Understanding Autism
On this website, you will find personal narratives of many individuals with autism. In order to answer the question: What is autism?, we feel that there is no better way to do so than for those with autism to respond themselves. We have carefully chosen excerpts of narratives from individuals with autism so that they themselves can help us truly understand autism. Note that this is a small representation of individuals with autism, and the insights written here are not all encompassing and universal for every individual with autism. However, the insights here can be immensely useful in developing a greater understanding of what some of the behaviors, language, and memory mean in association with autism. Throughout the site, we try our best to honor the identities of the individuals in the way they refer to themselves, i.e., "people with autism," "autistics," and "autistic people."
We have grouped these personal narratives under different categories to help you to navigate and understand different aspects of what it means to live with autism:
Keep in mind that these categories are not mutually exclusive, and they are certainly not exhaustive, and that the complexity and uniqueness of individuals with autism should not be undervalued. We hope that you enjoy reading these personal narratives, and listening to, and watching, videos of individuals with autism, in the same way that we have. Understanding is the key that can help unlock the door to the complexity of individuals with autism, which can thus lead to greater support, accommodations, and interactions with individuals with autism.
"People tend to diagnose autism with really specific checkbox descriptions, but in reality, there's a whole variation as to what we're like"
-Rosie King
by Gerhard Beck
Earliest childhood
What is lacking ? The doctors would like to know.
Delays, limitations
Lack of practical experience and common sense
Don’t look at me that way, so stiffly
Where is the abundance of meaning ?
Too close to other persons
And this way of speaking, so precocious
And this endless pausing
Woefully little mutuality
Where is empathy ?
Obsessed and rigid instead
In any case: lifelong !