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So if you find yourself slipping up/getting worse/not able to do things you were before don’t freak out, it might just be the time of year. 

They talked about how before the diagnosis they’d often have meltdowns.  But, after the diagnosis, and subsequent treatment, they never did.  Instead, they were super anxious about everything.  They internalized and suppressed everything.  They talked about how they were trained to by the treatment.  How they were taught specifically to manage other people’s emotions, and the only way to do that was to repress who they were. 

Somewhere I read that a symptom of autism/ ASD is a tendency to feel victimized. Feel. And I couldn’t get that out of my head because there is a difference between saying that and saying “a tendency to be” victimized. Saying “feel” carries the implication that the victimization is in one’s head. 

There’s probably a reason people with ASD feel victimized:

1. Autistic children are more likely to be bullied. 

2. Autistic children are more likely to be abused.

3. Autistic children are more likely to experience sexual abuse and the abuse is less likely to be recognized because symptoms of being abused are often misinterpreted as “normal” autistic behavior. 

4. Autistics are more likely to be sexually assaulted because they are often taught compliance from a young age in therapies like ABA.

[Edit with more links on this topic]: Info On Autism & Sexual Assault Personal Essay On Why Autistics Are Vulnerable ABA Teaches Compliance Not Consent

5. Autistics are more likely to be unemployed.

6. Employers discriminate against autism, autistics are more likely to be bullied by their coworkers, and many autistics lose their jobs because of it.

7. Schools find loopholes to discriminate against autistic children. 

8. Autistiscs have a higher risk of experiencing police brutality. 

9. Autistics are being murdered by their own caregivers, and the murderer is often given a lighter sentence because the victim was viewed as a burden.

10. Autistics suffer because they are not given effective medical care.

Anxiety

Anxiety