I'm proud to be autistic, you should be too

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Speaking as someone who didn't talk for the first 7 years of life yet was not diagnosed until age 64 , I feel very strongly that the worst handicap of autism is not knowing you have it . Getting the diagnosis was the most liberating event of my life because now I can finally begin to understand the massive amounts of confusion , doubt , pain and needless suffering in my life . Am I proud of being autistic ? Not really but I sure am relieved to know why I think , feel and act the way I have . Am I ashamed of it ? Absolutely not , in fact I think it's a gift if you know how to use it . I compare it to having a brand new 450 HP Ferrari where none of the switches or gauges are labelled , the windshield is fogged up and you can't find where to put the key . We don't need a cure , what we need is an owners manual that helps us understand , sort and make sense of the overwhelming amount of information we can access .

I absolutely hate it when people say they hate having Autism when it really doesn't affect them that much. Autism effects me a lot and I love being Autistic.

As one who is affected by it a lot I go back and forth between liking it and disliking it.

It might be harder for those not affected by it as much being between both worlds.

In a few points:
1) I would never tell anyone how they should feel about being autistic, since I don't know anyone else's journey.
2) I've had a lot of grief and a lot of difficulty in my life due to my ASD, and part of me wishes I could do what NTs can do so easily sometimes. It's a rough life, and not for the faint of heart, and at times it really sucks.
3) If there was an Autistic Pride like there is an LGBT Pride, I would totally be right there!!

I'm very glad for everyone that is proud of being autistic. I kind of go back and forth, myself. I wouldn't change who and what I am, but it isn't always fun. So I can't blame anyone who doesn't agree with Autistic Pride.

I agree with the OP. The reason I feel that way is because I consider autism to be a neurotype. The autistic neurotype is vulnerable to characteristic disabilities (which may or may not be present) but the disabilities don't define it. I don't understand why so many people are getting hung up on the definition of the word "pride". I understood that he meant it in the same sense as "gay pride"; that is: not ashamed and feeling positively about it, rather than neutral. He clarified that that's what he meant. How does it make sense to respond to a meaning that was never intended?