...looking back and reframing life...

“To find out you are autistic is quite a realization to have in your teens, but in your 40s or 50s it means you have to look back at your whole life and reframe everything; every incident, every moment, with this new lens to look through. It's like getting glasses after spending your whole life near-sighted. Obviously, the longer you've gone without the diagnosis the more work you have to do in looking back. And in some cases, the more damage to your spirit, psyche, and relationships you have to undo.” 

~ Rudy Simone, Aspergirls

...real but not obvious...

“This is the crux of AS--our challenges are very real but not always obvious to others. Therefore our behavior is not understood.” 

~ Rudy Simone, Aspergirls

...a true authority on the subject...

“Counselors, psychologists, doctors, and educators are trying their level best to get their collective heads around Asperger's, and offer valuable therapies and tools we can use. They have a bit more catching up to do where female AS is concerned. If you are an Aspergirl, you are a true authority on the subject.” 

~ Rudy Simone, Aspergirls

...self-taught...

“Most of the Aspergirls I interviewed were self-taught readers and many had similar experiences with maths, music, and design.” 

~ Rudy Simone, Aspergirls

Autism Acceptance Month: 'Smile' - Autism & Feminism

I've been an autistic feminist since birth. Sounds a bit hyperbolic, doesn't it? After all, one can't make decisions about their philosophical ideologies as an infant, and you'd be right to be skeptical of anything said by anyone who really believed they had. No, what I mean is that I was part of a feminist household. My mother is a feminist, and she raised me with the ethics and philosophies of feminism. Long before I knew what philosophy was, or that feminism had a political presence, I believed that everyone is, and should be perceived as, equal, despite any differences, real or imagined. Today, I proudly state myself to be a feminist.

Likewise, while I didn't know growing up that I am autistic, I was already expressing myself as an autistic person. I tended to be tomboyish, not in a sports way, but in a climbing trees and collecting rocks kind of way. I generally disliked wearing skirts and dresses, preferring comfortable pants and overalls which had pockets to put random weird shit into that I found on the ground. I was fascinated by science, especially astronomy. I had numerous special interests. I had food sensitivities that sometimes resulted in dramatic scenes (I recall an incident with a macaroni and bean salad). I had a lisp, which I viciously corrected on my own. I became so stressed in middle school, that I got ulcers, and generally suffered from other stomach issues. I was rather solitary. I didn't have a lot of friends. And I had the distinct sense that I was different. The list goes on. But I had no idea that some of the things I experienced could turn out to be a link between autism and feminism.

...a subculture within a subculture...

“Women on the spectrum are a subculture within a subculture. We have many of the same quirks, challenges, habits, traits and outlooks as men, but with our own twist. It is not so much that Asperger syndrome (AS) presents differently in girls and women, but that it is perceived differently, and therefore is often not recognized.”

~ Rudy Simone, Aspergirls

...we aren't boys...

“When doctors, parents, teachers, therapists, even television describe typical spectrum kids, without meaning to, they’re describing typically male spectrum traits — patterns first noticed by observing boys. Only boys. And we aren’t boys. So they miss and mislabel us.” 

~Jennifer O’Toole, Asperkids