My vision for Acceptance

I see a whole other world, a world sometime off in the future where Autistics are respected. Where those who have harmed us, those who have shunned us, those who have abandoned us and oppressed us hang their heads in shame for the sins of the past.

I see a world where people who do not speak are revered for their wisdom, for the kindness and for their gentle love. I see them treated with respect.

I see a world where Autistic people walk freely and hold their heads high with pride and move through this world with grace.

I see this world and know that it will one day come. One day, but not soon.

Humankind is not so kind.

For everyday it is a struggle to be heard, to break through the medicalised model of defects, of deficits and of shortcomings.

Everyday we are defined by what we are not rather than who we are. That is no existence for anyone.

I see a world where Autistic children play and shine bright and laugh and spin and rock and stim. I see a world where they are free to do this, free from ridicule and with a warm glow of pride.

I see this world and gently whisper… take my hand, take my hand and I will take you there.

I see this world shining bright, shining bold with glowing invitation. Full of warmth and love and healing.

I hold out my hand to take you with me but you do not accept.

Rather than take my hand you bite, you snarl and snap. You tell me I am wrong to see what I see and to take others to freedom. You say we are defective because someone somewhere wrote it in a book. You say we are imperfect because someone somewhere told you.

Just because someone says , doesn’t make it true.

You shout me down for saying strange things like Autistic people are not defective, we are here with a purpose and not by mistake . We are in fact whole creatures, whole with heart and thought and soul.

We are whole.

We are perfect.

We are whole and we need to be free.

Free to be ourselves, free to think for ourselves, free to speak and free to move and free to represent ourselves.

We are whole and we need to be free.

Free from the ignorance of the past, the attitudes and misrepresentation and improper assumptions which chain and bind us in this world of now.

We are whole and we are human.

We are human.

A great place to learn more about the Autistic perspective is at our webinar What autism is and is not, where we dispel many of the current myths around being Autistic.