22 (More) Things Autistic Adults Wish NTs Knew

We don’t need anyone to speak for us, we need people to LISTEN.

Photo by kyle smith on Unsplash

A couple of years ago I shared a post called 31 Things Autistic Adults Wish NTs Knew, and I just found a document with additional amazing community-sourced quotes I couldn’t fit. I meant to share them later that summer, but hey, autistic burnout, so I’ll share them two years later. 😅

Let’s get right to it:

1. “My needs may change over time. Please grow with me.”
2. “If somewhere is autism unfriendly, the solution isn’t to tell the autistic person to go home. That is so alienating and makes me feel like I’m a nuisance for existing. Telling someone to go away instead of changing the situation (i.e., turning the music down) is not inclusion, it’s ostracisation.”
3. “Judging by what someone ‘should’ be able to do is ableist.”
4. “Some people were sympathetic towards me when we found out our child is autistic. I told them we are not sad about it, we are celebrating because being autistic is awesome and now we know how to better meet her needs. The issues she will face in life as an autistic will be a result of other people not accepting her for who she is, it would not be because she is any less capable than anyone else. I know because like her, I am…