AUTISM IS AND ISN'T
Time and again, I hear people refer to autism as a 'mental illness.' If anything is likely to drive you mad it is uncomprehending ignorant know-all know-nothing others giving us the benefit of how little they know.
Sadly, many autistic people, struggling against the odds in an uncomprehending and uncaring world can develop mental and physical conditions. But that is a secondary consequence of autism, a consequence of having to make your way in a society that needs to see the error of its ways and make amends. It's just about making space so that each and all may thrive.
I avoid opposing AS folk and NT folk to one another. And I avoid stereotypes. The problem with stereotypes is that if you readily accept the positives - autistic people are geniuses, logical, have greater insight etc - you have to accept the negatives. It's all nonsense. Autistic people are not stereotypes.
