We live in a world where other people make the rules for what counts as “normal” behavior, so it can create tension if we break those rules by accident, don’t understand them to begin with, or aren’t able to follow them even when we want to. Autistic brains follow different rules, and thrive better in environments where we have freedom—to move around, avoid eye contact, write instead of speak, ask lots of precise questions, and stay away from spaces that are too loud or bright. Treating our experiences as valid—not as “too sensitive” or “too literal”—frees us to focus more attention on what
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