Autism Acceptance Day 2015....Here We Go again

Tomorrow I will wear purple, not blue or red.  For all my friends who may know, April 2 is called autism awareness/acceptance day. I am autistic. I am,dare i say,not as nonverbal, but still pretty much.

I am still typing to communicate. You can believe or not. As I type, I am fighting fury and rage that threatens to shut down my ability to continue. i am so angry that autism speaks still does not put any one of the most incredible autistics on their board. I am advocating to autism speaks...please know whether we speak as autistics with our mouths, our hands, our iPads or other methods including supported typing, we can read and just as often, comprehend that reading.  I plead with your large, powerful, charitable organization, no more speak about us as burdens or hardships to our families'.  We are human, not monsters. We may have symptoms that challenge us and those around us, but if the only way the marketing department can raise dollars is to humiliate us, the problem is too big to solve.  I believe you can change.

My autistic advocate friends suggest we wear red, not blue, to reverse the story, shall we say. I love a good gimmick. I am an autistic that doesn't need a red color to be identified.  You see I am an autistic that much of the acceptance refers to.  I need you to accept my inability to speak by mouth is not that I have nothing to say, just that I type it.  I need you to see past my body's difficulty in staying focused and attentive for long periods of time and how I compensate for that, and accept that I am listening and comprehending you.  I need you to not ask me to look you in the eye and accept I see you just fine.  I need you to wait until I finish typing and accept that you may not know what I was going to say.

I need you to accept that if you have a young child who may be non-verbal and very distracted, and " experts" say she isn't comprehending......that child just may surprise you. And go to college, like I am.