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Why many autistic people focus on that?

Tired

Tired

vegan NT
V.I.P Member
I see many people on the forum or just in the net focus on being autistic so much, it basically becomes their whole personality. They have "autistic" in their nicknames, wear "proud being autistic" shirts and stuff like that. For me it is the same if I would just go around saying how proud I am being a woman or neurotypical. It isn't the choice (like for example becoming a doctor or a mother and being proud of that), so I am confused to why is it so important to some people for everyone to know that they are autistic.

I am not judging anyone, this just confuses me for years now and I didn't come to any answer, so I thought to finally ask.
 
The simplest explanation ?

It's a social dynamic relative to being in a minority. When you are sometimes singled out as being "different", and not in a kind way.

So some of us "compensate" accordingly. Which can apply to many types of minorities.

On rare occasions I may do something in public that for whatever reason annoys NTs. When I will turn to them and simply say, "Autistic children grow up to be autistic adults".
 
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Tired said:
I see many people on the forum or just in the net focus on being autistic so much, it basically becomes their whole personality. They have "autistic" in their nicknames, wear "proud being autistic" shirts and stuff like that. For me it is the same if I would just go around saying how proud I am being a woman or neurotypical. It isn't the choice (like for example becoming a doctor or a mother and being proud of that), so I am confused to why is it so important to some people for everyone to know that they are autistic.

I am not judging anyone, this just confuses me for years now and I didn't come to any answer, so I thought to finally ask.
Click to expand...
People are many layers deep, and the coolest people are very deep indeed. It is probably a fair question why people do this.

I am not qualified to attempt an answer. It would be wonderful if we were seen as more than just a label or collection of labels!
 
I feel like it's reclaiming an identity.

I personally don't feel like I do this, because I think I'm pretty much "passing" most of the time. My symptoms are very well hidden for the most part, but I do know others who aren't.

Like Judge said, people are not often kind. So I think it's being proud of who you are even when others aren't kind to you.
 
I had no inkling of knowledge as to why I was as weird as I was. While I began caring less about what people thought about me the older I got, I still tried to not show my weirdness so much. When I found that my oddities were autistic traits, I finally had a reason. While autism isn't some badge of honor that I could be proud to have earned, I do wish to use badges and shirts to let people know that autism isn't just a "kid thing".
 
I did not know until mid fifties. explained so much, then after stroke found this site, other than that, Keep to myself let family know. If NT asks, not embarrassed, to explain why I'm weird, after all retired nothing to hide.
 
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