Tired. Sickened. Exhausted…. Hopeful.
I’m hopeful that these young people who have to spend their formidable years being doubted and demeaned will collectively and individually create sweeping changes.
I’m hopeful that these young people who have to spend their formidable years being doubted and demeaned will collectively and individually create sweeping changes.
There is the heart-swelling feeling of being part of a child’s development; watching them move through life. There is the comfort in our future in knowing that our world reaches our future generation. There is the earnest feeling of knowing that our work matters. There is nothing more important than connecting with a child.
Using arbitrary and limiting labels of high functioning and low functioning, with the intent to help one get a “better picture of the person with autism”, is not only insulting, but dehumanizing. Pathologizing reinforces a deficits view of autism. These labels serve no one. No human is all one thing. We each have good days and bad. We all have struggles and strengths.
Autistic rights are a human rights. Autistic rights are not just a charity cause to make those in the neuro-majority feel good for ‘helping out some kids’. All of us, together, need to care about the rights of autistic people.
As much as there are so many things that I want to change in this world. There is still a lot of good. There are kind people, new ideas, people that are risking emotional exposure to share their ideas, change makers and activists. In in all of this, there is always LOVE.