Autistic People Have Stories To Tell
And we need to be able to tell them.
Published in
5 min readJan 25, 2022
When I was growing up, I was quick to make snap judgments about people, out of irritability, which was borne of anxiety and nervousness. It’s not an excuse by any stretch, but it does explain things a little.
As I grew up, my mom was an excellent guide. She would say things like “never assume” and “don’t judge”. She would elaborate, explaining, “you never know what the other person might be going through.”
She gave concrete, real-life examples…
- The kid making my life hell at school might have a rough home life.
- The boyfriend who caught me up in his emotional rollercoaster might thrive on chaos because he lacks the tools for a healthy relationship.
- The teacher who snapped at the class might have a migraine.
- The person walking slow through the grocery store or the mall might be in pain or have limited movement.
These days, I operate under the pretense that each person does the best they can at any given moment. If they’re acting in a way that I think is sub-par, then chances are that there’s probably a good reason.
In short, I coined my own motto, a summary of my mom’s teachings and my own life experience:
