'I Felt Like an Alien Before My Diagnosis, I Deserve Love Exactly As I Am'
newsweek.comSnapchat showing him flapping his hands in an over-exaggerated fashion and giggling. In his caption, he appeared to brag that he was "stimming" along to a song.This person doesn't have an autism diagnosis.
Stimming is a coping mechanism. I stim to process overwhelming emotions, be it happiness, sadness, anger, fear; not for fun.I've seen some videos on TikTok that say: "If you get nervous around people a lot, you're autistic." This isn't true.
It's misinformative. I have also seen neurotypical (non-autistic) peers hijack autism specific symptoms like "executive dysfunction" and "sensory overload" without any idea of what they really mean.Seeing people who have what I've always wanted: a normal life and the ability to form human connection, suddenly claiming to have a disability that was long my biggest source of shame, hurts.They don't understand the pain that comes along with the words they use, or the reality of what it's like to be autistic.
Whenever this happens, it feels like they're mocking me. I wish I could tell them that Autism is not a trend or a quirky personality trait.
