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Autism as disability

I understand that autism is simply your condition when you are not neurotypical. But I am willing to own autism as a form of disability. One example: I like to do laps at the pool but prefer to go when it is not too crowded. As such, I select times when there are relatively few people (not easy in metropolitan Sydney). If I go and there are more people than I expect at that time, I can get anxious and less likely to go - after all, there should not have been all those people at the pool when I wanted to swim. I know that sort of rigid mindset does not make me happy but unfortunately, it is part of my disability. I believe I need to recognise there is a problem rather than deny it.

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It's a perspective thing, whether you decide to lable Autism as a disability or not.

In legal and medical terms, you are 'disabled'. But as far as socail interaction terms. That's where it's tricky. I personally don't see it as a disability, as much as a difference in function. To say it's a disability, means you recognize your functions as faulty. And there are ND folks that dislike thinking of it that way, let alone receiving it that way from NTs.

But I do agree that recognizing it, is necessary to know how you'd like to handle it. Alot of NDs use planned contingencies to help with handling the unexpected twists and turns of life.
 
My experience of autism comes with baggage such as anxiety, depression, rigid thinking, and other issues which do prevent me from doing things I enjoy. These can be managed and blessedly, my depression is not like it used to be. I guess I see my autism as a package deal. I get the good stuff like being happy without the need for other people for long periods but the negative stuff as well - such as the rigid mindset I used in my example above.
 

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