Welcome to My Autistic Life, below is a test. Can you tell me who in these pictures is struggle with their mental health? For the first one, let’s just think about whose struggling with depression?
How about in this one let’s see whose struggling from Anxiety?
Now here’s an important one, I want you to tell me who in this picture is struggling from a social functioning disability? Maybe a type of Autism? how about Psychopathy? Maybe Sociopathy?
Now here is an important one. Whose having a panic attack?
Probably a little bit harder on this one. Depending on the game, some may even be sad, but we will try anyways. Who in this picture is currently feeling the physical effects of their mental health?
Finally whose pressured to act a specific way that they are uncomfortable with in the picture below? Does that impact their mental health?
How was your test? What were the results? Do you know who to count as disabled or not? Was your accuracy perfect? No? Why not? Pictures didn’t tell you who was disabled but functioning in those settings did it?
It might be an uncomfortable truth but you have as much information here, as you do when you meet a disabled person on the side of the road. Want proof? I am disabled, can you tell from this picture?
How about if I told you that I am disabled in your society, but I am capable of so much more, and able to process things that people cannot even imagine at times? I don’t do this for fun, it is the way my mind works.
Take away that context though, did you know if I didn’t tell you? If we had a conversation, and I had an anxiety attack, would you know? Want to know a secret? I fooled professionals for thirty two years. No one had a clue, and I lived my life without any understanding of what was going on.
So, I ask you now to put the judgement down, stop looking at the different as disabled, and start doing something about your own prejudice. I promise you I have use, and so do you, everyone does, but segregation by look, color, or social functioning, does not have a use, in any place.
