#kogago

Hella to the yeah I’m a MK fan! I have loads of fatality faves from MK9, it’s either when Lui Kang turns into a dragon, both of Baraka’s fatalities or Reptile’s head munching.

Hi there. Just thought I’d say, I liked that comment about people that say you “Don’t look autistic.” No, an autistic person does NOT look a certain way, and you’re 100% right for saying that.  Don’t get me wrong, if you pay attention long enough to a person who is autistic, you might be able to tell, but like you said, it’s not so much looking the part as it is acting it.  Hell, I’ve mentioned to people that I was autistic, and thank god they say “You don’t seem autistic.” instead of that. Mostly because when they say that, I can understand where they’re coming from. Because I’ve met other autistic people and after a while, you can at least guess. 

It really brings to mind the whole “Nature versus Nurture” debate. I mean sure, I have some autistic tendencies because I’m autistic, but at the same time, I think part of the reason people don’t always notice, was just because of the way I was raised. To be honest, my parents didn’t care. Not in the sense that they didn’t think I had it or didn’t think it mattered, they knew I had limitations, but they absolutely refused to let me be bound by those, or to use my autism as a crutch. I couldn’t say I did something because I was autistic, I just did it because I didn’t think about the consequences and that next time I should. And then I did. 

They refused to treat me like I was some fragile piece of glass and spoil me, and treated me like a regular kid, and frankly I’m all the happier for it. 

This is probably the most unexpected piece of mail you’ve gotten on this site. But I felt I just had to say this once I saw that post. It’s funny, I don’t think I’ve ever actually met a female with autism. I’ve heard that it’s actually much more common for men to have it comparatively speaking. I guess it’s kinda true, because I think I’ve met…let’s see…7 or 8 boys with autism, but not one girl. 

Come to think of it, it says you’re from the UK. In Canada autism is a very accepted thing and nobody really judges somebody for having that. Doctors don’t beat around the bush and our schools do try to help. What’s it like over in the UK though? 

-------------

Well first of all, thank you for taking your time to write to me, this is pretty thoughtful of you!

I was treated the same in part of my childhood. I did attend to this school through to Year 2 before I had to go to a different school (which was a mainstream school). And then I just carried on from that, blending in to the other kids. In that sense, I didn't know I was autistic until I was 11, when my Mum was talking to a member of a specialist group from my high school that I was going to. In all honesty, I'm getting fears that either I'm too normal to act autistic and just be a regular in this world or that I become too dependant on somebody so much that I need a social worker when I'm 50. I admit, I'm on the mild side of the spectrum, but it's still a scary thought to me.