Tag: Autistic Pride

It’s Hard to be Different

It’s Hard to be Different

by alexforshaw ♥ 5 Comments 
At school I would watch as the other kids played
Left out on the edges and that's where I stayed
Forever the outcast, forever afraid
It's hard to be different, take it from me
It's hard to be different, take it from me
The skills I was taught served me poorly in life
Like holding my tongue, the obedient wife
But never a word about facing a knife
Learning compliance was no good to me
Learning compliance was no good to me
I've taken the beatings, got bruised blue and black
Scarred deep in my mind after verbal attack
So well did I learn that you never fight back
Obeying their rules didn't go well for me
Obeying their rules didn't go well for me 
The ones who oppress us stand guard at the gates
I knelt and I begged just for scraps from their plates
The loss of my dignity painfully grates
The autism industry don't speak for me
The autism industry don't speak for me
I've heard about heroes, I've listened to songs
Of fighting injustice and righting the wrongs
But my heart it won't heal until it belongs
Autistic culture is something to see
Autistic culture is somewhere to be
If you want to help your people then stand next to me
If you want to help our people then stand up with me

(To the tune of Working Class Hero)

The World (Autism Awareness Day) is Not Enough

The World (Autism Awareness Day) is Not Enough

by alexforshaw ♥ 2 Comments

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, twenty five years on from when it was first set up by the UN. Twenty five years of little voices being lost in our noisy world. There are days for this, weeks for that, months for the other; it’s impossible to keep up with them all. And the majority of people aren’t even aware.

Many Autism advocates and allies are campaigning for much more than awareness. We’re not content with awareness: we want nothing short of acceptance as our right. That is a worthy goal, but for me it still falls short. I have been inspired by tweets from my friend @SoniaBoue calling for Autistic Pride.

I am proud to be Autistic. It is an inseparable part of who I am. I want to celebrate my Autism, dance in the street and party, hang banners from the buildings and lamp posts. I want to happy flap amidst rainbows and shiny things.

For many people outside the Autism community we are objects of pity, defined by our differences and limitations. Autism Speaks (and others) have been very effective at portraying us as tragically broken. But the real tragedy is the ignorance and fear they have created.

We are people. We have the right to be treated with respect and compassion. We have the right to equal treatment, the right to a presumption of competence, the right to make independent choices about our lives. We have the right to be proud of who we are.

I’m not going to plaster my profile with various symbols purporting to symbolize Autism. Instead I am just going to say this,

I am Autistic and I am Proud!