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Most people are genuinely surprised to discover I’m autistic. Believe me, I was surprised when I found out.

Now certain people in the autistic community have known before I knew, but I laughed it off because I thought they were being presumptuous.

But I’ve never behaved normally, and I’ve always done things considered “weird”.

For example, I am known to spontaneously break out into laughter. People stare at me wondering what’s gotten into me, but usually it’s because I thought about something so hilarious, and had to break out into audible giggles.

When I was a teenager, I would sit on overpasses all day and watch traffic just passing by—with a laser focus.

My wife has always complained that when she talks to me, I drift off and seem to enter another world.

The moment I realized I was indeed autistic was when teachers called me into school to tell me they thought my daughter was autistic. I was confused because she seemed just like me.

It then that I realized in order to help my daughter, I had to re-assess myself.

RE:
https://calckey.social/notes/9ggwstawb9nqfm4n

Calckey SocialChris Trottier (@atomicpoet)@simsa03@gnusocial.jp No, I am autistic. I found out when my daughter was diagnosed, and I was surprised because my daughter’s behaviour mirrors my own. I live a very regimented life according to a very particular schedule and I get annoyed when I’m taken out of that routine. I have intense special interests that I’m laser focused upon to the point it becomes my life. I have always stimmed, and still stim, to the point it becomes a distraction to others. People think I’m personal, empathetic, and good at communication but these are all learned skills and do not come naturally. Many people on the spectrum know I’m on the spectrum, even though I denied being on the spectrum because I didn’t want to think about myself in those terms. Autistic people are not uniform and they don’t always act according to a template.

One reason I largely avoided the label “autistic” is because, when I grew up, autism carried a lot of stigma. It was not that much different from the “R” word for those who are mentally handicapped.

Even now it carries stigma, though less than before.

What’s the excuse of some parents who don’t want to vaccinate their children? They believe it will make them autistic.

sub_o

@atomicpoet sadly, there's still lots of stigma and misinformation about autism spectrum on the other side of the world, they are not even antivaxxers

People here treat autistic people as:
1. mentally ill, straight up shunning them
2. savant, because they watched rain man once
3. possessed by spirits, and often resorts to some supernatural / religious 'healing' that ends up making thing worse.