Please don’t pity me for having Autism

As someone with Asperger’s, I do not support all the donations for ‪#‎autismawareness‬. With it being International Autism week I feel like, yes, awareness is being raised, but everyone knows what Autism is already, everyone knows that it makes social situations for us very difficult and they we do act differently, but to be honest no one actually cares about that. Yes, people will pick up on the fact I need to eat my food in a certain order, that I need to be able to see everyone’s faces who is within my range, that I don’t look people in the eye and see things most others don’t – and when I point it out to the person next to me they say they didn’t see or hear it.

But no ones cares, or sees it as being “weird”, I still have friends and socialise and have fun.

I still party, and have friends.

People with Autism should be treated normally, like any other human being. We aren’t machines who can all do maths instantly or all always sit quietly. No two autistic people are the same, as with every other person. We don’t need a week or a day to be made aware of, as has been pointed out in a lot of the advertising that 99% of people know what autism is. Why are we getting awareness and not a charity making water wells in Africa? Not Cancer Research UK? Not even your local fire department? Those are all amazing things to donate money to, saving lives.

Yes, we often find it difficult understanding certain situations and if the money goes towards counselling and helping the person understand that and how to deal with it and cope with it then I am 100% up for that, and for helping parents understand what is going on from their child’s point of view then that is fantastic.

But they don’t, why are charities saying that they are looking for a “prevention” or a “cure”? What needs curing anyway? The charities themselves are the ones portraying us as different and stigmatising us.

It feels like people who are raising money for this cause, they don’t want their kids to be like me. Just because my brain is wired slightly differently to theirs, whats the problem with that?