Asperger Journeys » Blog Archive » I Do Not Suffer from Autism

Nov
8

I Do Not Suffer from Autism

Filed under: Spectrum Pride;

I do not suffer from autism.

I suffer when someone calls my way of being a disorder.

I suffer when others invest time and money to prevent people like me from being born.

I suffer when anyone suggests that I might recover or be cured.

I suffer when others feel sorry for me or for the family I have created.

I suffer when I fear that people will consider me broken.

I suffer when my being autistic scares people away.

I suffer when others try to silence me.

I suffer when people suggest that I do not have all the same feelings they do.

I suffer because I must describe my way of being by referring to a medical diagnosis.

I suffer because I live in a society that does not celebrate difference.

I suffer because I live in a culture that does not cultivate sensitivity.

I suffer because I live in an environment that values appearance over substance.

I suffer because I live within a social order that calculates human worth based on productivity and conformity.

I suffer because I live in a world that does not honor the gifts that autism brings me.

I suffer because I have learned to apologize for who I am.

But make no mistake: I do not suffer from autism. I do not suffer from who I am.

© 2009 by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg

16 Comments

16 Responses to “I Do Not Suffer from Autism”

Ben November 8th, 2009 at 4:54 pm

i wish i had written that. i’ve been trying to form almost these exact thoughts for a few months now, and lo and behold, you have gone and done it.
misfit November 8th, 2009 at 6:24 pm

I wish I could have written that too. It should be engraved on the walls of every school, hospital, medical college, training facility, social services department and legislative assembly. It should be translated into every language in the world and made required reading for everyone. No, it should be learned by heart by everyone. It’s about time!
codeman38 November 8th, 2009 at 7:18 pm

This… this is awesome. That’s all I can say, really. That, and I totally agree with it.
Ari November 8th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

This is great. Who wrote this, exactly?
Rachel November 8th, 2009 at 10:33 pm

Hi Ari, good to see you here. I wrote this post in its entirety.
–Rachel
Quirky Mom November 9th, 2009 at 12:18 am

Bravo!!!
Adah Lee November 9th, 2009 at 8:04 am

Brilliant. Says it all, really.
John Dale Lyons November 9th, 2009 at 4:50 pm

This is sheer poetry. Brilliant and true.
Taylor Selseth November 9th, 2009 at 11:31 pm

Excellent post, Rachel, I agree completely!
April November 11th, 2009 at 10:07 am

WOW! Think you could offer this as a poster on one of those print-to-order websites? Cross posting on my FB & blog.
Jon Gilbert November 16th, 2009 at 12:10 am

Rachel,

This is a wonderful piece written from the most unique perspective. You have been given a gift in every sense of the word.

~Jon
Johanna November 16th, 2009 at 8:32 am

Thank-You Rachel! I would like to print this to hand out. Is it OK?. (Of course giving credits to you).
Rachel November 16th, 2009 at 10:25 am

Hi Johanna,

Please feel free to share this piece with anyone you’d like!
I do not suffer from autism. . . « Intern in Israel November 18th, 2009 at 12:44 pm

[...] Please do go read the rest of the list over here. [...]
Shackleton November 28th, 2009 at 9:58 am

>I suffer when others try to silence me.

Have you ever heard of G. C. Spivak’s concept of the subaltern? I’ve noticed that academic attitudes towards aspergers are often based off the idea that instead of letting aspergers people speak, the academics will speak for them. This has interesting parallels in western academic attitudes to the oriental: the westerner sees the orient, mines the orient for data, then speaks for the orient – while at the same time, rendering any non-western speech meaningless. To be taken seriously, the east has to adopt the west’s modes of thought and language.
In the same manner, the NT psychologists ’speak’ for the non-NT, who are considered in terms of raw material data, and for the non-NT to be treated with respect, they have to hide their ‘disability’.

I think there’s a lot of value in contemporary theorists like Spivak for anybody who finds themselves delineated from the ‘typical’, especially for use in defense against the fairly stone-age views of those who wish to ‘cure’ difference.
Rachel November 29th, 2009 at 3:50 pm

Hi Shackleton,

I really like what you have to say here about Spivak’s work. It’s applicable to so many different forms of cultural and social appropriation and silencing.