You don't speak for Low-functioning autistics
Not-autistic people use this line a lot when trying to devalue the statements of autistic people that they deem as āhigh functioningā.
So, as one of those ālow functioningā people they point at as counter-examples, I am standing up and saying āyes they do.ā
I do not speak, I do not understand when you speak. Remember you said āthose people who cannot speakā as evidence of the label.
I need help going potty. I am not proud of it, but itās a fact of life. I need to pee just as often as you do, but my body doesnāt tell my brain that, so sometimes my pants get wet when I remember to put them on. That makes me low functioning by your standards. Remember - you said āthose people that need help going to the bathroomā as evidence of the label.
I cannot make reasonable decisions about finances. I spend hundreds of dollars a month on an Internet site that gives me a virtual world in which to have friends because in the physical world people scare the poop out of me (see previous point about why that is a bad thing). Remember - you said āthose people who canāt handle finances for themselvesā as evidence of the label.
I need 24/7 care so I donāt hurt myself by accident because I forget what I am doing while I am doing it, such as cutting an onion with a sharp knife and wave my hand with the knife still in it. Remember you said āthose people who need round the clock careā as evidence of the label.
Yup - I fit your bullet list of low functioning.
I donāt post arguments against your ableism and attacks on autistic people. Not because I agree with you but because fighting hurts me. When you claim I need to be ācuredā, I do not call you out and say mean things about you because being confrontational hurts me, not because you are right.
You are not speaking for me in my silence, you are speaking over me. I want to tell you what an ass you are but my head wonāt let me fight because it HURTS for me to argue.
While your head lets you be an ass and say untrue things, my head wonāt let me. I must always be honest AND I must also maintain calm or I might get violent. This does not prove your point, it only silences me. Silencing me does not mean you are right, it only means you are more willing to be an ass than I am.
The āhigh functioningā autistics that argue for rights for me DO speak for me. In ways I cannot fight they defend me. In places I cannot go because of my fears, they stand for me. In groups that scare the poop out of me, they clean up the mess for me and stand for me.
You, who are not autistic, do not stand for me. Do not tell those that are capable of fighting your hate that they do not speak for me. They do.

















