something that i think neurotypicals don't always understand, at least about me but i'm probably not the only one who feels this: i am autistic, but "autism" doesn't really exist in my internal world.

i happen to exist a certain way and do things a certain way, and i have been told some of it isn't normal, and it lines up with this diagnosis. so i say those not-normal things are "because of autism." especially when those things roughly correspond to reported "symptoms of autism". but i really don't know that, because there is no distinction between "me" and "the autism". it's just the label i was given for the particular ways that i am different.

@ActuallyAutistic group