That's the thing about my mind...

http://aspergersgirls.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/day-62-females-with-aspergers-syndrome-nonofficial-checklist/
So, I found this on my friends list. For shits and giggles, I went through the whole thing.
I'm at 99 percent. The only one I paused at was 13 under Section I: "The middle spectrum of outcomes, events, and emotions is sometimes overlooked or misunderstood. (All or nothing mentality)." I've always seen everything in shades of gray... however, a strong part of me often wants to skew white or black on some things. Examples: Legal abortion choice, gun ownership choice. I am extremely for both without compromise. Which often puzzles many partisan people.

Also, this.
Dude. Dude.
So, I just got off the phone with the office for one of Maryland's delegate candidates. After listening to an assistant explain the candidate's policies and issues supported, I said I had more questions... and so she put the candidate herself on the line. I explained about my disabilities and asked how she would support accessible transport on the county. She was enthusiastic about that. She had been supporting it for years, she said. And then I pulled out the big guns: I told her I was autistic and I wanted to know if and how she would support advocacy for autistic adults. And she made me happy. She worked with autistic teens and young adults, she said, and believes that autistics have powerful voices, beautiful minds, and must not be shut out or neglected. I explained how we don't have much of a voice, and she said that she was "absolutely willing" to help with advocacy, and she fully agreed that since autistic kids grow into autistic adults, their voices are incredibly important. We thanked each other. And she made an offer for me to visit her in Annapolis to discuss opportunities for Montgomery County and how to help autism self advocacy, as well as accessibility for all disabled people. I have never talked to a political candidate like this before. I was stunned by what came out of my mouth. She was so excited. It was incredible. I told her I would vote for her.
You guys, what did I just do? Did I really just pour my heart out to a candidate for our state's House Of Delegates who actually listened to and supported me? I'm physically shaking right now.

I am not becoming. I am peeling away layers to un-become everything I am not so I can be who I was meant to be in the first place. -paraphrased from unknown online quote.

I Will Not Keep Calm, But I Will Carry On

For those who have been messaging me asking to share my words along with the "I Will Not Keep Calm" meme, the answer is yes, you may share. In fact, to make it easier, I'll make everything shareable as one.
***

EXACTLY.

(I'm not going to back down when you tell me that autistics are cursed and suffering. I am not going to back down when you tell me that people like me must be experimented on just to see if we feel pain. I'm not going to back down when you tell me I don't have a right to speak up about my needs as an actual autistic, that your right as "someone who works with autistic peoples/a parent of autistic kids" means you know better about my brain than I do. I'm not going to back down when you blatantly announce that people like me should not exist, that our very selves should be eradicated just because you don't like how our brain works to the point where you will falsify data, lie socially, commit fraud, spread toxic propaganda, and act like you know better than me concerning my personal interests. I will not keep calm. I will not be nice. I will not tone done my anger. Until you are able to accept autism as a divergence and not a disease, I will not stop poking and aggravating and annoying you. I've had some really good teachers. I have a chosen brother who is a self-proclaimed asshole with a heart of gold, who has shown me what it is like to explode rhetoric properly, and I know how to choose a battle to fight using proper logic, reason, fact, and science. And there are many people behind me. Do you know how many autistic adults are out there? You don't. Because you don't care about the ones who can and will speak up and speak out. And I am going to help change that.)

(Addition: Because I have cerebral palsy, I will add that other disabilities, such as other neurodevelopmental disabilities, could be included. I, personally, am proud to have cerebral palsy as a part of me. Same with autism. If you want to remove my disabilities, you want to remove me. And I like me. )



Yeah, life. It does things as you get older.

"everyone can't be right
but everyone will decide

i'm not afraid of the price i pay
i won't lie down as you walk away"

Shh. I'm being sneaky!