I need to make it clear here that I don't see
autism as a gift. (That would be ridiculous given the amount of crap I've been through in my life, not to mention my daily struggles)
However, there
are aspects to my autistic brain which I consider to be a 'plus', a positive, and yes, a gift. (The way my brain perceives
music is that gift for me)
In the autistic community, there are those who hate who they are, and those who don't. We're a mixture of opinions and experiences, all as
valid as each other.
P, you know how much I respect you; I love you to bits, and I think you're an
amazing parent to your autistic children, but I don't apologise for the terminology I used - re
gift in relation to the way my brain perceives music.
Music has kept me alive since I was 5 years old - it's
that important.
To me, it's like the dude/dudess/they who designed me said, '
You're going to find life incredibly difficult, cocker. It's going to be megally shit truth be told. You're going to struggle to understand people or to be understood. You'll be bullied for being different and you won't have a scooby why all this shite is happening until you're in your 40s. But, to help you to cope with all this, you're going to be able to experience music in a different way to most people. You will feel music on every level, be able to mentally separate drum from bass and isolate vocals. Your memory with music will be 'machine-like' and that will really impress the crap out of people during pop quizzes (or really piss them off). Music will save your life on multiple occasions. It will motivate you to get through the front door and to walk down the street to school, to work - to anywhere. It will calm and stimulate you, there will be no indifference. You'll also have numerous crushes on male and female artists, and you'll still be wearing band t shirts when you're 52. You will feel totally disconnected from almost every other human until you go to a music concert and then you will discover a connection that only music can bring. Off you go, Nora!'
(Literally just ordered Debbie Harry and Foo Fighters shirts)
How can I consider this to be anything
other than a gift or a positive thing?
I should also add (for balance) that I asked my autistic son if he would swap his brain if he could. His answer? 'No. I'm happy being me'. He grunted a bit at first, but I did interrupt him playing Cuphead.
Maybe that will change? I don't know. He's only thirteen. He hasn't always been happy, but that unhappiness was due to the ignorance and prejudice of other people. He's happy with who
he is now. (And many of us are)
I don't want people to
only see the negative side of autism. I am always aware of who is reading what I write, and not just the names I can see at the bottom of the page. That's why I responded to what you said, P, not because I think you're wrong in any way (you're not) it's just that I don't want people to think that autism is a
complete shitfest and tragedy. I'm autistic and I don't hate who I am. I don't consider autism as the reason for
everything that's shit in my life, and there are positives to my existence as there are with many other autistics.
Anyway, I'm still wearing my dressing gown. Routine's gone tits up today. So, it's on with some motivational music and it's going to beeeeee AC/DC!