I Am Autistic — I Do Not “Have” Autism

Many years ago, I witnessed a conversation at a business conference that left me astonished and confused. Now, fair enough, as a neurodivergent person I spend most of my life witnessing things that I cannot fathom, but this particular exchange stuck with me. During the first coffee break of the day, an attendee was complaining loudly and angrily that he did not have a badge showing his name and organisation like the rest of us. As someone who likes to remain as anonymous as possible at large events, ideally by not attending at all, this amused me at first. He went on to explain to the hapless administrator that he wanted to talk to other attendees, and he wanted them to know who he was and who he represented. What an ego, I thought to myself. Of all the things to be stressing about! <a href="https://medium.com/@markpalmer_81150/i-am-autistic-i-do-not-have-autism-fd536c98cfaf">Website</a>