Thread by @stand_for_all

THREAD: I always feel awkward about whether or not being #ActuallyAutistic is a disability. I know technically, I suppose, it is. I don't see it as an issue. I live in near constant pain, that is a disability. Being autistic is just who I am. #InternationalDayOfDisability 1/

Okay, I'd better explain in more depth here, before I dig a hole I really can't get out of, although, I could just be digging it deeper. Being autistic is a rollercoaster, to say the least. It has good and bad points, and, let's be honest, has held me back in certain ways. 2/

I wouldn't change being #ActuallyAutistic for the world though. It would be like saying I wanted to change whether I breathed oxygen or not. It is just me, part of me, not the whole of me, but very much part of being me. 3/

My issue isn't with being autistic, and that's why I feel awkward saying if it is a disability. It is with the people who judge me because I am autistic, now there are some people who have issues they need to address. 4/

I have a great life, most of the time. I have a job I love. I get on with my colleagues, I like to think. I have an amazing wife and a wonderful daughter, and obviously the cat. I'm lucky enough to have a nice house I feel safe in. I like my life. 5/

So why when I go to the doctor to the second they read in my file I am autistic to they switch to talking to me as if I am a baby? I'm pretty proud of my Masters, I worked hard for it. You don't need to suddenly act like I am an idiot because you have read that I am autistic. 6/

On which note, why in the name of absolutely anything should the fact that I am autistic mean that you can argue to put a Do No Resuscitate order on my file if I get Covid or some such thing, and, yes, that has been happening to people. 7/

It gets annoying, to put it mildly, to not understand what emotion I am feeling at any one moment. It is somewhat more so when other people assume they know what I am feeling more than I do though. 8/

I can't tell at times if I am hungry, need the loo, ALWAYS DEFAULT TO THIS FIRST, or just need a cigarette, my second default position, but, touch wood, it hasn't thus far caused serious issues, although maybe a few too many breaks from work. 9/

My brain is wired differently. Tell me that you think like everyone else all the time and I'll call you a liar, or at least incredibly boring. It does, however, make me good at what I do. I think that it a plus point personally. 10/

The number of times I've had people genuinely surprised about what I do because, "autistic people can't communicate". Really? My dear friend I run through every possible conversation in my head a thousand times a day. Of course I can communicate, I already have it mapped out. 11/

Yeah, hands up, I hate social situations. Not great for networking I suppose. That said, I default to talking about things I know about. Now as most of my networking involves human rights, that means I am pretty confident talking to people about it. 12/

It does exhaust me though, not half as much as having to put up with "small talk", but seriously, I'm guessing it isn't because I am autistic that I can't be bothered to hear about someone else's random anecdote and have to smile along as they tell it. 13/

Autism doesn't hold me back. Other people judging me for being autistic does. Other people not just accepting that I don't think like them, or expecting me to act like them does. Being #ActuallyAutistic is why I can do what I do, so long as others accept it is part of me. 14/