Neurodiversity and me

A Fixers project led by Jess Benton: http://www.fixers.org.uk/index.php?module_instance_id=11208&option=fetch_revision&core_alternate_io_handler=view_news&data_ref_id=15340&display_news=true&revision_number=3#11208

Jess, from Birmingham, wants to encourage people with autism to be proud of who they are.

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[Neurodiversity & Me]

I was first told by my parents about being
queried for being autistic as a child

when I was 14 years old.

At this time, I was suffering
a bullying crisis in secondary school

and I was breaking down wondering
what was wrong with me,

and why couldn't I just be
like everyone else.

It brought a mixture of emotions:

a sense of relief,
finally understanding myself,

but also hopelessness.

Many media portrayals of people
on the autism spectrum that I knew of

were of lost causes:

to be pitied, or changed
to fit in with everyone else.

Then, at 15 I found a sign of hope.

I came across an online
community of autistic activists -

ordinary people on the spectrum
who championed something new and amazing:

autism acceptance.

They spoke of neurodiversity -

which accepted autism
as a natural difference in human brains,

with autistic people needing
to be accepted in a society,

and accommodated,

instead of being looked down on,

or viewed as an abstract
mystery to be solved

by the next medical breakthrough.

The ideas of autism acceptance,
pride and diversity without exaggeration

saved my life, and made me
a happier and stronger person.

Autistic people deserve to be valued
and accepted as they are.

They deserve to know
that they are powerful

for being able to live, survive
and achieve in a world not built for them.

They deserve to be proud of who they are,

not on the grounds
of how normal they can act,

or their perceived intelligence,

but on the ground that they are human.

People with Autism
are not a puzzle to be solved.