You Don’t Look Autistic

One of the comments that I don’t quite understand is “You don’t look autistic.” This is because autism doesn’t have a look. Autism is a neurotype. It’s the way your brain functions. So when someone tells me I don’t look autistic or disabled, it feels extremely invalidating.

Admitting to myself that I’m disabled took a very long time. Self-acceptance is extremely hard as it is. So when I finally felt comfortable sharing this information with someone else, and their immediate reaction is “that’s not true”, it sets me back on my acceptance journey. It’s hard to be your truest self when people tell you how you are.

Your perception of someone is not always accurate. More often than not, it is inaccurate.

I encourage you to not make assumptions about a person’s ability based on how they look or appear to function.