No, You Do Not Have a “Bit of the ‘Tism”

This is such an infuriating thing to me. My ex used to say this when I would talk about my autistic experiences and it annoyed me so much. I would say “yeah when I get overstimulated I want to peel off my skin” and was met with “oh I don’t like loud noises maybe I have a bit of the ‘tism” please explode. It’s a genuinely offensive thing to me!!! There are other things regarding autism he would say, like saying hyperfixations are cute (gross) or touching me again like ten minutes after I would say I’m overstimulated… (this is not why we stopped talking but I am curious if this is weird/toxic behavior)

Regardless, saying you “have a bit of the ‘tism” is such an offensive thing to me because it’s taking my life, smashing it down into a label, and slapping it onto your shirt because you think it’s funny, or cute. Having autism is not fun. Every day I am overstimulated, overwhelmed, on the verge of breaking down and miserable in social situations. You do not wish you had autism and you do not wish you hyperfixated. Both are miserable.

I enjoy researching my hyperfixations but when I have to do actually important life things, like dishes or homework, I end up getting sidetracked for hours because I go down a rabbithole about the ocean or HSR or something. IT IS NOT FUN.

Can we please stop romanticizing and fetishizing autism as a collective? It’s really gross and offensive. Maybe not everyone feels the same as I do but it’s such a miserable experience when people joke about having autism when they do something dumb or don’t know something obvious. It’s okay to make a mistake you don’t have to demean an entire group of people.

In summary, it really annoys me when people say they have a bit of the ‘tism, or say “he’s autistic” when they do/feel completely normal things and then compare it to actually autistic experiences which are like 20x worse than they could ever imagine. It makes me feel icky and gross.

Nobody has to interact with this post I’m just using this to like wordvomit feelings.