1:10pm August 2, 2014

Just found this on the archive of an old website (a response to a horrible ASA propaganda site) I scrapped years ago.

Here are the words that should go with any pictures of me.

I am not an empty shell. Nobody is.

I am not a walking automaton devoid of anything inside me. Nobody is.

Nobody kidnapped me. I am right here. As are all of us.

As we are now, all of us are people and always will be people.

We may learn things or not learn things or forget things.

We may learn things without looking like we have.

We may look like we’ve learned things without doing so.

You will call us Kanner’s and Asperger’s.

You will call us high-functioning and low-functioning.

You will call us regressive and early infantile.

You will call us genetic and poisoned.

You will call us retarded and genius.

You will call us an epidemic.

According to your rules, not the rules of reality.

Throughout, we will remain at the deepest level people.

We will throughout remain who we are meant to be.

We speak with as many kinds of voices as there are autistic people.

We speak with our mouths. With our fingers. With our behavior. With our being.

In ways that may conflict or you may find hard to understand.

But our voices form a chorus, dissonant and harmonious alike.

That is more the voice of autism than anyone else will ever be.

We’re here whether you see us or not.

We’re real people whether you see us or not.

Our existence, our worth, and our personhood are not dependent on you.

They’re not dependent on being rescued.

They’re not dependent on being brought back from somewhere we never went in the first place.

They’re not dependent on you putting us on your false pedestal as holy fools or inspirations.

They’re not dependent on you pretending we’re exactly like you in a misplaced effort to make us comfortable.

Our place in the world is not always where you or we intend it to be.

Our place in the world does not always make sense.

Our place in the world exists as we are now.

Don’t ever forget that many of us are saying this to you with actions.

Every moment of the day.

Just as loud as we would if we had the words I have now.

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