recently two friends of mine brought up autism in a conversation. one of them knows about my diagnosis and the other one is a nurse and regularly works with autistic children.
They brought up lots of things I disagree with and that kind of hurt me… They said things like “there are severely autistic people and there are others that are pretty chill” “being autistic is fashionable these days” “people use their autism as an excuse for bad behavior” “autistic people should keep their diagnosis for themselves because society is not really ready for that yet”
I tried to argue against it, but I wasn’t really good at that. I also didn’t feel comfortable to say I am autistic. I felt really devastated when I got back home. I texted one of my friends (the one who knows I am autistic) and said the whole conversation made me feel really bad.
Since she is gay I said that I am feeling the same way you would feel if two of your friends talked about homosexuality the way they talked about autism (“being gay is fashion these days” “people use their homosexuality as an excuse for bad behavior”, “gay people should stay in the closet because society is not ready for them”…) She got really angry at me, literally told me to go fuck myself and that I am victimizing myself…
I feel so hurt by this. invalidated. I don’t know… I just wanted to share :I
that’s not a friend, that’s an acquaintance that thinks you’re less than human. as A Gay™, that was an apt comparison, especially considering an autism diagnosis has been specifically used as another way to oppress and infantilize trans and gay people (especially AFAB people). absolute scumbag behavior. i’m really sorry you had to go through that. :(
Sounds like you need new friends.
When you tried to express your feelings, your friend made it about themselves. You are the one who was wronged, you are allowed to be upset! How could she even talk about autism this way, especially knowing you are one, and knowing you are listening to everything being said. Anyone would be upset hearing those things, even more so if it’s from someone they trust enough to share something like that with! You are valid!
Oof. They were way over the line to say things like that, and to double down and get angry when you expressed that you’d been hurt is so unacceptable.
If it were me, I would limit social interaction with them until an apology that demonstrates understanding is given freely.
But that’s not the biggest point. The biggest thing is that you ARE valid. Your diagnosis is valid (even self-diagnosis). You don’t have to justify your existence to bigots. Ever. Sorry this happened to you. We see you. It sucks that people suck.
I think your respons was very good. You put them into the same position as they did to you, without actually being an asshole about it. The “friend” that knew about your autism, yet says these kind of things about autism while you’re there and gets mad when you try to tell them how it made you feel, doesn’t sound like a friend to me. They sound like a self-obsessed asshole that wants empathy from others, but isn’t empathic to others. I could be wrong, I don’t know them. They could have had a heavy reaction because theg freaked out becausr they got called out in a relatable way. That wouldn’t make their response okay, but could be forgivable if they genuinly apologized. If not, fuck them.
About the other friend: if you’re close with them you could try to explain how it made you feel and what you struggle with. See how they repond. They might just be uneducated. But if they don’t respond undersranding/apologetic, you might want to rethink your relationship with them.
