I wrote a long comment about your beautiful article but it disappeared. What I said essentially was that I was happy your dx explained and validated so much of your life.
I have a lot of experience with this awful stereotyping- in 1989-90 , when my boys were dx, everyone deserted us I both family ( I am one of 7 children ) , and friends who didn’t understand Autism, and
didn’t bother to find out about it. They didn’t want to know- maybe they thought it was contagious. Their schools move than made up for it, they received excellent care from
Pre K through the age of 21
from the NYC public school system. They never looked autistic.
I have experienced this myself since I was dx with Parkinson’s disease, which is a complex neurodegenerative disease that has both external and internal symptoms which most people are completely ignorant about .
When I tell them I have Parkinson’s- they tell me that I don’t look like I have it, as my external symptoms are not yet as visible as many peoples are , but I suffer from a great many internal issues that are not visible.
Having your family desert you when you needed them is such a deep wound to carry. I’m so sorry Brigid. Thank you for sharing your heart and understanding here.
I wrote a long comment about your beautiful article but it disappeared. What I said essentially was that I was happy your dx explained and validated so much of your life.
I have a lot of experience with this awful stereotyping- in 1989-90 , when my boys were dx, everyone deserted us I both family ( I am one of 7 children ) , and friends who didn’t understand Autism, and
didn’t bother to find out about it. They didn’t want to know- maybe they thought it was contagious. Their schools move than made up for it, they received excellent care from
Pre K through the age of 21
from the NYC public school system. They never looked autistic.
I have experienced this myself since I was dx with Parkinson’s disease, which is a complex neurodegenerative disease that has both external and internal symptoms which most people are completely ignorant about .
When I tell them I have Parkinson’s- they tell me that I don’t look like I have it, as my external symptoms are not yet as visible as many peoples are , but I suffer from a great many internal issues that are not visible.
Thanks so much for your wonderful essay.
.
Having your family desert you when you needed them is such a deep wound to carry. I’m so sorry Brigid. Thank you for sharing your heart and understanding here.
Love everything about this. The stigma and stereotype is dangerous, limiting, exclusive, othering and gatekeeping.
So much said in those words- gatekeeping, othering, stigma.