So then let's hope

[Duna]

I'm so glad this is being researched and learned about. I wish they had abandoned the "fix it/cure it" mindset when I was much younger because my life was ruined (and my mental health was permanently destroyed) by people who were trying to "fix me" and essentially beat the autism out of me. I'm still physically and mentally scarred by ABA and people who were trying to threaten/harm me into "acting normal."
I almost died in a residential facility because of this. I know my situation was very extreme but it's sadly far from being unique and isolated either.

Reading this, so happy you now have dogs in your life who give you love instead of rejection!

 

[Duna]

That and the fact that I'm the most stubborn bastard any of you ever met. I refuse to be psychologically lobotomised.

Same here. And even now people keep saying it would be so much easier to simply go with the flow... It might seem that way, but living a life as someone you're not has a cost I'm not willing to pay.

 

[Luca]

living a life as someone you're not has a cost I'm not willing to pay.

This is exactly how I feel too. I’m authentic whether people like me or not.

Makes it easier to weed out judgmental and inauthentic people from the friend circle.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I almost died in a residential facility because of this. I know my situation was very extreme but it's sadly far from being unique and isolated either.

I am sorry this happened to you.

And it is not all that rare. The abuse is rampant. We’ve had some shut down, thank heavens. I’ve seen some of those institutions. And had a client in one for a time. It was supposed to be an excellent place. (I did not put him there; it was parents’ decision and they took him out.)

About being stubborn…I was criticized for it as a child, and punished for it. I thought it was a “bad” thing like stealing or hitting.

It has only been in recent years that I have seen stubbornness as a real asset.