This isn’t a topic that is talked about much, the topic is the dehumanization and infantilization of autistic people. there’s this one lady who works at my school named mrs. Gigi. She wears a puzzle piece pin to try and show awareness. I’m a diagnosed autistic person, so of course I tried to tell her why that symbol was wrong and when I told her, she pitied me for my autism and started treating me like a little kid ever since I told her I’m autistic. Also whenever she sees me in the hallway she forces me to make eye contact and talk to her. Genuine question, has she ever actually met an autistic person before? My grandma is also ableist. Also my grandma says I’m not disabled because if I was “actually disabled” I wouldn’t be speaking. She thinks someone is only disabled if they can’t function normally on a day to day basis. Well guess what boomer, disabled people don’t have to “look disabled”. She think’s autistic people’s struggles only matter when they’re high support needs. She even said that autism awareness month is only for people who are “affected by autism”, And yet she says “worry about school”. She also says I’m only “a little autistic”, autism isn’t like seasoning, you can’t only have a little or a lot of it. If you’re autistic, you’re autistic. Autism is a spectrum so every autistic person is different and has different needs. Remember, Autism is literally stated as a disability in the dsm-5.
