#shaanai-thinks

I am so fucking done with autism being used conversationally in the same way as “idiot”.

Like when my substitute teacher had a guy draw a picture of a man then had the rest of the class grade it —one kid shouted “A for Autistic!” [I should note that what he drew was terrible by anyone’s standards.]

Or when someone says that you need to “autism proof” something.

Or that something is so easy an autistic person can do it.

I mean, seriously. People don’t even know what it is, or what it entails. They don’t seem to understand that autism has many forms and it could be sitting right beside you, hearing you say these hateful things.

I do my best to call people out on it, to raise awareness. I did this recently when someone said something. I wasn’t outright shaming them, I merely said “I take offense to that.”

What happens? The guy next to them says, “My brother has autism and I don’t take offense to that.”

OH, WELL EXCUSE ME, KING OF OFFENSIVE WORDS. I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE THE OFFICIAL ON THE SUBJECT.

You, instead of me.

I have autism. I am autistic.

I am smart, able, and guess what, I can even draw.

That isn’t what autism is. My form actually requires a high IQ for diagnosis. Autism is a learning disorder, yes, but that isn’t what characterizes it.

Do you know what one feature of just about every form of autism is? Terrible social ability.

That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? It probably doesn’t. I’m sure some would read that and laugh. But that’s because you’re not understanding.

I, we, cannot interact correctly, and this cripples us. Some of us cannot talk. Humans are social animals. Our inability to socialize makes it hard for us.

Because we cannot always read your social cues. We cannot consistently detect your sarcastic voice. We might not know that your question was rhetorical. So we answer.

And you look at us like we’re dumb. Like we’re weird little freaks to be shunned. So we are. Because we’re different, and we might not know what’s wrong, because no one stops to tell us. We just try to interact, and we’re met with disgust.

And we go one wondering what we did.

Wondering why it seems the whole world hates us.

Because sometimes it’s not that we don’t understand, it’s that we simply can’t. Sometimes things can’t be fixed. But we try.

Trust me, we try. We try, I try, so hard.

And in return, our problem is used to imply stupidity.

We’re not stupid. A lot of us are smarter than you. It’s just that we have the entire puzzle, and no way to put it together. We lack the means to communicate and connect like others.

Well, Haku is a ninja. I try to think of the practicality of clothing when I make it, so the fabric makes sense. Haku would need durable fabric, so I’d probably say some kind of cotton or gabardine. His sweater is a bit confusing because his pants appear to be the same fabric. This entry from his wiki: “Haku’s normal shinobi outfit consisted of the standard Kirigakure pinstriped outfit which stopped at his knees…” tells me it’s probably one piece, and that it’s not ribbed, like a sweater, but striped. With that in mind, I’d try to find cotton fabrics that worked in that respect. You might find one pre-striped, or you might need to draw the striped yourself. A bit tedious, I know, but taping can help you get nice, even lines.