[PIC]Struggles faced by X-Men and those on autism spectrum are one in the same
Over Memorial Day weekend, I saw X-Men: Days of Future Past at the movies. I am mentioning this because I, and others, see parallels involving the struggles between mutants and humans in the Marvel Universe and the struggle between people on the autism spectrum and neurotypicals, people who are not on the spectrum.
For example, some people think that all autistic people are retarded. This is not true and can harm people and have bad consequences. Some people on the spectrum have intellectual and cognitive disabilities that affect their skills. Some also can’t do math well; this disability is called dyscalculia and is similar to dyslexia. We have IQs ranging from normal to low, just like neurotypicals.
“High-functioning” and “low-functioning” are categories that used to be official but not have been used in some time.
People are afraid of us, just like they are of the mutants.
Because I am a high-functioning autistic person, most people do not think I am autistic because I do not show the normal symptoms that people associate with autism, such as hand flapping, rocking and jumping. I do repeat words and sentences that I hear from people and the media, though.
When I was younger, people thought there was something wrong with me. I remember kids in first grade said they thought I had no brain. I was bullied and teased in elementary and high school.
I was naive; I could not understand why they were picking on me. I then found out that I was different from them and that people are afraid of things that are different.
I first found out that I have autism in fifth grade. It was during a presentation day when a speaker was talking about autism and the symptoms. I noticed a connection between myself and what the speaker was saying.
Everything about myself then made sense. I then started seeing myself as an autistic person.
I always knew I was different, but I didn’t know how.
In 2006, I joined a website dedicated to the ASD community. It is called wrongplanet.net.
In 2008, I got involved with the disabled community on Facebook. Some friends I made on there got in contact with an autistic woman in France. She then talked to me and introduced me to more autistic people on Facebook. I’ve made a lot of friends and connections during that time. My social skills are not up to par, so this helped me out a lot.
In conclusion, there are parallels between the fictional mutants and the real people on the ASD spectrum. I have also told the story about how I discovered that I was different and how I met some of my fellow autistic people on Facebook. I learned that I am not alone and I have a great support system behind me. Joining the ASD community changed my life.
Stay tuned: In my next blog post, I will talk about local and state services for autistic people.
