Thinking

They always say "be unique, don't be defined by anyone ot anything"..

The realisation that one is on the spectrum will probably be a defining moment!

Being told for years how to act in every situation, how to behave and conduct yourself while crying, arguing and while smiling, pushed to excel beyond personal limits, to reject weakness & always rise above any circumstance..... is draining and utterly defeating!

It's also bitterly unfair....

Autism can mean that all social norms and standards, coupled with the unforgiving expectation to conform, effectively create and/or exasperate feelings of inadequacy, worthlessness and defeat.

Negative reinforcement breaks something so fragile within an autistic child. In turn this brokenness results in adults who display an absolute lack oftrust not only in humanity or society, but in themselves!

In trying to enforce who they are for the greater good, as we claim, we enforce the quiet suffocation and death of extraordinary minds!