The Little Book of Autism (And Other Neurodivergencies)

Common Myths about Autism

Hello my dudes, and I'm jumping straight into it because the title is self explanatory.

1. Vaccines cause autism.
This is not true. Feel free to correct me down in the comments if there have been actual scientific studies, but this is not true, and even if it were, it wouldn't be worth going unvaccinated. Because that poses actual health problems.

2. Autistic people don't love.
This is also untrue! My girlfriend and I are both very much in love and so are other autistic people. Being autistic doesn't mean that you don't feel love, it just means that you feel it differently and show that love differently. Whether you're very physically affectionate or you give each other things, you can still feel love.

3. Autistics don't feel emotion.
This is once again not true. Autistic people do feel emotion, just like they feel love. Like I said in my previous point, we show it in different ways. Whether that's happy stimming or withdrawing until we feel more able to cope with a certain situation, we do show it differently.

4. Autistic people can't make eye contact.
This one does have some truth to it. Autistic people are generally going to feel uncomfortable making eye contact, or they just don't think to do it. This doesn't mean that all autistic people are going to hate it. One of the things that you're going to hear me repeating a lot is that if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism. Like I said in the last chapter, it's called a spectrum for a reason.

5. Trains and space.
This one also has some truth to it. If you don't know what I mean when I say trains and space, basically a lot of people seem to believe that autistic people love trains and space and that we're obsessed with it. This is somewhat true. A lot of autistic people do have a special interest in trains or space- I certainly did when I was younger.

6. You're trapped underneath your autism.
This one is completely untrue, holds absolutely no value whatsoever, and I don't know where it could have come from. A lot of people seem to believe that there's a different person trapped under the autism- like I already said, this is completely untrue. You're not trapped under your autism, it is a part of you, in my opinion, and you can't separate yourself from that. Having it does not make you good or bad, it does not make you a genius, it does not make you dumb: it simply makes you autistic.

7. Every autistic person is the same.
If you were a neurotypical, and you met one or two people with autism, or even have just heard about it, you might think that yes, actually, every autistic is the same. This isn't true either. Like I said earlier, it's called a spectrum for a reason, if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism, and every autistic is different and special and unique. Some you can take a glance out and know that they are autistic, others you could know them for ages and if they don't tell you you might not realise they're autistic. This doesn't make them any more or less autistic.

I think that is all I have on this subject, but if I've missed any or you want me to talk about another myth or stereotype, be sure to let me know. That's all for now, have a great day, social distance, and look after yourselves. Later.