Last updated on November 26, 2023
And here we are again… Autism Awareness Day.
My Apple News, Facebook, and Google News feeds all feature a dozen or more stories on autism, from the Struggling Parent profile to the Amazing Aspie interview.
There are also familiar names in the media stories, the known people from the autistic community, talking about working together towards something before returning to the infighting that plagues every group online.
In the 11 years of The Autistic Me, I have never embraced Autism Awareness campaigns. I recognize the irony of trying to make people aware that the awareness campaigns too often simplify autism into the various media narratives I dislike.
I want to foster awareness that we are more than the awareness stories appearing today and throughout the month.
When I write that The Autistic Me is not the complete me, it is a reminder to readers and listeners that autistic is a label, an attempt to give a name to a set of observable traits.
My greatest complaint about Autism Awareness are the stories that mention tolerance for autistic traits. I do not wish to be tolerated, I have written several times in the past. I would rather be respected for what I am and do beyond autism.
If autism is part of me, I want to be known as an advocate for others, a self-advocate only out of necessity and as a way to promote access for others to education, workplaces, and public services.
Given a choice, I’d rather be known for many other things instead of autism. I am not alone in wishing to be known for the other aspects of my life, those aspects based on choices I have made and goals I have set.
The most important things I am: husband and father. I don’t share those photos or much about our family life here for many reasons. But, being Daddy is the best and most important choice I have made. In the coming years, when our children can express their preferences, I might include more about them in my writing and speaking.
After family life, being a teacher is a choice I have made. It seems it wasn’t the wisest career choice, and I might not have an academic home as a professor, but I would still hope I am recalled by students as a good, dedicated, and passionate teacher.
As a writer, I write much more about other topics than I will ever write about autism. I write a monthly technology column, and have for almost 12 years. I write stage plays, screenplays, short stories, and poetry. I’m not an autism writer, nor do I wish to be considered as an autistic writer. If someone has to judge my writing based on my autistic traits, that implies that I’m receiving some sort of special allowance, a handicap (as in golf) that awards me points based on disability.
When The Autistic Me podcast appears this week, I realize that Autism Awareness will help me promote the effort. I know that Awareness campaigns help me promote this blog. I understand that aspect of using whatever I can to promote my works.
I do have experiences and opinions that I want people to read and hear. That’s why this blog was created (that and it was connected to a course assignment in graduate school).
The “Me, Myself, and I” of a personal blogger’s perspective can be misinterpreted, too. It reinforces the perception that autistics are self-centered and even narcissistic. That’s one of the reasons I do hope to add more about family life to this space.
The podcast will permit me to emphasize guests and their experiences. As the host, shows will be less about me and more about autism and autistic experiences in general. The “Me” becomes more generalized, referring to both host and guests.
Tonight, I hope to record and post the first podcast episode. It will not be about Autism Awareness, yet that is also what it unquestionably promotes.