Ten ways why being #autistic is like being #queer:
1. No one knows exactly why we are like this, but there have been people like us for as long as there have been people.
2. We did not choose to be this way.
3. The majority does not understand what our lives are really like, and probably never will.
4. Being this way isn't the problem. The problem is how people treat us for being this way.
5. We see people, life, relationships, and society differently.
6. Growing up, we knew we were different, but we didn't know why.
7. We learn early to mask our true nature, because society punishes us when we don't conform to the norm.
8. We die by suicide at a rate higher than average. We die by violence at a rate higher than average.
9. There are a lot of parents who would rather their child be dead than be like us.
10. We don't want to be cured. It's only other people who want to cure us.
