We Don’t Need to Apologize for Being Autistic

I was thinking recently about how so many Autistic people, especially Autistic women, live their lives like we have to apologize for who we are. We receive countless messages throughout our lives, big and small, that we are not okay the way we are. That we are weird, strange, different. As a result, we start masking our Autistic traits. We start people-pleasing and fawning so that people will accept us despite our Autism. We start believing something is fundamentally wrong with us and we have to make sure others don’t find out about it. Like there is this giant liability about us.

This way of living is exhausting, toxic, and dangerous. Masking leads to burnout and is also associated with suicidal thoughts and actions. When we realize nothing is wrong with us, we can start giving ourselves just a little bit of freedom to stop trying to please everyone and be accepted by everyone. We can start accepting ourselves for who we are, unmasking, and finding a tribe of Neurodivergent people who accept us just the way we are.