The title is the biggest banger of all in this post and should pretty much say everything.
What about autism makes people think that it’s a child’s disorder, that only children can have it? These children inevitably do grow up and become adults. More and more adults are getting diagnosed autistic because they have children or family members who are or have (and sometimes significant others who go “hey, I see a lot of myself in you, maybe you’re…”). If I want accommodations, or for people to understand how I am the way I am, it’s best for me to disclose that I am autistic. But if I disclose that I am autistic, some people treat me like I am inferior to them, like I know less than them, or like I’m a child when I am not. They act like I have greater access needs and barriers than I do, and sometimes they do these things in really obvious ways which frustrates me if not infuriates me depending on how they do it. It’s just really frustrating.
Like… don’t get me wrong. I’ve always wondered why my mind seemed to operate differently from that of those around me, so to be diagnosed autistic did not come as a surprise to me at all. Some of my friends who are autistic adults actually told me that they knew I would be diagnosed autistic before I was actually diagnosed on paper. But it seems like adults who aren’t autistic don’t always treat autistic adults with the respect that they deserve as human beings, and that’s got to go before 2030, I swear. I’m that impatient.
