What is autism?

Mayo Clinic discribes autism as:

Autism spectrum disorder is a condition related to brain development that impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others, causing problems in social interaction and communication. The disorder also includes limited and repetitive patterns of behavior.

My journey as an autistic person.

My mom noted that when i was about 3 months old, that i liked the price is right a lot. However, my mom working in childcare and special education.. saw something more. She fought nail and tooth to get me diagnosis. At the age of two, i was diagnosis with autism. I was also a girl then, so me being diagnosed at all is something that didnt happen much.

Lets move to when i was 4, and my mom was trying to find me a school.. and the first one rejected me. They didnt want to deal with an autistic person.. and my mom was heartbroken. She soon started to work at another school, that wanted to help me. That school will forever be in my heart, they understood my disabilty and did stuff to help. They cared, and i will always thank them for that.

I was bullied a lot in elemerty school, mostly due to my weird habits. I remebre playing in the grass alone with my little ponies, as a lot of the kids thought i was too strange. However, i still had friends... they understood that i enjoyed stuff in a diffrent way from them.

Mostly my best friend. She was the new student in my preschool one day, and i invited her over to play with my ponies. weve been friends ever since, next year is our 10th year of being friends! She stood up for me the moment we became friends all the way to when i switched high schools. Shes a real one.

Then 2020 hit, and i became depressed. I played a lot of animal crossing in that time, that was one of the things i was weridly in love with. I also was very into Sonic and Steven Universe, all 3 of these things helped me during that time.

2021... oh god. This was when i was introduced to fandom, i was in middle school when i was in a certain fandom.. i wont say as i dont want those people to find me. Lets just say.. i was influenced by bad people. Then, i lost intrest because of Sam and Max, where i met people im still friends with and im greatful for that. They were fellow autistic people! I thought that was really cool!

Then for like a year i really liked TMNT, but the fandom got too toxic for me personally... like i still engage with it.. but the shipping discouse was too much for me.

Now its 2024, and in May i fell in love with Rayman. Now im here, writing this. I have a strong feeling that Rayman is here to stay, as a long term special intrest. I have a mix of autism and ADHD and i wish i could stay intrested in things for longer then one year.. but Rayman? He's diffrent. Hes my boyfriend... i love him.

If i could, would i get rid of my autism?

no.

Autism isnt something to be shamed over. Its just our brains are a bit diffrent, we are human like everyone else. Shaming someone over something they cant control is fucking pathetic. Hate is pathetic.

How does my autism effect me personally?

Well, the main way people see that im autistic is throught my intense way i express my intrests. They often become a big part of my personailty, like Rayman. All my school work is about Rayman, and my teachers know this. My english teacher, being a Rabbids fan himself, tries to put Rayman in my work for me to get better grades. Most of my Rayman writings in school have gotten a 4- or above, which shows that my speical intrests help me. However, sometimes they can be a cruse, but Rayman has made me a better person me think.

I stim a lot, some of them are phyiscal and others are vocal. I often flap my arms around when im happy or overwhelmed. I also kick my feet for the same reasons. My vocal stims include me screaming "RAYMAN!!!!" and going "whatever happened to sonic?"

I have a hyperspeific routine, 3:30 is when i play Rayman 3. I always play Rayman 3. I love Rayman 3. At school i also have a routine, i hate special days as it distrubed. Halloween day was hell for me, i had a melt down and passed out for an hour.

Closing thoughts?

I dont know. Im just gay for Rayman.