30 Days of Autism Acceptance: 18
April 18th: Talk about identity. Is being autistic an important part of your identity? What does being autistic mean to you? Which do you prefer: identity first or person first language and why?
Being autistic is an important part of my identity. It’s a part that informs all of the other parts. Since getting the diagnosis, autism has made so many things in my life make sense, even little things that you wouldn’t really think about.
It’s also allowed me to be kinder to myself. Before the diagnosis, I would get upset with myself for my autistic behaviors, because I saw them as deficits from what I thought was supposed to be normal behavior. I was my harshest critic, trained to berate myself for the slightest deviations from the norm. It’s the kind of pressure that can really twist you up inside and color your entire life, and I don’t know if I can adequately relate the feeling when that pressure was lifted.