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Poem

4/6/2014

1 Comment

 
Originally posted 4/5/14

Autism Understanding/Acceptance Day 3:

Patricia posted this earlier and I thought it to be such an eye-opening poem that I wanted to share it because it shows the dual narrative of how we refer to neurotypical vs autistic behaviors in different lights. The double standard quickly becomes clear, and the artifical divide between our two communities still clearer.

The Language of Us and Them, By Mayer Shevin

We like things.
They fixate on objects.

We try to make friends.
They display attention-seeking behaviors.

We take a break.
They display off-task behavior.

We stand up for ourselves.
They are non-compliant.

We have hobbies.
They self-stim.

We choose our friends wisely.
They display poor peer socialization.

We persevere.
They perseverate.

We love people.
They have dependencies on people.

We go for walks.
They run away.

We insist.
They tantrum.

We change our minds.
They are disoriented and have short attention spans.

We are talented.
They have splinter skills.

We are human.
They are…….?
1 Comment
carly dooley
9/22/2015 03:17:32 pm

offensive!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    About Creigh

    I'm a college student who grew up with my Autistic younger sister, Caley. I've got a bachelor's degree in Psychology and I'm currently studying for my Master's in Speech Language Pathology.

    Neither of those, however, have given me an understanding of autism. All of my understanding comes from learning from the many autistic people that I know. As a result, I have a very different outlook on autism than most, and a burning desire to tell the world what I've learned. This blog is one of the many areas in which I attempt to do that.


    *Note, none of these make me a professional, so advice I give is not professional advice.

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