sunnycat wrote:
Self-affirmation Pledge for those with AS
by Liane Holliday Willey
I am not defective. I am different.
In reality, difference is deficit. I will remember this fact and try very hard not to be angry about it.
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I will not sacrifice my self-worth for peer acceptance.
I will base my self-worth on peer acceptance. I will not develop an sense of self-worth that might interfere with peer acceptance.
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I am a good and interesting person.
I must remember to speak very carefully so that others will believe that I am a good and interesting person.
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I will take pride in myself.
I will behave as if I take pride in myself. I will be neat, clean, quiet, and have a humbly dignified bearing. Being sloppy, dirty, outspoken, or submissively withdrawn attracts attention. That is something I do not wish to do.
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I am capable of getting along with society.
I am capable of getting along with society. I will work very hard at it, and be greatly comforted by the fact that, with an immense amount of very hard work and great personal sacrifice, I can be not despised by most people. I will take joy in this and not regret or resent what it costs me.
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I will ask for help when I need it.
I will memorize the correct formulas for asking for help so that asking does not create a bigger problem. I will be humbly grateful for any help I receive, repay it tenfold, and always take advice as soon as it is given.
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I am a person who is worthy of others' respect and acceptance.
I am a person who is worthy of others' respect and acceptance only so long as I manage to control and conceal my disease. If I goof up more than very occasionally, I am a person who is worthy only of ridicule and rejection.
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I will find a career interest that is well suited to my abilities and interests.
If I cannot do that, I will work a series of menial jobs wherein I allow my boss, coworkers, and clients to abuse and degrade me without saying anything other than, "I am very sorry." I will seek a job with minimal social interaction.
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I will be patient with those who need time to understand me.
I will be patient with those who need time to understand me, and I will not expect anyone to be patient with me. I will be patient with those who choose not to attempt to understand me. I will weather their condemnation without a word against them or a word in my own defense. I am stone.
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I am never going to give up on myself.
No matter how badly I fail today, I will get up tomorrow and try again. No matter how much it hurts, I will not stop trying. To do anything else is dishonorable. I will wait quietly and patiently for death to choose its time and come for me, and hold my hope of happiness in Heaven.
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I will accept myself for who I am.
I will accept myself for who I am-- a defective, worthless, and limited creature. I will not resent this. I will not dream of being or attempt to be anything else, and I will not believe those who, seeing only the shell I put on to make myself acceptable, tell me that I am a wonderful human being. I will not forget what I am, for even a moment, under any circumstances.
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"Alas, our dried voices when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless, as wind in dry grass, or rats' feet over broken glass in our dry cellar." --TS Eliot, "The Hollow Men"