You are not a bother. You are not a burden. You are not a waste of space. You are not annoying every person you talk to. Your existence matters. Your presence makes a good difference.
I started using Head and Shoulders ten years ago for itchy scalp and dandruff, and then for ten years I have not had itchy scalp and dandruff, so I thought “why do I still buy shampoo to combat itchy scalp and dandruff when I do not have itchy scalp and dandruff,” so I stopped buying the shampoo for itchy scalp and dandruff and can you guess I have now? Can you predict what currently afflicts me? It’s alright if you can’t because apparently I fuckin couldn’t either
In light of the things RFK said about autistic people recently, I feel like it's important to remember where the term "Asperger's Syndrome" came from.
It was the nazi's way of sorting between "useful" autistic people that could still work for them, and "unwanted" autistic people that would be sent to the camps. We kept using the term until very recently to my memory, and I'm not one to speculate but I wouldn't be surprised if the distinction comes back into popularity in the near future. Or even becomes legally recognized.
This isn't about whether or not you personally paid your taxes or wrote a poem. People have value and a right to exist regardless of their ability to do those things, and the second we forget about that and say "oh but I'm not the kind of autistic person he's talking about, I'm useful" we've fallen directly back into the line of thinking they had in literal nazi germany.
Imagine growing old with her. Imagine watching as the wrinkles come in, deepening the lines on her face that came from smiling, the frown line from when she concentrated, the crows feet from that devious look she’d get when she was going to do something silly and couldn’t hold in her giddiness. Imagine the way her eyes will soften as you grow together, and that fond exasperation she’ll look at you with when you do something she doesn’t really get but has accepted because it’s a quirk uniquely yours. Imagine that day you would’ve smiled a hundred thousand times together, laughed so hard you couldn’t stand, found comfort in each other so intense that a mere hint of them could ease all tension from your body.
What a privilege it would be to grow old with her.