"The way others react to how I present keeps shining a light on my vulnerability, making my neurological difficulties more obvious. It leaves me exposed, facing the raw edges of my symptoms – symptoms I now understand to be part of Autism.
Growing up, I didn’t know or understand much about the world around me. Autism, by its nature, makes us vulnerable. When others lack awareness and understanding, they unintentionally, or sometimes deliberately – leave us exposed to social exclusion, victimisation, mental illness, and abuse.
Without patience, understanding, and support, people only make our struggles harder, often ignoring our needs. It’s easy for others to become resentful of what we go through, but attitudes matter. People need to work with us, not against us. By 2019, attitudes should have already changed – especially toward those living with physical, mental and emotional disabilities."
Yes, the sad part is there are many people who will take advantage of an autistic person, I have seen it happen with my niece.
She ended up being hyper-sexual and has been very promiscuous along with having a clueless father and mother. He seems to be on the Asperger's spectrum, which has made him very successful in life but pretty oblivious when it comes to dealing with his daughter's glaringly obvious issues.
I have always had the innate ability to understand those issues and know almost intuitively how to handle them, which has been a blessing and a curse at times, since people don't often believe what I have had to say.
My parents always seemed to be so angry and resentful towards us whenever we had any issues, which is probably why I have tried hard to be the opposite. I'm sure it's also why it still bothers me to this day, when I see other parents treating their children that way and have to right the urge to want to defend those children.
I was consistently forced as a child to accept that kind of treatment and to ignore what was going on around me, even when we knew it was wrong. I just have such a hard time wrapping my mind around that concept, as most other parents would protect their children from being exposed to that chaos and insanity.
Some attitudes about autism and mental health issues may have changed from then to now, but the world still has a long way in learning more about how to treat these issues appropriately.
Thanks Randy. Yes, your last paragraph sums up your response nicely. No child should be made to suffer in this way. I feel for your niece.
You're right some attitudes will have changed, but we still have a long way to go on mental health and mental health issues.
We have to hope that mental health and mental health issues will continue to improve. It's not difficult to help a child or adult.
We just have to want to care, be there for them. We must all do more.