What 6 Young Autistic People Want You To Know About Autism
In celebration of Autism Acceptance Month, let's highlight the voices of autistic people.
April 1st marks the beginning of Autism Acceptance Month. For an autism advocate, it’s great — many neurotypicals are, maybe for the only time this year, actually making an effort to learn about autism. To start out the month, I want to highlight autistic voices other than my own. I already have a platform of some sort, but that doesn’t make my experience any more valid than anyone else’s. So, for today, here are what six of my autistic peers wish neurotypicals knew about autism. What better way to kick off Autism Acceptance Month than by listening to autistic people?
Three autistic people I spoke to raised their frustrations about neurotypical ignorance of sensory issues.
“If I leave your loud party I’m not being rude,” said Rio, a first-year college student. “It’s probably just that I’m overstimulated and suddenly my head has become an uncomfortable place for my brain.”
Claudia wishes that “people would understand how sensory overload feels, as not many neurotypicals have gone through that … If they understood, then we could be better accommodated.”
Kriss Vy, another first-year college student, felt the same and stressed the need to remove themselves from situations where they could become overstimulated.
“I wish [neurotypicals] understood that it takes a lot longer for me to process things that happen,” they said. “Anytime a fast event happens, while neurotypicals process as it’s happening and react accordingly, I panic and need to remove myself so as to not immediately become overwhelmed.”
As up to 90% of autistic people experience sensory sensitivities, it is imperative that we listen to these experiences — especially those who may have the power to make institutions and environments more friendly for autistic people, and others with sensory processing issues.
“It’s just a difference, not really better or worse”
Kace Valentine, an autistic musician and frontman of Unwanted Company, stresses that autistic people are just like everyone else.
“I wish people knew that it doesn’t make you somehow less than an Allistic person,” they said. “It’s just a difference, not really better or worse.”
Roan, an autistic college student, agrees and specifically cites examples of neurotypicals who misinterpret autistic body language as hostile.
“You hear it all the time from neurotypicals talking about how you should always make proper eye contact or you’re being “antisocial,” but it goes way deeper than that,” he said. “I’m reminded of that one Tik Tok trend where so-called “body language experts” were hyper-analyzing this guy to hell and back just because he was slightly stiff when greeting his girlfriend after she came for a surprise visit. And it’s like, regardless of whether or not he was neurodivergent or not, you as an individual do not get to decide the morality of someone you don’t know just because they don’t fit your specific schemata of what a “normal person” acts like.”
Knives, another autistic student I spoke to, wants neurotypicals to not only tolerate autism but accept that autistic people will always be autistic, regardless of efforts to make us act more typically.
“What I wish neurotypical people knew about autism is that we don’t act like them and never will,” Knives said. “No matter how much we mask, we’re still autistic. I wish [that] instead of trying to force us to mask, they would instead educate themselves on autism and how it’s different for everyone — and then instead accommodate us properly.”
These viewpoints reflect an increasingly common view in neurodivergence advocacy movements — “different, not deficient” has become a guiding motto as we continue to develop new ways of thinking about autism that celebrate our uniqueness instead of punishing us for it.
“Neurodivergence is something around which we can organize.”
Rio, who is Latine and non-binary, points out the intersections between neurodivergence and other marginalized identities.
“Societal biases put the lives of autistic people at risk, particularly poor autistic people of color,” they said. “For instance, how black and brown autistics are at risk of getting shot by the police for stimming.”
Rio also points out how infantilization towards autistic people specifically intersects with their gender.
“Some people invalidate the gender identity of autistic trans people and say things like ‘Oh you’re not trans, you just don’t understand gender cause you’re autistic.’,” Rio said. “And it’s like ‘Well, yeah I don’t understand gender cause it’s bs, but that doesn’t make me not trans’.”
I, like Rio, am a Latine non-binary individual, and as such, their statements resonate with me — while the autistic community has made progress in being aware of the difficulties marginalized autistic people face, we can always do better.
For the rest of Autism Acceptance Month, I will continue to write articles like this that spotlight autistic people and how the world could be better at including us. I love participation, so if you are a particularly opinionated reader, I would love to hear what you wish neurotypical people knew about autism.
Tori Morales (they/them) is an autistic college student writing about mental health, autism, and other topics. You can support them by using their Medium affiliate link or buying them a coffee.
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