Autistic people are not disabled

Post Reply New Topic

In a way it was worse for me as a kid because as an adult I can just sit at home and be supported by my mother and do whatever I want. If I was trying to live a "normal" adult life with a job and a family it would be pretty hard and I probably couldn't do it.

As a child it was worse because the law forced me to go to school. I didn't want to be there and got bullied a lot. At least as an adult you have more choices and can quit a job you don't like although for some people it may be very difficult to find a new one.

agreed,in own view there is nothing worse than when people of the autistic community try to stereotype the whole autism spectrum as being like themselves when we all have individual needs and differences -whilst fighting NTs for doing it towards us,we need to be setting a better example if we want respect off them.
it is a valid opinion though and no one can say its a right or wrong belief,we can agree or disagree with it and give reasons why it might be a different way.

officialy speaking the entire diagnosed autism spectrum IS a disability,people need to stop using the medical model of disability to understand any condition,the social model of disability is when barriers are created by other peoples lack of awareness/ignorance/care/understanding.

some of us on here are severely disabled and require twenty four hour support,in own experience am a reciever of two support staff to self at all times because of how autism and LD/ID affects self.
however am not someone who limits self by the label,a disability doesnt have to mean a negative,its just a part of life.

You know something? You guys are right. I guess some of us are "disabled." Come to think of it, I actually am. I was diagnosed HFA/AS dual, but I'm anything but high-functioning at this point. I live with my parents and I can't even think of independence at this point. I'm sorry for being such a hypocrite.

I'm going to be 50 in September. Yup 50.

Depending on my mood and so many other things I look and even act half that or less.

I am currently on disability. Have been since 2004. Was only this Friday officially got my ASD diagnosis Friday the 10th. I have been out of work since 2000 and fought the term disabled, and Autism hadn't even been mentioned then. In retrospect, yes, clearly Autism has played a significant part in my finally agreeing that I should file. Clearly Autism has been the "hidden menace" in my life as far back as I can remember. But when I was two and had my first big meltdown that I can remember, neither Autism, nor Aspergers even existed. In second grade they diagnosed me as "ret*d" and I always bristled at that, especially since my father used to be so violent in his use of the word, and his physical violence against me. In fourth grade again the word got tossed around and I nearly had to repeat grade 4.

At 11 I pulled the engine out of a ford station wagon with my dads help, mainly because he told me I had to. I could and did take apart anything and put it back together. I could finally write, draw, paint, create, and taught myself solid state electronics and then computer programming. Because my dad said ret*ds couldn't. At the beginning of grade 10 I passed the regents exam with honors. It was supposed to be a practice test to show us what we'd have to do at the end of 12th grade. Yeah, the screwed up the rest of school for me.

I have had multiple careers, was pretty damn successful in both and for a while was making stupid money talking to computers and getting them to do things no one else could.

Even fell in love and got married...

I fought my whole to be someone I wasn't and could never, ever be. That fight, that hard work led to a series of serious meltdowns that have left me disabled. I can, and have, recently breathed life into a website for an artist friend who does a wonderful webcomic about one of King Arthur's knights who is the subject of a miracle at pentacost. http://www.calogrenant.com is Gillian's wonderful art and story telling, and my engineering. Gillian said she wanted a site that worked like "Girl Genius" so that's what I built her. So I can still do some of what I used to do without triggering a meltdown, but I have to do it at my own pace, or I can't do it at all.

I'm unquestionably disabled now, but as my doctor put it Friday, I'm differently abled, and that's pretty significant. Because if that had been seen for what it was, and I was given the chance to thrive and grow within my abilities, goodness knows where and how my life could have gone. Now that I'm diagnosed, I'm going to see where that might be. I manage to stay at home, feed myself, keep after myself, pay my bills things like that, but more than that, my brain starts to get crunchy, and if I push too hard for too long, to do too much, I risk crashing hard. As it is, I spend a lot of time in the dark reading and staying away from too much anything. Noise, light, smells, tastes, textures, feelings, people all that kind of stuff can and does short me out pretty quickly.

Disabled? Oh yeah. Differently Abled? That too. It's an NT world, and they don't really "get us" all that much and if we're not perfect little NT drones, we're pretty useless to them. So according to them, we're disabled. At this point in my life, yes, I agree, please leave me alone. I like being alone, in the dark and the quiet with a book, and maybe some food. And tea! And my stuffed animals. So I guess it's all how you look at things eh?