autism is extremely misunderstood — there are many successful autistic people who are brilliant and thriving, but their autism is ignored and erased. so, here’s something autistic people can use for positivity, and non-autistic people can use as a tool for understanding autism better
here’s a list of some famous autistic people:
dan aykroyd
satoshi tajiri (creator of pokemon)
dan harmon (creator of the show community)
adam young (owl city)
vincent d’onofrio
susan boyle
daryl hannah
temple grandin
hikari ōe (composer)
courtney love
stanley kubrick
and here are some famous historical people from before autism was studied, who are theorized to be autistic/have been posthumously diagnosed as autistic through their writings and the writings of others about them:
albert einstein
mozart
isaac newton
charles darwin
emily dickinson
nikola tesla
abraham lincoln
tom wiggins (most famous piano player of the 1800s and a blind former slave)
and here’s a list of some canonical autistic characters (autism is mentioned in the story and/or the writer or actor has confirmed that the character is autistic) that aren’t harmful or inaccurate portrayals:
abed nadir (community) — said repeatedly on the show and by the show’s creator dan harmon, who is also autistic
spencer reid (criminal minds) — said repeatedly in interviews by the actor and hinted at on the show later on
temperance brennan (bones) — said in interviews by the actress and the character was written to be autistic
rich purnell (the martian) — said by the author of the book
sonya cross (the bridge) — said repeatedly in interviews by the actress, and the show’s producers hired an autism expert (an autistic person) to help create this character
rebecca blithely (strange empire) — said repeatedly in interviews by the show’s creator; written to be autistic but takes place before autism was studied/named
alternate universe!astrid (fringe) — said in interviews by the actress
lisbeth salander (the millenium trilogy) — mentioned in the book
special mention: mike warren (graceland) — said on the show that he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child (autism is often misdiagnosed as ADHD and the two are very often comorbid), and he’s referred to as a “savant”
special mention: wilson fisk (daredevil) and robert goren (law and order criminal intent) — both played by autistic actor vincent d’onofrio and have autistic traits
canada is currently considering banning imidacloprid, which is apparently “one of the most widely used bee-killing pesticides in the world”. this seems pretty huge, so if you’ve got two seconds, add your name to the list! as of posting this link, they need just over 8,000 more signatures by february 21!
Hypervigilance can cause fatigue guys. PTSD can cause fatigue, anxiety and depression can cause fatigue, Bipolar can cause fatigue, any and all mental illnesses can.
Please understand if youre mentally ill and physically or emotionally fatigued, that is not you being lazy! It is your body and brain being tired of fighting your illness! You are tired because youve been fighting.
This struggle you are going through is real, please do not let yourself or anyone invalidate you further by saying youre lazy.