Somebody once asked me, a little horrified I think, “Wait - what are the bad parts of being neurotypical??”
I’d made an offhand comment about how being autistic has good and bad parts, just like being neurotypical has good and bad parts.
I think one the bad parts of being neurotypical is that you don’t get so many of the amazing parts of being, for example, autistic.
Neurotypical people can fidget, for instance, but they can’t ever know how good it feels to have your body just flow into a stim, to feel your thoughts start lining up or your body get comfortable when you stim the way you need to. Autistic people (and some others!) have this amazing experience where our bodies find motions that express and comfort and regulate in ways that neurotypical people can never fully understand.
And neurotypical people can enjoy sensory experiences, but to be autistic is to have a unique relationship with sensory input. So much of our sensory experiences are amplified compared to those of NTs , and while that can and does cause overload etc. sometimes… when the input is good? It’s glorious. Good fabrics and good sounds and good smells and good tastes and textures - we get to feel them all more intensely.
And echolalia! Echolalia is so good and so enjoyable and neurotypical people, I think, get only the barest shadow of what it’s like.
NTs can have hobbies and passions and callings, but they can’t ever, ever know the pure and consuming joy that is a special interest.
There are good and bad parts to being autistic. Neurotypicals, you’re going to have to accept that, and along with it the concept that autistic people have good experiences that you, by virtue of being neurotypical, simply cannot have.
You don’t see yourself as an object of pity because you lack those experiences, do you? You aren’t going to pour millions into research to have brains like ours, are you? I mean, even if you could do it, you wouldn’t be you anymore. And the way your brain works is just fine for you, you don’t mind not having good autistic experiences because you have your own!
Well - same. I don’t want to be neurotypical. Being autistic is an integral part of my personality, and I wouldn’t give up my good autistic experiences for a shot at your neurotypical ones in a million years. What I want is to be accepted for who I am as an autistic person, for people to respect and accommodate my needs the way the world respects and accommodates your needs as a neurotypical person.