tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426050656197929065.post6484680598660197541..comments2024-03-19T18:36:41.875-04:00Comments on Yes, That Too: I HidAlyssahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06413844178426365789noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426050656197929065.post-27876716282446155542013-01-07T10:21:40.266-05:002013-01-07T10:21:40.266-05:00I hid for 41 years. I didn't even know... or s...I hid for 41 years. I didn't even know... or suspect. I didn't escape though. Locked up in an Idaho kid's prison at thirteen for "running away from home" to escape abuse; ostricized from the normal (?) kids for being "different", kicked out of the house at 16, homeless and addicted to drugs for the next twenty years, and finally, prison... five years... where they finally gave some attention to my life, and decided it was autism. Too autistic to understand.<br /><br />Having never been able to hold a job (with some failed exceptions), I apply for SSI. FAIL. "Not autistic enough", they figure. But I sure was autistic enough to show through life history that I couldn't fit the shell of normalcy... the normalcy society demands we fit.<br /><br />I never could fit. I didn't even know I was autistic and couldn't even fit. I still don't fit, and though we now know why, they still demand that I fit.<br /><br />EPIC fail, society of enlightened persons. Epic fail.<br /><br />But I find my true family of the lovers of life itself in our autistic community. We love each other. We share a bond that can't be broken. <br /><br />Not even through chains and prison's cold dark walls. It only made me stronger, even if confused. #WinningErnestWeaverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10757855616114587587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426050656197929065.post-49953841146345083012012-10-04T10:45:57.780-04:002012-10-04T10:45:57.780-04:00Thank you for sharing this... its so empowering!Thank you for sharing this... its so empowering!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02839217895499159551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426050656197929065.post-18094317736761472882012-09-28T22:05:05.704-04:002012-09-28T22:05:05.704-04:00Every time an Autistic adult comes out of hiding, ...Every time an Autistic adult comes out of hiding, an Autistic child gets their wings! Thank you both. Heather Clark @Mom2Rebels https://www.blogger.com/profile/08487924965837789013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426050656197929065.post-69595167884568385492012-05-20T11:43:38.720-04:002012-05-20T11:43:38.720-04:00Seriously, I swear you are me. Except that they kn...Seriously, I swear you are me. Except that they knew. And they forced me to hide. My parents knew, my school knew, and my parents knew that if they said anything, I wouldn't be allowed to take the hard classes. So they abused me. They hurt me and they terrified me into appearing just barely on the "right" side of normal, and it cost me so much sanity it's hard to even quantify. I didn't know until college. And I'm too scared to un-hide. I think my PhD advisor knows, but I haven't given him the words. (he's known me since undergrad, likes me and my quirks <br /><br />(I'm finally making my way through your archive... I try to do so on all the blogs I read.) It is so wonderful reading things from you. You just "get" it... what it is like to be me. What it is like to be you. Those of us who had to work so far beyond our means to attempt to pass, and do pretty well, well enough that the first line out of someone's mouth when you say "I'm autistic" is "you're too smart/articulate/successful/etc to be autistic." but then use all of your autistic traits to hurt you. We're sometimes too good at being "invisible".E (The Third Glance)http://thethirdglance.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com