I'm Autistic

I've talked about this on Twitter a lot, not sure if I've mentioned it here or not, but I've recently found out I'm autistic.

I'm not officially diagnosed because there are a lot of systemic barriers to adults getting diagnosed (the nearest accessible facility with someone who takes my insurance is over an hour away and it would be several appointments) but my therapist is confident enough to say the label is mine if I want to claim it. And I do.

I think it explains a lot of my behavior as a child, and why I have so much trouble connecting with people. It's not me being difficult on purpose or not trying hard enough, like some people have accused all through my life. My brain is just not wired the way people expect it to be.

I debated whether to put it in my bio because I know there will be people who won't like it being there. There will be people who insist I am just being difficult, and people who will treat me differently because of it. On the other side, there will probably be people who will tell me that they support Autism Speaks and will argue with me when I try to tell them that most autistic people consider that organization to be a hate group (I don't want to go into it now, but if you do a search for "Autism Speaks doesn't speak for me" you'll get the autistic view).

Some of these people might be friends and family, and it's scary that I might not know the real them until I show them the real me. And that it could cause tension between myself and people who I thought cared about me.

But I don't want that kind of people in my life, so I put it in my bio because I'm not going to hide who I am to make them comfortable.