More Than Disabled

I know that people see us as weird and that makes them uncomfortable. I find that it hurts me now more than it used to. I gave it thought over these last few days to try to sort out my own feelings. I think it’s because I see myself differently. Before spelling, I saw myself as completely disabled. Now I see myself as a twenty-four year old college student who happens to talk by typing. I am disabled, of course, but I don’t think that’s all I am, nor do I think I am wholly defined by it. 


So when people act awkwardly around me, to me it means that they see nothing but my disability. They do not see the Tyler beneath it. And that hurts because I am so much more than my inability to speak. I am full of love and curiosity. I am full of desire to learn and have fun. I am full of knowledge and compassion and loyalty. So when people reduce me to nothing more than autism, it hurts.

We are not just our disability.