The Abundant
Autism is typically defined in terms of the impairment model, emphasising the things that autistic people lack or are deficient in. I've done it myself. In researching autism I focused on the triad of impairments, listing all my struggles and inadequacies in the fields of social communication, interaction, and imagination.
That's how many people see autism, and try to reassure autistic people to pay no attentions to labels and definitions. Such sympathy is premised on the assumption that autistic people are lacking or deficient in some quality and are therefore in need of pity. Not so. Autistic people are blessed with a range of talents and abilities, just needing a little accommodation and adjustment on the part of others for them to flourish. Autistic people are the anarchic surplus that those adjusted to conventional society can struggle to handle. It is remarkable how many sympathisers go cold and silent when in the presence of autistic abundance. Over to you.
