You don’t speak for Low-functioning autistics

lysikan:

Not-autistic people use this line a lot when trying to devalue the statements of autistic people that they deem as “high functioning”.

So, as one of those “low functioning” people they point at as counter-examples, I am standing up and saying “yes they do.”

I do not speak, I do not understand when you speak. Remember you said “those people who cannot speak” as evidence of the label.

I need help going potty. I am not proud of it, but it’s a fact of life. I need to pee just as often as you do, but my body doesn’t tell my brain that, so sometimes my pants get wet when I remember to put them on. That makes me low functioning by your standards. Remember – you said “those people that need help going to the bathroom” as evidence of the label.

I cannot make reasonable decisions about finances. I spend hundreds of dollars a month on an Internet site that gives me a virtual world in which to have friends because in the physical world people scare the poop out of me (see previous point about why that is a bad thing). Remember – you said “those people who can’t handle finances for themselves” as evidence of the label.

I need 24/7 care so I don’t hurt myself by accident because I forget what I am doing while I am doing it, such as cutting an onion with a sharp knife and wave my hand with the knife still in it. Remember you said “those people who need round the clock care” as evidence of the label.

Yup – I fit your bullet list of low functioning.

I don’t post arguments against your ableism and attacks on autistic people. Not because I agree with you but because fighting hurts me. When you claim I need to be “cured”, I do not call you out and say mean things about you because being confrontational hurts me, not because you are right.

You are not speaking for me in my silence, you are speaking over me. I want to tell you what an ass you are but my head won’t let me fight because it HURTS for me to argue.

While your head lets you be an ass and say untrue things, my head won’t let me. I must always be honest AND I must also maintain calm or I might get violent. This does not prove your point, it only silences me. Silencing me does not mean you are right, it only means you are more willing to be an ass than I am.

The “high functioning” autistics that argue for rights for me DO speak for me. In ways I cannot fight they defend me. In places I cannot go because of my fears, they stand for me. In groups that scare the poop out of me, they clean up the mess for me and stand for me.

You, who are not autistic, do not stand for me. Do not tell those that are capable of fighting your hate that they do not speak for me. They do.