Should I disclose my disability on social media?

MOO

@miriam Great response, Miriam. You have a very positive and healthy outlook!

Miriam

@marsha-kay-ottum-owen
Thank you! I'll admit that every once in a while I get sad or frustrated about it, but usually, I am able to be positive and see the blessings in my life. I believe that I can learn from any situation I am in, and it can help me become a better person. Looking for things I can learn from the challenges I face helps me to have a good attitude. I am grateful for my religion and my faith in God, which helps me have a positive perspective and brings me peace.

smceccarelli

I think the very fact that you started this conversation identifies you first and foremost as an intelligent, sensitive and capable human being, with principles, ideals, and creativity. I am sure having autism affects or has affected your life in many unpleasant ways, but it obviously doesn´t affect your ability to create art and to communicate your opinions and intentions clearly - which is all a customer can ever care for (if I can talk in my role as AD).
I wouldn’t see any harm in “outing yourself” on social media - especially given the potential impact on other people´s life who struggle with similar or related conditions. Clients come from all possible venues and may or may not necessarily be aware of your social media activities and content. If they are, I would not expect the majority to have any particular concern. Nearly all communication with clients happens in writing anyhow, and it´s clear that you have no issues with that.
Incidentally, one of my current clients is on the spectrum. And while I have most of the interaction with his parents, this 9-year-old boy has initiated a non-profit dedicated to the conservation of the oceans. He organizes beach-cleaning days and gives lessons to other children about marine life and envionmental awareness. If this is what people with autism can do, then we need more of that!

Wow.
I never thought I'd get a response like this. I don't really know what to say, I'm completely overwhelmed. Thank you all so very, very much!

@Miriam @carriecopa Thank you for sharing your own disabilities. I know I'm not the only one who's brain and body are causing problems, but somehow it was comforting to hear from you. You're both absolutely right that it's better to be open about it. I can pass for "normal" most of the time, but sometimes my behaviour is atypical. I have a job at the playground every other weekend, and sometimes I will tell the children what's up if they're wondering why I'm tapping my chest (something that calms me down) or wearing sunglasses on a cloudy day (light sensitive). Parents are usually happy about me educating the kids a bit. And very surprised to find out that autism can't always be seen on the outside.
I have yet to tell my boss about it, but think I will soon. Mostly just to get him to stop calling me on the phone all the time. Email really does work better for me as well

@Chip-Valecek Thank you. Yes, I am high functioning, and really grateful that I can act "normal" enough to be independent. I know the stares though. My brother is low functioning, and I get them too when i start stimming in public. It would be nice to be able to educate the whole world at once, but one at a time is better than nothing
And to @Eric-Castleman Thank you! People being open about it online is what has helped me accept myself and my autism as something good. You're absolutely right, now is a very good time to "come out of the cave", as the world is starting to value diversity more and more. That is a really good point.
And to both of you @Eric-Castleman and @Chip-Valecek Loads of strength and energy to you guys. I'm sure you're both great parents, and that you're working much harder than other parents has to. I know me and (especially) my brother was quite a handful, and we don't tell our dad often enough how grateful we are for all his hard work.

And thank you @smceccarelli It's very uplifting to hear this from an AD. I feel very lucky to live in a time where text-communication is standard, because I'm pretty useless at verbal communication.
Thad kid seems so cool! I bet he feels at least as strongly about the oceans as I do about drawing, in which case he's gonna change the world. I'm really curious, what's your role in this project?

And thank you @Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen and @Kevin-Longueil ! That was really encouraging!
You're right, I could do without the people that thinks my disorder is more important than my work. While I do struggle with the economy most of the time, I do have a weekend-job now, and it wouldn't ruin me to lose those clients. Thanks for the reminder.

To everyone, again, thank you so, so much! It is so very uplifting to know that there are such lovely, understanding people out there. You have no idea how happy and motivated you've made me.
I need more time than others to process information, and especially when it comes to making decisions. But you've encouraged me so much, I have no doubt that I should start sharing my "secret" soon.
I'll probably start slowly. Maybe just put in a "aspie" in my description or something, so that only people in the autism-community (or the ones that bother to google) will know what it means.
I want to start making wordless books, or books with sign-language, for special needs-kids. Maybe a bigger announcement could come along with that.

Thank you again. I'm very grateful that you all took the time to read and respond.

smceccarelli

Way to go - to use your special awareness as a strength and make projects that tap into that!
For the Microactivist Foundation (that’s the name of the non-profit) I am doing a book cover. The book is about the dangers of releasing balloons (which then fall back into the ocean mostly and cause all sorts of havoc to marine creatures) - that is the current campaign they are focussing on.

@smceccarelli Wow! I googled it. That is such a cool project. I'll definitely check in on it again, 'cause I'm very curious of how that book cover is going to look

Andyg

Aspires rock we are awesome. And as an aspire I bet you’re more talented than you realise.

Andyg

And I hate it when iPad corrects aspie to aspire.

Feel free to post here too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Aspieart/
I am high functioning. My dad is. I suffer from unexplained anxiety days. My son is a computer genius, but really struggles at school. I run a boardgames group 25% of whom are aspie. And as my other hat as a minister we support and advocate for a lot of families affected by our awesomeness. And if anyone doesn’t like the way I say we are awesome you have to realise that being non Neuro typical means life is tough and we struggle sometimes to just face it. But knowing we have something to offer (obsession....lateral thinking or extreme logical thinking....or something else rather extreme) means we can keep going.
And no, everyone ISNT somewhere on the spectrum. You’re just jealous ;-)if that’s what you think, thiose of you who don’t have our super power.
To infinity and beyond! Or something like that

I’ll shut up now

MOO

@embla I think my husband is an Aspie to some degree and he can be a bit different but is very successful all these years As long as you are thinking of special needs I just saw an article in the SCBWI Insight about fonts to use that would help dyslexic kids (if you are interested in that too). And, I just want to say that, I think we all have our disabilities and some just aren't labeled. Go forward! You'll be just fine

Miriam

@marsha-kay-ottum-owen
That is so true. We all have our own challenges in life!

I believe that seeing the obstacles we face as challenges and learning opportunities, rather than troubles and set backs, can help us use them as stepping stones to become stronger and more talented, as well as help us be more positive and happy.

It's strange, but having a good attitude and perspective about problems helps me to recognize and be grateful for the blessings and good things in my life.

Andyg

The other thing I should mention is that I have not found that telling people is too much of a big deal. In fact since I have chosen to be more open it’s improved a number of problems I did have. So although I’m not socially inept, I do have problems with knowing what to say, shutting up, taking turns and so on. But the benefits far out weigh the problems. So I apologise that I may come across in odd ways, talk too much, and once I’ve met someone I feel like I have known them forever so may be over loose with my conversation, or just not say something in the ordinary stream of things. This is because, as I explain, I have aspergers. I then quickly say that it means in my job it’s really useful as it gives me the creativity, the ability to see in pictures and explore ideas, and when I am being a minister break down barriers quickly. I also am able to help other people with issues of all sorts because I understand better than most. I have had people in the past be really nasty telling me how I am interrupting or too noisy or whatever. But once they know, they seem to cut slack.

But when people also see what you have overcome, then they become impressed, stop complaining about their own issues, and try something new. So I end up inspiring people.

There are always horrible people, but keep going and you start to find that there are far more people who are sympathetic.

@andyg Hey! How good to hear from you! This is really insightful, thank you very much.
This is really funny to read, because I do the same things. Especially: not making difference between strangers and close friends, and thereby not realizing how some subjects of conversation aren't always appropriate. It makes for hilarious or embarrassing situations - depending on how you see it.

I used to ask people to just let me know when I was being too loud or interruptive. It helped me in being less annoying, and others in getting less annoyed.
I admire your confidence. You seem like you don't care that much if people find you annoying or not.

It is a really good tip to bring up the positives of asperger's right after saying you have it. I would have never thought of that, but it's really obvious when you say it. It's way better to say "and it makes me great at this and that" instead of "but it doesn't mean I can't handle this and that" - which I would probably go for. So much smarter to point out the strengths rather than pointing out all the stuff that's difficult.

It's very good to "hear" this from you, because I've talked to another artist with AS, and he has had bad experiences from letting people know about his condition. The difference is that he is doing work for fine art galleries, and I somehow suspect that the book illustration community would be a bit more open and including. I have no proof of this though. Do you think it's the genre that makes the difference? Or is it just your positive approach?

Thanks for the uplifting words. I'd love to join that facebook page of yours

Will Terry

@embla I certainly don't have the answer and reading some of the comments there seems to be a lot of support.

I can only add that I've found comfort, support, and love by sharing my learning disabilities and insecurities from my childhood as one who was bullied - on my youtube videos and on social media. Because I'm strong enough now to handle any comments that might seem threatening I've decided to share my experiences to hopefully help others.

I've only been met with understanding and compassion with a healthy dose of commiseration from those who traveled similar roads. We all have disabilities whether we want to admit them or not - some are worse than others. I'll bet there would be much more support for you than you think.

Cheers,
Will

Andyg

@embla just follow the link and feel free to post life’s not always easy, but I’ve kinda decided that I can be strong (being a minister means I also claim JC on my side, but this isn’t the forum really fir that kind of chat)so that I can encourage and speak up for those who struggle. It’s isolation and ignorance which causes the problems. The ignorance of others causes us to be isolated. It’s kinda weird, but when I get together with my aspie friends it’s like we don’t have to keep second guessing what each other really means.

@will-terry Thank you Will! I actually remember seeing a video of yours where you mentioned that! I remember it because it was really encouraging. Even if it's not the same disorder, they're basically in the same "neurological family". I thought you were really brave to talk about it. Yours is a great example to follow, I think

@andyg Thanks Andy. I'm so impressed with all the people speaking up. There are many who are speaking for us, but we need to get better at speaking for ourselves too.
I've definitely found friends and family becoming more understanding once I've informed them of how I function. And having discussions about our differences helps both sides understand each other. It just takes being open about it to get that discussion started.

I really like hanging out with other aspies too. I went to my first support group-meeting a while ago, and it was the first time I felt like I was part of the group. Best thing about it is that I get all the jokes!

Andyg

@embla fantastic!