I also talked about the variety of experiences we have relating to knowing (or not knowing) that we’re autistic, and the different ways other can react to us if they know we’re autistic, and how that affects our self-concepts and experiences. Our interactions surrounding the discrepancy between our realities and others’ perceptions also affects how we think of ourselves, how we relate to others, and what skills we learn.

In Part II, I talked about variation among autistic people: we each have a particular constellation of neurological characteristics that lead to different combinations of abilities and needs, which other people are often not very good at understanding. I also briefly mentioned executive function, the usefulness of routines and structures, motor difficulties, and a few other common differences, plus some common co-conditions, and discussed how having these differences, and having to interact with others surrounding them, results in our developing skills and coming to new situations with particular expectations for what will happen. In Part I of this series, I talked about how good representation of autistic characters shows interiority-characters’ inner experiences and reasons for doing things-and how various aspects of autistic neurology affect our experiences, particularly sensory differences, language and speech differences, social skills and abilities, and our ability to strongly enjoy specific interests. Part II explores Diversity in Autistic Characteristics and Demographics. Part I explores autistic interiority and neurology.

A Rational Arrangement by L. Rowyn