You’re a marginalized person with many beautiful and unique qualities. Your needs are value-neutral, and your emotions are helpful signals to respond to that don’t merit any shame. Autism has always been a powerful driving force in your life, often for the better, even when you did not know that it was there. Now that you do know it’s there, you can work on accepting and loving the person you have always been beneath your mask, and practice sharing that version of you with the world.
