Celebrate Autism. Autism Is the Power of One

I get tired of people trying to cure me and fix me, as if I'm a broken toy of no value. I'm autistic, not disabled. Maybe in addition to finding a cure, because some Do suffer with it, we need to celebrate and appreciate who we are.
 How can we acknowledge, accept and even revel in who we are, if everyone says we need adjustment and management and a fix?
 Autism is the Power of One.

 I was born with a unique and varied way of communicating. I had to learn, teach myself, how to speak and learn the foreign language of those around me. Few can understand the immensity of such a task for a small child.
 Through observation, reading, research and mimicry, I have self-taught myself the weird and varied societal norms, rituals, customs and vernacular. I have worked my hiney off, to no ones notice but my own. I have accomplished mega milestones that would befuddle the average person on the street.
I say, I proudly accept who I am. I celebrate the fact that I see the world in a most unique lens. I enjoy having a mind that acutely focuses on detail, can research obscure subjects well past the time others quit and can fascinate myself with, what others may say, are mundane special interests. I love to see and discover the patterns all around me. I adore the intricacy of a single, magnificent blade of grass. I feel the beauty of a gentle Spring breeze and the labyrinth-like bark of a tree.
My super hearing allows me to hear the gentle flapping of a birds wings, the sound a water skidder makes on a pond and the varied tones of leaves hitting the ground.
My acute touch sensitivity helps me determine good people from bad, let's me feel where someone hurts and comforts me like the softest, most caring of pillows.
 My inner world is a fantasmical creation of wonder, logic and magic, never to be fully shared or realized by anyone but me. My imaginary friends are the Best!! They don't fight or argue and are always there for me. My imaginary friends can beat up your honor students, cept they are completely non-violent.
 I worry that my child-like naivety and curiosity will be maligned and destroyed by the unsavory outer world. I have the highest of moral codes and had to learn to tell white lie, to spare others feelings. I try so darn hard not to hurt anyone else, because I know, all too well, of pain.
As I can experience great beauty, I can feel depths of pain. I will not sacrifice one to avoid the other.
  I refuse to stay in the box and color inside the lines. I generate new ideas and novel ways of looking at things. I am a creative problem solver.
 Don't try to cure or fix me, cause I'm not broke.
 Celebrate my many abilities. Recognize that I am a fully healthy and loaded with gifts.
 I am proud to be autistic.