Top 10 Things Autistic People are Most Tired of Hearing

The Top Ten
1 "Why don't you get friends?"

My brother is autistic. He doesn't have any friends. He doesn't want them. But I'll tell you. I know a lot of autistic people who have far more friends than me. Autistic people have always seemed nicer than everyone else.

I have autism, and I don't care if I don't have friends because at least I go to a group for people with autism and make friends with them. I'm very careful about who I should be friends with.

Well, joke's on you. I already have a good amount of friends (no, they are not imaginary or non-existent). By the way, why don't you get a soul?

2 "Autism is a disease that needs to be cured"

I totally agree with this one. I'm an Autism rights and Autism acceptance advocate. Autism Speaks gives charities a bad name, and it should be banned from here on out because it makes autistic people, including me, look like someone who should be left out in the cold.

I'm ready to heal and help the autistic community because we want to spread the word of accepting one's differences and that being autistic isn't a bad thing. I am the way I am and nothing's going to stop me. I choose red instead of blue. #AutismAcceptance

3 "You're faking it for attention"

Yes, my years of having no friends, developmental delays, sensory pain, and struggles to stick to a daily routine are all a performance JUST FOR YOU. You're THAT SPECIAL. (/sarcasm) Autism has neutral and good parts too, but clearly, you don't care because you're only interested in putting me down. If you are going to be like that, then please give me zero more seconds of your attention. Yes, I mean leaving. I strongly dislike your attention. Please have a nice day somewhere else.

This is the worst thing you could say to someone who has autism. Why would someone want to draw attention with that excuse? It's horrible. I think nobody would want to do something like that.

4 "Vaccines cause Autism"

I have anti-vaxxer parents, and I know what this feels like. My parents believe that autism is caused by thiomersal, which hasn't been used in vaccines since 2001. I wasn't even born back then. They also claim that before vaccines, autism was very rare and originated from mercury getting into the water. Ironically, they tell me that the world would be worse off without autistic people.

They say I was a typical child until I received my flu shot and MMR vaccine together. According to them, I then became very sick and developed autism. They wish I were no longer autistic. I want to tell them that Andrew Wakefield was a fraud, but I'm afraid they won't believe me. They think the government is hiding the truth and that the rise in autism diagnoses is part of a research project to study the condition.

The reason why autism diagnoses have increased over the years is that our understanding of autism has grown. Consequently, the diagnostic criteria have evolved, leading to more people being diagnosed. I only realized this when my mom made me watch Vaxxed last December. The film made me feel bad about myself. I dislike hearing parents say they "lost" their children to autism and will "never get them back." This view makes me feel damaged and inferior.

There's nobody I can talk to about these feelings. I regret being diagnosed and sometimes wish I had been born in a different time period, one where people didn't know about autism, so I could be lost to history. I'm ashamed of my autism and dislike other autistic individuals, finding them strange and annoying. I see autism as a terrible curse that has denied me a happy, normal life. I'm envious of my two siblings who have many friends, while I have none.

Adding to my concerns, I've been undergoing chelation therapy for many years and just found out it's dangerous. I want to tell my parents, but I'm afraid they won't believe me. Chelation therapy essentially argues that it's better to suffer from... more

5 "Stop covering your ears"

It is annoying. When I'm in the cafeteria at school, I can barely hear my friends because people are yelling across the room and having casual yelling conversations, even though they are told not to.

I ALWAYS put on headphones or earbuds whenever my relatives start speaking in baby talk, mostly when they're speaking to babies, toddlers, or my cousins. If they are not extremely loud, I blast my music so I can drown out their talking.

"If you want me to suffer, then I can go ahead and stop covering my ears!" Since our ears are more sensitive, loud noises can be painful to us. This is why I wear headphones so much.

6 "You should really talk more"

Me: You should really shut up more.

Would you rather have me be quiet and never speak, or talk and "annoy you all to death?" There's a reason I don't talk to many people.

You do realize that some autistic people can't even talk at all since birth.

People have told this to me before, but when I start talking no one listens.

7 "Quit being so sensitive"

Quit trying to change me. If you can't survive being nice to others, don't go near them at all.

8 "Bronies are the highest form of Autism"

I'm on the spectrum, and I HATE MLP. I wish I could torture Rarity. And what if the person with autism has never heard of MLP? Saying autistic people are retarded is offensive. What if there's a baby on the spectrum? A newborn? You think THEY'RE an MLP fan, huh?

Putting people who happen to have a disorder that no one else can accept or understand in a sentence with adult men who make porn from little girls' shows is super insulting.

Although I'm not an MLP fan myself, I think that just because they like the show doesn't mean they have autism. People should respect others' opinions.

9 "You are retarded"

I'm not offended by the word most of the time. But when people assume I'm intellectually delayed just because I have autism, that's when it does offend me. Most autistic people are very smart, and I would say I have at least an average level of intelligence, if not slightly higher than average. Autism does not affect intelligence most of the time. It only does in severe cases, which are rarer than you think.

I LOVE using that word (to call people stupid, not mentally disabled, by the way). But if you're using it to call someone disabled, prepare for me to act like Freddy Krueger when he killed Joey.

10 "Are you retarded?"

Just because there are fully grown individuals who are functionally and mentally at the level of a toddler (as in today's radio broadcast of "This American Life"), that (perhaps partly due to such media descriptions) the general population associates with autism, does not mean the majority of autistics are that way.

Also, having cerebral palsy does not make someone the "r" word, so stop calling them that!

That should also be number one because some autistic people might take it the wrong way.

The Contenders
11 "You're mentally challenged"

Just because autistic people find some things very hard, like challenging schoolwork, that doesn't mean they're mentally challenged.

12 "How old are you?"
13 "If you are a teenager, why do you watch Super Why!? You love it?"
14 "Autistic = disabled"

Autism is a different ability, not a disability.

15 "You're never going to get friends"
16 "I bet all you watch is cartoons and nothing else"

I remember a couple of girls bullying me for a similar thing when I was 7.

17 "Wait, you're autistic? You have that disease thing?"

One time I was at an all-autism party my parents sent me to, and there were these two kids my age who didn't know it was an all-autism party. When they found out, they just shouted, "WHAT? I'm in a disease party for sick people?!"

18 "You're such a baby"
19 "Outcast"
20 "Why can't you take a joke for once?"

YES. Some of the jokes that people in my family tell me wouldn't even be funny to someone who ISN'T autistic! I don't see WHO would laugh at being forced into doing something that you have already done and didn't like as a joke.

I always feel embarrassed when it comes to me and my family. It's like I melt into the ground with shame in under a split second. It feels that bad, y'know... We are not stupid.

21 "Milk causes autism"

Oh no. First "vaccines cause autism," and now this.

Everybody drank milk when they were little. Does that mean that EVERY person who existed on this planet has autism? NO!

22 "You are going to have it for the rest of your life"

Yes, I knew that from the very start. However, I'm completely cool with that.

I know that, yes. Does it bother me? No!

23 "You're faking it for excuses"
24 "Repent to the Lord and ask him to take that evil autistic spirit out of you"

No, you repent! God made me an Aspie on purpose. It is a trade-off of social and motor skills for intellectual and creative skills. I have a purpose for society, whether big or small! So, you should repent for your rejection of neurodiversity and ask that the evil spirit of discrimination be taken out of you!

I must admit, I can be a little devil sometimes (always, tee hee), but autism is not an evil spirit. I only need one evil spirit! I should troll my father tomorrow - maybe cover his office in tin foil.

25 "Do you like Sonic?"

Just because someone has autism doesn't mean they like Sonic or YouTube Poops.

I am autistic and like Sonic, but not every person who likes Sonic is autistic.

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