5 Toxic Reasons Why It’s Harmful To Call Autism A ‘Superpower’
When ‘Superpowers’ backfire and the harm in sugarcoating Autism
I recently experienced someone telling me that I should be grateful that I’m autistic, as it’s a superpower. I was dumbfounded that someone could be this ignorant toward the difficulties that autism can bring to someone’s life, but I found out that this was a common belief among neurotypical people. Whilst autism can come with gifts and some enhanced abilities, for the majority of us, autism can be disabling and affect the quality of our lives.
Some research has indeed found that 46% of children with autism had a parent-reported talent or strength (referred to as ‘extraordinary talents’) in the areas of memory, science and reading, but the ‘extraordinary talents’ do not outweigh the challenges and difficulties that comes with being autistic. For myself, I was put in the ‘gifted and talented’ programme as a child, even though I didn’t know I was autistic, and whilst my autism has allowed me to excel in academia, It has prevented me from recognising social cues, feeling like I fit in, and from making friends. My autism has been the cause of life-long sensory challenges, meltdowns and autistic burnouts, and so when someone calls my autism a superpower, this enrages me.
