theaustinstollhaus:

Know what annoys me? Those “X characters are all autistic!” posts. Hear me out.

Ever notice they’re all high-functioning autistic? They’re never autistic in a way that totally fucks up their life, that renders them incapable of a simple conversation, that makes them dependent on others their entire life?

I’ve seen my cousin struggle with autism for years. She stutters. She honks. She beeps and twitches. She has never been able to say a single sentence to someone without immediately alerting them that she’s autistic. And she will never have a normal conversation.

And she’s lucky. She can take care of herself, and if she can’t, she has family. She can function. She isn’t nonverbal and her IQ is okay. There are a lot of people with worse lives than her.

I know some people like to say “I have autism and it’s part of me! I wouldn’t trade it for anything!” And that’s fine, you do you. But those are the high-functioning people. A lot of low-functioning autistic people can’t say that. Some can’t say much of anything.

Autism isn’t a kooky character quirk. It ruins lives.