Autistic Hedgehog

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Nov 25

This is a rant, and I apologize. I'm a 29 year old, married autistic woman. I recently revealed at work that I'm 15 weeks pregnant, and instead of the congratulations that my other coworkers have recieved I was simply asked "Can autistics get pregnant?". I'm still confused - my autism effects my mind, not my uterus. Then they asked if I was "emotionally capable" of caring for a baby. They have all been reported to HR. I just don't understand why they thought it was okay to say those things.

Anonymous

I’m so, so sorry they did that to you. That was the product of ignorance, ableism and privilege, plain and simple, and it was wrong. They thought it was okay because ableism is deeply ingrained in society, and people are taught all the wrong things about autism—and sadly, they thought it was okay because in truth, allistics aren’t naturally more empathetic than us. They just assume they are and many of them never teach their kids true empathy.

But they’re also wrong. Why shouldn’t you be emotionally capable of caring for a baby? Don’t let them get you down. This is a big thing in your life, and you deserve to be happy about it.

And congratulations!

Posted 2 years ago

38 notes

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