't feel very "privileged," especially when Autists in general face so much discrimination as it is, already.

HOWEVER:

1/?

As hard as it is to believe, we still VERY much have "white privilege."

Depending on your flavor of Autism, that can be EXTREMELY difficult to see, ESPECIALLY if you're female, trans, or any other subgroup minority within "whiteness."
2/?

I can see it pretty easily, considering I've managed to pass as NT for my entire life until my early 40s.

I'm a 6 foot tall white dude, and I can mask like a motherfucker.

Shit, BOTH of my parents were cops, growing up.
3/?

I know how to maneuver around cops, talk the language, do the things cops expect that are "good guy" stuff.

AND

I'm white.

That is DEFINITELY an added layer of protection.
4/?

Now let's strip away my protections: my whiteness and peculiar childhood re:cop parents.

Now, instead of just having the lower odds of gainful employment and good housing that simply being Autistic affords, I get to add in the lower odds BECAUSE of being BIPoC.
5/?

Now, I get pulled over by police more often than my white peers, which can frequently lead to further challenges re: employment because now I'm late to work all the fucking time.
6/?

Getting pulled over now leads to a MUCH higher chance of getting myself and/or my vehicle searched (see above employment challenge)
7/?

GOD FORBID I ACTUALLY START ACTING AUTISTIC WHILE BLACK in these encounters.

Autistics in general already tend to experience higher instances of police violence than the general population.

BIPoC people more so.

Being BIPoC while Autistic is often DEADLY.
8/?

Think about all the the things cops look for that they think indicates "guilt": lack of eye contact, fidgeting, basically just anything the DSM-V says that we Autists naturally do, THAT'S GUILTY.

AND THEY HAVE ALREADY ASSUMED GUILT JUST BECAUSE OF SKIN COLOR.
9/?

We haven't even started in on the countless daily little acts of racism BIPoC face on a DAILY basis.

The "looks". Oh stop playing, you know THOSE looks.

WE fucking get them for simply being Autistic.

Our brothers and sisters get them before the Autism is even apparent.
10/?

And the Autism usually WON'T be apparent.

Because you think WE gotta mask?

Imagine how hard you have to mask ALL. THE. TIME. when your fucking very life depends on it because you'll simply be assumed to be on crack or some shit, and well, here comes the fuzz...
11/?

Some of us KNOW that level of masking, because we had to do it, too.

Some of us still do.

But here's the kicker:

WE don't have to continue survival-masking BECAUSE WE'RE WHITE.
12/?

I need you to also understand that I haven't even SCRATCHED the surface.

I'm BARELY touching on the pure level of privilege we white people have.

Not even fucking remotely.

end/?