Lately, I’ve been troubled by articles in the New York Times and The Daily Beast that imply that people with Asperger’s are not on the autism spectrum, but are merely shy or quirky. I’m not going to get into discussing the specific content of the articles, because Emily Willingham has already done a brilliant critique of both pieces.
What I want to address, from a different perspective, is the idea that anyone who “passes” as non-autistic for some portion of their lives (and by “passing” I mean “acting in a way that doesn’t look like someone else’s autism stereotype”) can’t possibly be autistic. This line of reasoning is so old and hackneyed that it’s rather wearying to keep speaking to it — mainly because it’s difficult to know exactly how. If I start describing all my difficulties for someone asking me to “prove” it, I’m blowing my privacy and giving away my power; after all, if I assert a disability identity, I certainly shouldn’t have to explain how I came by it. Besides, the whole act of explaining is a fool’s errand, because in the discourse of autism, if I can explain what autism feels like for me, I can’t be autistic.
Interesting post and an interesting blog. Well worth a look.