Raising Autism Awareness is My Life’s Purpose
Posting this for everyone who has a child, family member, or friend with #autism.
I self-diagnosed 2 years ago…yes, at age 47. I finally decided to “put in the work” to understand myself and focus on personal growth instead of professional growth.
Every autistic brain on the spectrum is different from one another and they are all beautiful. I want to describe mine in hopes that it helps you support your autistic loved one and ask the right questions along the way.
It’s classified as Autism Spectrum Disorder but I have a real problem with the word “disorder” because it assumes that “neurotypical” is correct and autistic is wrong. Different is not better or worse, just different in my eyes. Same applies here.
People with this “disorder” have been able to accomplish some amazing intellectual feats that have benefited the world. How many Nobel prize winners openly acknowledge they are on the spectrum?
It is time for the DSM-5 to evolve it’s language just as the self-help and spirituality industries have.
I would describe a neurotypical brain as a sphere and an autistic brain as a spear. One is capable of more balance and a rounded human experience. The other is perhaps capable of reaching deeper into a certain part of the brain at the expense of another.
Imbalance is a better word than disorder. In my case, it manifests in 2 ways: sensory & social. I have a greatly heightened sense of touch called “sensitivity to light touch” but it comes at the expense of a very weak sense of smell. I also have environmental sensitivities when there are too many individual inputs (shopping malls, warehouse clubs, etc). It isn’t the volume of the sound or the brightness of the light, it is when there’s too many individual stimuli at the same time. Step outside in the sunshine for a few minutes and I’m good to go. And I’m a really, really big fan of quiet because it recharges my energy.
The second imbalance is in my intelligence profile. Depending on the #multipleintelligences model you use, I have a very high IQ, good emotional intelligence, but have poor interpersonal intelligence.
Where I can assimilate large amounts of data very quickly, identify patterns/trends, and decide my next 3 steps as a business leader almost immediately, the same process occurs with “people” data but I don’t know what to do with it which has led to some extremely introverted characteristics.
I am also non-binary and my pronouns are “they/them”. I am so happy to see us evolve to where we have a broader spectrum of words to describe the beautiful diversity of human souls.
We have come so far with autism detection and awareness but we still have a long way to go before we even understand what actually causes autism, how we can better harness the gifts of the autistic brain, and how we can provide adults with autism better resources so they can live their best life.
I wish I had discovered my autism sooner. I love my autistic brain and accept the imbalances as part of the journey. To help your autistic loved one, read a lot, ask a lot of questions, and look for the well-documented behavioral signs as they can manifest at different stages of development, even adulthood.
Different is not better or worse, just different.
It is my intention to make raising #autismawareness my life’s purpose. I hope some of this is helpful to you and yours.
