Little Miss Different [in editing]

13: Not A Coincidence

Content note: contains depictions of ableism

Winter is walking Ashley and it's the best thing ever!

Because Ashley's quite old, he doesn't pull on the lead or the harness, but he is wearing a special paw-print coat because his fur is very short and thin. Winter is extremely excited. She's out of the house to walk the dog all by herself - and she's doing it! Her mums are going to be so proud.

Winter sees a family of three up ahead. The mother is wearing a bright blue dress with Autism Saviour's logo stamped on it and the two children are walking miserably next to her.

As the family near, Winter sees...

Is that the famous Himura family?

Winter frowns angrily. That woman must be Rin Himura then, Autism Saviour's most famous sponsor. Ugh, she's disgusting. She makes Winter feel sick.

"Good morning," she says politely as she passes, making sure her #RedInstead top is obvious to the  Himuras. The smallest girl, roughly ten, looks at it and smiles.

"Mum, look! It's like the people at the Autism Saviour place you tried to give you a leaflet!" she says as Winter walks past.

"You shouldn't listen to them and their anti-cure ideas," says the mother shortly.

The other girl rolls her eyes. Winter gives them both a grin as they walk past.

Back at the Himura house

"What an awful girl!" exclaims Mrs. Himura. "Promoting that awful tag instead of helping fight autism!"

Katie and Lucie glare at Mrs. Himura in an exasperated manner like she's talking an alien language.

She probably is.

"Calm down, Rin," says Mr. Himura. "You can't blame her, what with those pro-autism charities getting more headlines and whatnot. Silly, really. It's not like autism is a good thing."

"Yeah it is," says Katie. Even Lucie is a bit surprised - she's heard her sister complain about her parents' ableism privately but never to their faces! Lucie grins excitedly.

"I'm sorry, Katherine. I don't think I heard you probably," says Katie's mother, warning Katie in her tone of voice. But Katie isn't very good at tone of voice, so she continues.

"Autism is good," says Katie. "I'm autistic!"

"Don't say that!" gasps Mr. Himura. "Underneath your monstrous autism you're a real, normal person!"

Why is Mr. Himura trying to mask the ableism with mock shock?

"She can say whatever she likes," types Lucie. "It's a free country, and Katie is in charge of her words."

"Be quiet!" shrieks Rin Himura. "What is this nonsense? Has all these years of Autism Saviour events taught you nothing?!"

"No, they've taught us how awful some ableist people are," types Lucie.

Mrs. Himura gasps in horror. "How is it that my own kin are turning against me?!" she wails dramatically.

"You've always wanted to deny any relation to us," types Lucie.

[Image description: A lovely picture of Katie and Lucie by @MissLunaRose entitled 'Giggly Sisters'! Lucie is on the left wearing purple and with her hair put up in twin buns, and Katie is on the right dressed in pink and with her hair put in a plait. The sisters are at Amancia's house and are smiling at each other. Thank you so much, MissLunaRose! This is a very beautiful picture!]

About five years ago

Mrs. Himura's grip on Katie's hand was far too hard. The little five-year-old's collection of stuffed toys and plushies were trailing on the shopping centre floor. Her variety of toys were dressed in pink and tied together by a long pink ribbon wrapped around them.

Lucie was walking next to her, arms swinging by her sides, grinning whilst she daydreamed about octopi. Lucie liked to pretend she was an octopus. Octopi swim around and can camouflage. Maybe if Lucie was an octopus, she could turn Katie into a mermaid with a pretty pink tail and they could swim away from all the people who were mean about them.

"Mummy," typed Lucie. "Can we go to the special shop and get all the fluffy teddies?"

"No," snapped her mummy. "I am not spending even more money on you two!"

Lucie saw the hurt look on Katie's face and turned her phone volume down. "It's okay," she typed, holding it closer to Katie so she could hear the sound a bit better. "I'll get you a fluffy teddy for your birthday."