During Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month, I posted a daily story in a Zuck-Group. The focus of the group is Disney: “Disney After Dark is a group for people that love Disney but also say fuck words.”
I posted pictures of folks from the Disney Universe (mostly Marvel Cinematic Universe characters) and discussed how they demonstrated similar Autistic traits as I have. With a little encouragement, I went deeper and discussed more personal attributes of my “mental condition”. The more I posted, the more people started to come down with the ‘Tism.
Over the course of the pandemic, I changed jobs twice. I wanted to find a place where I fit properly, so I opened each interview and conversation with, “Before we get started, please know that I am Autistic. If my behavior seems strange, it isn’t because I’m not interested in the job, it’s because I do not know how to behave properly in these situations.” And, the reactions often surprised me. Most of the people I talked to either had someone that was Down with the Sickness, or the person started seeing similar traits in themselves.
Talkin’ About the ‘Tism
Over the past two years, the more I talk about it, the more people seem to see that they have similar traits. The infection is spreading. I often question whether my openness is a defense mechanism, or just a relaxed state because I can now openly identify and discuss why I am so socially awkward.
Are you on TikTok? Do you have autistic traits? The algorithm will punch you in the face until you accept the fact that you might need to get tested. At first, I thought the jokes about TikTok’s algorithm were silly, but one video after another after another of people like me talking about traits that I had and seeing thousands of people commenting “me too” was staggering.
I very much feel that after all these years, Autism Awareness is actually happening.
