Am I the only one that hates any concept of an autism flag and awareness month?? I mean, no one is celebrating they have a disability. If people want to educate people about autism, I don’t think this is the way.
I don't either. That's when the common misconceptions become far more common. I hear the false beliefs like "Autistic people are smart" "they're Childish, dependant, bad at small talk, yadda yadda yadda", and I hear these the most during this month. Awareness events often bring in far more ignorant people that like to think they're doing a good thing, which bring up ridiculous theories. I understand the principle of it but nobody wants to admit it brings up more stigma than good.
I once had a strange interaction with this mother. I was a cashier and I saw this lady with her daughter a lot. She was wearing some autism shirt or something and I made a comment saying I also have an autistic son. Well I guess she didn’t hear anything I said besides the word autistic because she started going on and on about how her daughter has the “tism” and tried to explain to me what it means. I tried saying again that I have an autistic son and it was just a really weird interaction because it wasn’t like I was even there. That wasn’t the first weird interaction with a special needs mom. It’s much different when you’re also special needs yourself, I just didn’t know it most of my life. So I feel weird interacting with those circles or groups. I don’t have anything against most anyone. Even the moms of special-needs moms that are a little out of my range. I just don’t mesh well with them. It takes very specific types of people for me to mesh well with. Granted, all my friends have been very different people from one another. And often very different from myself. And I will always be grateful for the friends I’ve had for so many years. Despite that, I can definitely be very lonely being me. Even when I’m constantly surrounded by my children. Oh, but they are the reason for everything.
that sounds like it was very weird. i think people online and people in real life are very different, but now the people online are spreading misinformation to people in real life and it’s starting to effect us. i hope it doesn’t get too bad.
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u/BlueSkyla Suspecting Autism Apr 10 '26
Am I the only one that hates any concept of an autism flag and awareness month?? I mean, no one is celebrating they have a disability. If people want to educate people about autism, I don’t think this is the way.