Autism is a mental disorder that people are naturally born with. It is mainly mental and psychological differences that make them noticeably different from the rest of the population simply by the way they are and act around other people. Yes, there are autistic people that are socially awkward and there are some that don't have many friends. But the amount of autistic people that can be noticeably labeled as "Autistic" is a very small sliver.

For those of you who have read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, you would know that the protagonist is autistic. However, most readers jump to conclusions that all autistic people speak and think like he does. Spoiler alert: They don't.

By reading those 2 paragraphs, a very small percent of you would of guessed that yes, I myself am autistic. It hurts my feelings to know that my disorder is being used as a joke online. In a nutshell, Autism and ADHD aren't too different. But why isn't ADHD portrayed as a joke, then? There is no simple answer to that because there isn't an answer at all. Autism is just the unlucky group of people that are used as examples online.

The Internet is a very strange place. The oddest things go viral for no apparent reason (such as Damn Daniel). But according to this information about the Internet, one would be safe to assume that the strangest insults go viral as well. And you guessed it, Autism became an international insult on the Internet. Be it a YouTube video or a news article, if it is very different from other articles there is bound to be at least 1 comment calling it autistic. Autism is not a joke and shouldn't be treated like one.

One does not control whether they have Autism or not. It is by no means their own fault, or anybody's really. 1 in 68 births are autistic, which is roughly 1% of the world's population. Sure it is a small percent but #AutisticLivesMatter. As stated earlier in the paragraph, One does not control whether or not they have Autism.

Autism is a very complicated thing, but so is the Internet. But in reality, there is no "Internet". We are the Internet. Whatever trends go viral and which don't is our own fault and problem.

Please sign and share this petition to help end the use of Autism as an insult.