Going Public with Asperger's

[creativeaspie]

I just wanted to share with the community here my "coming out" story and encourage others to give me feedback (if you want).

Autism | John Saddington

I just want to encourage everyone to remember how special and unique we are. Sure, we all have challenges but we also have unique opportunities to provide significant value to others and to our community.

A long story short, I personally felt like coming out and using my platform would be my own personal opportunity. I weighed the pros and the cons and I'm happy with my decision. Thankfully, I have a lot of support from my close family.

This is in no way prescriptive as each autist has their own unique perspective on being public or not; rather, this is just part of my story.

Have a great weekend folks!

john

 

[ifightdragons]

Thanks for sharing this. Your writing struck a chord with me. I will show this to my mom, who seems to be in partial denial about me being autistic.

"If you’ve met one person with autism… you’ve met one person with autism."

 

[MoCoffee]

Welcome to aspiescentral John. I read your "coming out" blog and really respect the way you approached the decision to go public. I too have been fortunate to have a very supportive family, and this diagnosis has actually brought us closer together. I hope you really enjoy getting to know the people here. I have.

 

[Ereth]

Thank you for sharing, John! I just might print your post and show it to my father. He's supported me through everything, and I love him, but sometimes he still seems to have trouble accepting my autism. I spent most of my life unaware of it, so obviously it's one thing he's had to cope with as a parent. He's also a member of a generation that didn't have much knowledge about psychological treatments compared to today. I can understand why he expects me to just "turn it off," so to speak, but of course I can't.

Hopefully your missive will help.