Just a reminder:
A lot of people with ASD don’t like when they’re complimented with “but you act so normal!” or something of that nature. It carries and underlying message of “acting autistic is bad; I’m glad you act less weird!”. It just reiterates the message we already get from society; that we’re broken or messed up and must be fixed and trained to act more neurotypical because being autistic has no value.
Yes, we know you’re trying to be encouraging, but… just try and think about it from our perspective. We want to be appreciated for who we are, autistic quirks and all; how are we supposed to feel about ourselves when people only appreciate how “normal” we can act?
This. It’s actually more annoying to hear this, or to hear “no way! I never would have guessed!” or “I don’t believe you; you don’t act like *insert stereotypical autistic behavior*”.
(via ceasesilence)
