Lottie

I’m Lottie

I’m 21

I’m from the Uk

I’m vegan

I’m autistic

And yup. You guessed it. I’m also poor and on benefits. Surprise I can also be vegan still :D

To put it bluntly. I don’t give a fuck about your excuses not to be vegan. It’s a coincidence that all non vegans on here have some sort of excuse.

I can be blunt and I can also be overly emotional. Realistically it’s not a great combo.

Anyway I love animals please stop exploiting them thank you!

And yes I’m also left, I do care about people too before some of you all start with that shit. Shocker, we can care about more than one thing at a time :o

There’s a 99% chance I’ll forget to switch accounts and end up reblogging unrelated posts. It’s just a warning lmao.

I also like to bake so you might get random posts about cakes

‘Am I missing a crucial part of vegan philosophy here?’

Anyway backstory. I am autistic, I was diagnosed nearly 3 years ago after a good few years of me just doing nothing. Seriously. I had no friends, I stayed at home. Was the good life to be honest.

I am speaking right now as an autistic person. Yes I know there are autistic people with higher needs. To put it bluntly right now, this isn't about them. This is about the people who use autism as an excuse. Same with the people who believe they are helping by going 'what about people who are autistic?'.

Autism isn't just one thing. For example, I will not have the exact same needs as someone else who is autistic. We are all different people. In fact I, like many others dislike it when we are all lumped in one group. Because we aren't the same. Each person is different. It is commonly agreed that each autistic person is different.

So why is it not the same when we mention veganism? Why is autism being used as a reason why we supposedly cannot be vegan? It is because it is being used as an excuse, often by people who aren't even autistic. We do not need you to use us as an example just so you can shit talk vegans.

It is absolutely wild to me that people will just speak for us all. Like yeah, there will be some who would struggle. I am not saying that there isn't. But when people blatantly use autism as one of their excuses I just stop listening. Like okay, maybe that is your reason. However there are a lot of us. Not everyone's autism appears the same. So why couldn't they try?

I have sensory issues. Before I was vegan, I struggled with eating too. I have safe foods, even now. When I realised the abuse and exploitation that animals are put through, I realised my own experiences were nothing. The idea of eating eggs after learning what happens to male chicks put me right off. So I stopped. I looked for my safe foods, started with them. Same with stuff that I have tried before. Now I have been vegan for nearly a year. And I wish I went vegan before.

To be honest, a lot of the talk around it feels infantilising. Yes I understand I am a lot more privileged than others. I don't struggle with communication too much. I am verbal for example. But when people speak for us, it feels like you don't see us all as people with our own voice, that we can choose and speak against the cruelties. All because a section of us would not be able to.

I'm going to repeat myself here. This isn't about the people who are non-verbal and have carers. This is for the autistic people (and the non-autistic people who speak for us) who know of the horrors.

Anyway. I am not a rich person. By any means. I live on a council estate. I have grown up in the same council estate. In fact I still live in one. I am on universal credit. Yes I get more on universal credit than most as I have lcwra. However it is still less than minimum wage. So after paying my mum rent it is obviously even less.

And I am still vegan. Because the thing about it being for rich people is confusing as fuck. Yes most of my money goes on food. However that’s no different to if I wasn’t vegan. In fact, now I often have more money left over than before, and I am eating better too.

And truthfully I’m not gonna rant about food because veganism isn’t just about food. Food in general can be expensive. But when I am able to consciously choose not to pay for the exploitation of living creatures. That is what I am going to do.

And also. I think we should all know this by now but apparently not. Veganism isn’t all about what we eat (I know right). Is it not cheaper to stop funding the exploitation of animals by not going to zoos and aquariums? Is it not cheaper to not go to circus that have animals than it is to go? Of course it is. In fact, I could count the amount of times I’ve been to any zoo or aquarium in my full life on one hand. In my nearly 22 years of living, I’ve been to zoos about 5 times and aquariums a similar amount. Because they’re expensive days out.

In fact the zoo closest to me is £27.99 for one adult day ticket. And that doesn’t include transport. The closest aquarium is in my city. And it is £24 for an adult. Then I’d need to pay at least £6 for bus fares to get there.

Another thing. I don’t go and watch and bet on animal races. It’s exploitation plain and simple. And guess what. I save money. I don’t waste it betting on those poor animals. I don’t pay towards there abuse. I’m not paying on the off chance I win a bit of money, so these horses can get injured. And then get killed when they’re no longer bringing in money.

So yeah. By being vegan and not visiting this places. I am saving money. And surprise surprise I can still enjoy myself and have fun without funding animal exploitation. Like there’s several free museums near me. We have a free art gallery. I have a library card so I can borrow any books I’d like. I can walk around the many parks we have here.