we should be proud

Post Reply New Topic

i hope that most of you are proud of who you are , we should love who we are and accept our differences, we all got some difficulties but also gifts,to every autistic who sosciety made them Ashamed from what they are i am used to be as you but be here opened my eyes , the people who make autistics want to be "cured" or to self hate are just to ignorant to understand that we are as legitimate and productive life as NTs and they herdes, instead of being ashamed and give up , lets try to make our life better,if we will work on our difficulties and invest in the things we are good at them, we will show the NTs that we are as good as them.
dont listen to parent groups (like auti$m $peak$) and listen to yourself, we should stand together.

i have always been proud to be homosexual and autistic no matter what anyone else thinks.

thats the spirit man

am proud of self though not 'proud' of having disabilities;theyre just part of life like breathing and eating.
the issue here gets complex; the spectrum isnt the same for everyone,those of us who are categorised as low functioning will forever struggle to have anywhere near a good quality of life directly because of our autism and how difficult it is to be accomodated,we dont live in the community;we live in residential care units or highly tailored specialist supported living houses,our significant behavioral and mental capacity issues affect our ability to be accepted by work places.

not only do many aspies assume we need curing,we get the same generalizations off the general public,they see us as not living productive lives nor able to contribute to society,with alot of support and specialist services to hand we can contribute to society greatly,the problem isnt us its the government for closing down all specialist sheltered workshops and the organisations whose only interest is to get people into mainstream work- these companies dont even cover us on their insurance!
we can have a good life that is perfect for us with the right stability,support and plans in place,its easy to see why people who are more severely affected by classic autism or aspergers can wish for the impossible cure though when they have grown up resented and being treated like they shoud never have been born,we need to change our mindset otherwise self loathing consumes us.

well i agrees that there are autistics that are really need alot of support. but they are unique and creative minded to and alot of autistics
like me and all of my friends are normaly independed and many autistics are doing alot of productive jobs, (like brahm cohen) and we have a vary unique colture, and i think that there are alot of stereotypes and bigotry but things are finaly getting better and general public awarnes is much better for us compare to the early 2000s (due to a growing numbers of self advocacy and self support organisations that doing a great job ) well thank you for your comment ,sorry for my english

Life's not worth a damn until you can say I am what I am.

There's a song in that I think...

That can be the first line of the last verse.

But if I am proud of my autism then suddenly I am a bigot. People then ask me who do the hell do I think I am.

that a very interesting point which comes down the interperatation of the meaning of words.

if by proud you mean (self respect) then that is great,self respect fosters respect of other people.

if what is meant by proud is narcisism then that would be bigotry.yes you can be proud to have autism and not be a bigot its only when excessive self love turns to narcicism that there is a problem.but that can happen to any type of person.
if your going to abuse autism pride then you would have abused any pride about any identity you could have been if you were different.

narcacistic personalities can be found in any group of people but healthy self respect is not narcism

and let's show that pride in lifting as we climb. like speaking up for everyone on the spectrum and making sure every voice is heard. while helping one another no matter where on the spectrum we are, and advocating for one another. instead of talking about these independent nations and whatnot, and trying to take down autism speaks, why not interface with the parent groups and talk to them because they are also part of the autistic community.

and for the aspie types, to support those who are on the profound side in terms of autism because we either hang together or hang separately.

how is someone a bigot if they are happy to have autism... it is only when that happiness becomes less than happy when it comes to people who do not have autism, or who have autism and something else, that pride becomes bigotry.

Unfortunately, a lot of people misperceive self-respect with narcissism. My mentioning of, like AdamAutistic, being gay and having autism, as well as being Filipino, and saying that I'm proud and happy about it can be seen as bigotry for unfortunate reasons.

Personally, I believe that having pride in yourself and who you are is always a good thing, but this isn't always shared, I remember on Yahoo Answers, a user was asking about why Filipinos have pride in their cultural identities and basically disregarded and disrespected my answer despite my perspective as an actual Filipino.

But in regards to the topic itself, I can see why being proud of having autism (and even the other aspects of my identity) can be seen as offensive by certain misguided individuals.

For example, a lot of people believe that autism is a disease instead of a personality type, also the case for homosexuality, and it's their belief that's it's necessary to find a cure (not just a treatment for negative traits) for autism so individuals on the spectrum are criticized when we express pride in having something they consider a disease. Like with the civil rights movement of the past and the gay rights movement of the present, the key is awareness of the fact that we're human beings who still deserve equal rights and access to the privileges that all citizens are given. As much as I personally respect the opinions of others and want them to know how to perceive my express perceptions, there's only so much that we, as individuals and ones with autism, can do.

So andro (and to others), if anyone calls you out for being proud of having autism, just do your best to either let it slide or go philosophical/political with it since we should tolerate others, love all for their unique qualities, but we should do our best to help people understand who we are since respect, after all, is an unfortunately underutilized value. And if you do thing it's going a bit too preachy, the simple truth is that they likely have no idea what it's like to have your life in the first place, you might actually be the first person with such experiences to tell of how it is to have this condition, but if they're still resentful, who the hell are they to tell you what to do and what to be proud of when it comes to your identity?

*NOTE* I'm, in no way, a Filipino, gay, vegetarian, or autistic supremacist, but I do know how important pride that fosters social change is when you're a minority due to both biological characteristics and reasons of choice, especially since the other option is bleak self-mutilation and desperation.

Pride or shame comes from things I do or not do. Aspie is just a part of who I am.