Diary of A Young Asperger (ON HIATUS)

Sunday, 23rd May 2021

I received feedback earlier today, and it's an important one. 

One of my acquaintances, who has high-functioning autism, came forward to speak of her honest feedback when reading my entries. Although I was happy that she was able to relate to my personal stories, she also pointed out what I call my biggest hypocritic point—me growing out of my Autistic self but remaining as an Aspie and messing with these terms.

According to her, the concept of growing out of it implies that Autism is a phase or a disease that can be cured or grown out of pretty easily, which made her feel uncomfortable. And looking back at my entries, I wish I realised this sooner. 

Imagine how many readers I've hurt due to this, and the fact that I thought I'm doing something good here. 

But I'm not going to be hard on myself—understanding autism and myself as an Aspie is my main aim when writing these entries. So trust me when I say that it made my day better when she goes on to educate me on why it made her feel uncomfortable about it. 

I gave myself some time to process this new point and evaluate my thoughts about it. I wouldn't say it was easy, but just like anything else, it can be a challenge to confront your own self about any content in mind.

Soon enough, I realised that I didn't actually grow out of it—instead, I learned how to handle myself better. And ASD is just a spectrum, my specific area is Asperger's Syndrome and both are connected one way or another. So there's no point in me saying that I grew out of ASD but am an Aspie since both are pretty much the same thing.

So technically, I still have ASD but in a more specific way—an Aspie. 

I wouldn't be thinking about this if it wasn't for her feedback, which was why I hold such significance in her feedback. 

It's much needed for my own self-growth and understanding of myself. 

Once again, I'm not an expert whatsoever—I'm merely someone who aims to learn and understand the concept of autism, and myself as an Aspie. I speak based on my thoughts and experiences, and from what I've learned about it so that you can have someone to lean on and relate to—I never had anyone to relate to, so feel free to use me as your form of comfort. 

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Author's Note: Hey, it's me again! Just dropping by to say thank you for reading and as always, stay safe and have a wonderful Sunday <333