Being a Part of the Autism Community

As a three-year-old, I was diagnosed with special needs. I received my official diagnosis of Autism at age seven. When I was growing up, I didn’t really know about the Autism community. I knew my diagnosis and some of the ways it affected me but that’s about it. I really didn’t meet many people who had Autism as a teenager.

I did have one occurrence when I met an adult with autism when I was in high school. The major takeaway from that was the man shared that many people with Autism had more education than needed for their jobs because they had trouble acquiring jobs that were equal to their education level. For example, he knew a few people that had higher education but were doing menial labor that didn’t require degrees due to lack of support. He also said that employment prospects were not the best. At that time during the late 90’s, he stated that low employment, under-employment or not working at all were common for people with Autism.

Flash forwards a few years, as a young adult, I really started to connect to the Autism community. I would say the Autism community has mostly affected me in a positive way. Finding a group of people who share some characteristics to my own made me feel like I wasn’t so alone in the world.

Having an Autism label to say, “this is what I have” and this is the way I behave or manage various things has been a source of comfort and strength to me. There have been times that having an Autism diagnosis helped me understand why I struggle with enjoying small talk, crowds and loud noises.

Having other people understand my situation has helped them be more understanding of my sometimes-unusual behavior. It has also served as an explanation for why I sometimes struggle with certain situations. For example, I have trouble with loud restaurants or stores as they increase my anxiety a lot. I find television very distracting; I can’t focus well and have trouble talking to another person if the television is on.

Another way the Autism community has affected me positively is because of the services I receive due to the advocating of allies, parents, professionals, and self-advocates over many years. I would not be where I am as an independent adult, working part time and living independently in my own apartment. I feel that I owe the generation before me for all my privileges and services that I receive. They advocated and protested for the rights I now take for granted. That history is very interesting and well worth knowing.

I know about this because in high school, I did a paper on the disability rights movement. In college, I was one of the early college students who had major learning disabilities and an Autism diagnosis. A lot of my college professors  had never had a student who had needs such as mine, including needing a note taker or needing to take a test by giving my answers verbally instead of in a written format. At that time, many people my age did not receive a diagnosis until they were teens or adults and as a result, did not go to college.

Some people only thought of children when they heard of Autism or had never heard of the diagnosis during that time period. Some of my college professors had never heard of Autism and didn’t know what to make of me. It was around that time that people finally began hearing about it a bit more regularly.

As it became better known, there were lots of stereotypes of what it meant to have Autism. I still run into some of those stereotypes, for example, “You seem so ‘high functioning.’” Also people sometimes assume that because I share a diagnosis with somebody else, I must know them. People have asked me if I know about Temple Grandin because she’s famous.

The downside of being part of the Autism community for me is sometimes my label is the only thing somebody sees, or they expect me to be super smart like Temple Grandin. On the flip side, sometimes they expect me to have more needs than I do. I seem to surprise a lot of people by having Autism because I’m female and I have pretty good social skills.

However, if you’re knowledgeable about Autism, you can usually tell I have it. Also, if you spend enough time around me, you can tell I’m slightly different than most people my age. I guess the biggest thing about the Autism community that bothers me is when someone compares me to another person who has Autism. It makes me very uncomfortable, and it really frustrates me.

I would say that when weighing the good versus the bad regarding being part of the Autism community, it has helped me a lot. I’m grateful that I got the official diagnosis as a young child and I received early intensive interventions. I have come to the conclusion that I would not change this part of myself.

I think everyone has to come to their own conclusions regarding the question of whether being part of their community has helped or hurt them. Regardless of what group people belong to, there’s good things and bad things about being part of any community. I hope my blog has been helpful and thought-provoking to my readers.