There is beauty in the ways we move
Every flapping hand and tapping leg
Every spinning, rocking, bouncing body
A symphony of stims
Producing an ethereal melody
The flowing motions of bodies always moving
A special joy lives in our interests
A bubbling, warming, overflowing joy
Derived from our obsessions
We become troves of information
Ready to share at any moment
Wanting to spread the radiance we feel
We build our days with routines
Comfort and peace live in repetition
That which brings a sense of calm and safety
These motions carried out again and again
In a familiar pattern known deep within
Carry us through our days
We see the world differently
Noticing the beauty of the smallest details
The world colored in crisp black and white
Experiencing senses, emotions, life so intensely
Possessing minds that find the solutions others can’t
Seeing magnificence in that which is so often overlooked
Our lives are piles of good and bad things
Just like yours or anyone else’s
The good neither erased nor overshadowed
By that which is unpleasant
And so we call for acceptance
Of all the good and even the bad
Autism awareness is coming
But that will not help us
Awareness paints us as monsters
Burdens, tragedies, problems to be fixed
Highlighting all the bad
While throwing out the good
And so we go Red Instead for acceptance
And call upon you to join us in this fight
We are done asking nicely to be seen as human
We now demand acceptance
Acceptance of brains that work differently
Acceptance of the things you do not understand
For there is good in autism
There is beauty in the ways we stim
Special joy in the intensity of our interests
Peace and safety in the routines we build
Advantages to minds that developed differently
There is good to being autistic
A Call for Acceptance
Published
knitting in the dark 