People Controlling Autistic People
So there was a video on TikTok that has inspired me to talk about this subject as I feel it is very true about today’s society.
So a TikToker by the name of William Wehrli posted a video about the three things you shouldn’t do with an autistic person (I will include the video below)
and in the video he mentioned at number 3 about denying Autistic people choices and using that as a means of controlling Autistic people. As an Autistic person (I have Asperger’s Syndrome) this is something I instantly related to and spoke up about on my own TikTok.
The truth is that yes, society tends to control Autistic people, take my situation I wrote about with Liam Bennett, I feel like I have no say, choice or rights to my own thoughts and feelings on the matter and this is due to society being taught that Autistic people do not understand what is known as “social norms”.
Now why I bring this up is cause society has tended to over exaggerate the word “normal” and made it more than what it is, when it comes to “normal”, as a friend of mine in the pup community once put it, normal is things like eating, sleeping, brushing your teeth, showering, stuff that you are suppose to do daily or on a regular bases. Now when it comes to emotions and feelings, this goes beyond normal as every person is different and thinks and feels differently about their situation, even if someone has been through the same situation as another person, what works for one person, may not be the best option for another and to deem this normal is completely going into controlling.
Now back to the whole of how society is controlling Autistic people, due to society deeming certain ways to handle a situation as “normal” an Autistic person, and each Autistic person is different, society tends to try and take away and control an Autistic person’s thoughts and feelings and not give them any options or choices on how to handle a situation they have been put through.
Take my situation with Liam for example, society has deemed because he had people threatening me that I am better off without him and need to keep him out of my life, that is being forced on me and something that consistently happens to me and other Autistic people on a daily bases and when not given a say or choice in the matter this tends to traumatize the Autistic person and make them feel, at least this is how I have felt anyway, that they don’t have a right to their own thoughts and feelings or a say in their own life. This makes it harder for Autistic people to trust those around them and also pushes them to be anti-social or to want to keep others at a distance to protect themselves from getting hurt as they feel they can not trust anyone. It can also lead an Autistic person to commit suicide.
And on the subject of suicide, I’d like to bring up that a study has found that most Autistic people die younger than those who aren’t Autistic, the two main leading causes being suicide and epilepsy, with suicide being nine times higher in a person with ASD with no cognitive disability than that of the general population, mainly due to bullying on a daily bases that people with ASD endure.
The point I am making is this, with the rise in awareness of Autism, society needs to stop treating Autistic people as if they do not have thoughts and feelings as they are as human as the rest of the world and are capable of coming to their own conclusions and deciding what is best for them. Denying them their own basic human right to control their own life is nothing more than bullying and controlling an Autistic person and leading to an early grave for many Autistic people.
