Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Speaking out

So a while ago I was in a short documentary on the myths surrounding Asperger Syndrome, and wrote a blog post on that. Today the National Autistic Society (NAS)'s Twitter account, which I've been following for the last few months, put up a link to that documentary online. I'll admit that my initial reaction was "Oh shoot, people I know might see this." Then I thought, why shouldn't they (you?) see it? I'd love for more people to know about Asperger Syndrome - when I write my blog posts here I sometimes hope that people I know will read and learn more about how my condition sometimes affects me. Maybe it feels a bit different in that my blog posts are written text, while the documentary shows me speaking - than again, it always feels awkward watching videos of myself (a universal issue?).

I'm happy to talk about my Asperger's and depression if people ask and genuinely want to know, then again it feels like a bigger step to go and make the first step of starting a discussion about it. Maybe I feel that the documentary is a way of me making that first step, something I have difficulty with in social communication anyway. Then again, I have to push myself - how else am I going to challenge stigma if I don't talk? I'd love to live in a world where we can talk about things like autism and mental health openly without stigma, being someone who speaks out and tries to change our current world into this one is difficult. I think it's something that I have to do, though.

So I'll be brave, and post the link here:
https://vimeo.com/66121269

I'm not sure I'm brave enough to post this elsewhere, though. That's a cowardly thought. I'll put it with the link to my blog on my facebook page, and see if anything comes from that. No, I'll put the link up on my status, and try to hide from the internet for the rest of the evening. It feels like a huge step.

Done. Now to distract myself playing Katawa Shoujo again (I replayed Rin's path yesterday, today I might play Shizune's since I remember that one least well).  

Also, the NAS Twitter page is worth following for finding out more stuff - I feel like I'm advertising here.

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