taptrial2:

the reason why some autistic people have big talents is because we study what we love with a passion, and we practice what we love with a passion. it isn’t a gift, it’s information found and retained and discovered yourself or by learning from others. it’s a dedicated relationship between you and your “talent”, your “gift”, and when you push, it pushes back.

it’s also anxiety about being inadequate as an autistic person. am i talented enough to be allowed to be autistic? if i show people that i’m gifted like the people in articles and on tv, then will people be able to say autism without looking as though they just licked a raw lemon for the first time but are trying their best to keep their composure?

there’s a pressure on us to have talents and be so talented that neurotypical people gape. but then when we do work hard and learn and study and practice and develop skills with intense love and passion, sometimes for years, people assume that it wasn’t us, it was a gift from god. it wasn’t work or dedication, it was a miracle that came out of thin air, because autistic people don’t learn or work, we are gifted.

(neurotypicals and allistics can reblog, but please don’t add commentary.)