You Have The Right To Not Have Abusive People In Your Life

Lately I’ve been seeing on Facebook quite a few posts around the theme of choosing not to have abusive people in our lives, even if they’re other autistics – and the resulting furore, especially if the writer dares to say these people are narcissistic or similar. Some even seem to have been driven out of the community, or at least off social media, by the relentless attacks from their abusers. I’ve also received some criticism myself, either when I chose to support those making this choice, or I challenged some people’s glossing over the abuse, or from other, more private sources, because I dare to call out those who do abuse or maltreat us – something I also apply to other autistics.

So, at the risk of ‘stating the obvious’ (though it seems to some people it’s not, and we autistics don’t always ‘get the obvious’ anyway), let me make myself one hundred percent clear here, to my brother and sister autistics –

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PUT UP WITH ABUSIVE PEOPLE.

EVER.

It doesn’t matter if they had a rotten childhood, or have been abused themselves, or had a hard life in some other way, or they are just plain old jerks.

It doesn’t matter if they have some type of personality disorder or not, if they ever had a formal diagnosis, or have never had one but fit the criteria, or have a mental health condition, or are …just jerks.

It doesn’t matter if they are autistic too, even ‘top’ advocates, or just well-known personalities.

It doesn’t matter if they’re family, or your partner, or you’ve been ‘friends’ with them for ages, or they have some other hook into you.

It doesn’t matter if they’ve surrounded you with people who support them and not you, and you know you’ll lose a lot of people if you dump them.

It doesn’t even matter, ultimately, if you’ll be financially and practically worse off without them, and that it’s going to be extremely hard to get them out of your life, and you’re not even sure how to.

In fact, in the end, nothing matters except that they are abusing, bullying and/or manipulating you, and you need to get away from them, by whatever means necessary.

And no, you’re not being ‘nasty’ or ‘unsympathetic’, not to want such people in your life. You can feel sympathy for their plight, but from a safe distance! Remember that it’s actually THEIR responsibility, not yours, to sort themselves out. Even if they struggle to do so, it’s still not your problem or your fault, and you don’t have to take them back. You don’t have to hold their hand, metaphorically speaking, while they’re steadily draining your life force. You don’t have to pay that price anymore. You have the right to set boundaries, and stick to them.

And yes, they will use any and every angle, every trick in the book, to get you back under their control again. I’ve heard just about all of them, from both those who dumped on me, similar people, and their supporters, known as ‘flying monkeys’.

Just sharing recent examples, for instance - if I went back years, there would be lots more - I’ve been told that I was ‘stigmatising’ and ‘demonising’ people with personality disorders for daring to point out how badly many of them behave, and had my words rewritten to equate having one to being autistic, though there is actually no comparison. Personality disorders are the result of damaged psyches, and you CAN heal from them, with the right treatment. They are therefore NOTHING LIKE autism, which we’re born with, and which is simply a variation on human, not emotional damage, though of course people can have a personality disorder in addition to being autistic.

Another time, I was told that I’m ‘ableist’ and ‘judgemental’ of people with personality disorders, that I shouldn’t say that they tend to be abusive as ‘only abusers abuse’. To which I pointed out that if you have a diagnosis of a personality disorder in the first place, or you fit the criteria for one, you are at far greater risk of either abusing or being abused, especially if you refuse to examine yourself and get treatment. I’m guessing that they didn’t like this much either. But I’m getting better at standing my ground with such people. (Sadly, this wasn’t always the case.)

I’ve also been told that I’m showing a ‘lack of empathy’ for those who had hard childhoods, that I’m ‘judgemental’ of those with mental health disorders (though my friends beg to differ), that I was ‘unsupportive’ of a particular critic (I guess all those hours empathising with their problems during so many of their long and frequently tedious rants don’t count), that I’m ‘claiming to be perfect’ (something I’ve never in fact said, nor ever would), told I shouldn’t write about what I’ve been through without giving those who have shat on me a ‘right of reply’, and so much more. All combined with a not-so-subtle pressure to let them back into my life so that things can be ‘sorted out’.

And so on, and so forth. I’m sure you’ve heard similar things from the abusers/manipulators/drama addicts in your life. A constant stream of distorted ‘facts’ and selective ‘memories’, all designed to break your will and wear you down. And let them back in. Always, of course, on their terms.

DON’T DO IT.

Don’t let them in. Or if they’re already (back) in, get them out by whatever means you have to. Blocking, unfriending, deleting, leaving online or IRL groups, cancelling, moving house, dropping unsupportive people and the abuser’s flying monkeys, refusing to engage, leaving town, leaving the country even, whatever it takes. WHATEVER IT TAKES.

Because you’re entitled to a decent life, one free of constant drama, criticism, bullying, verbal attacks, manipulation, and similar, a life that’s safe, peaceful, happy, and which meets your needs, and you don’t owe them anything but a heartfelt ‘goodbye!’

BECAUSE YOU’RE WORTH IT.

And you know what? The abusers deserve a good life too – just not at your expense. I sincerely hope that they get the PROFESSIONAL help they need, so that they stop treating people the way they do, but also for their own sake. I don’t wish them ill, why would I? How does that help anything, or anyone? And yes, I know that the right treatment, or indeed any treatment, can be extremely difficult to access, sometimes impossible. But until they start challenging themselves, and other abusers, to do and be better, horrible things are going to keep happening. People are going to keep getting damaged.

And we all deserve better. Better lives, better community, better everything.

BECAUSE WE’RE ALL WORTH IT.

Arohanui (much love).

The Formation of Factions

For some while now, I’ve been concerned about the number and frequency of quarrels happening in our autistic community, either between individuals or in various groups, and the resulting formation of ‘factions’.

Some of this in-fighting I attempted to address with my post last year on bullying. But lately I’ve found this goes even deeper and is even more prevalent than I thought.

Often, what I see is this. Person A says something to Person B, who then filters that through the prism of their own understanding – a filter that’s usually the result of various mistreatments they’ve suffered in the past. This filter tells them that Person A is being horrible to them in some way, or even bullying them. Maybe they are – and maybe they aren’t. It’s often hard for me to tell. (See my post on bullying, for more info on what actually is bullying, and what isn’t.) Anyway, Person A explodes, fires all sorts of angry statements at Person B, who then puts that through their own filter and reacts in kind.

One or both then go off to their friends, complaining bitterly about how they’ve been (mal)treated, garnering sympathy and a clique of supporters, few of whom, if any, bother to find out what the other side of the story is. Instead, almost instantly, factions line up. Rifts form, and then widen. Soon people on one side are arguing with, dumping, attacking, and generally hating on the other ‘side’.

And the original quarrel or misunderstanding? Soon forgotten, as the Other Person is demonised, painted as A Terrible Person, a Bully, a this or that, and on it goes. And because we are autistic, with all the perseveration and stubbornness and difficulty with forgiving that is intrinsic to our nature, it can be very hard for the individuals to get past it, and/or mend things.

Now I don’t have any magic bullet to resolve conflicts. And I fully admit that I too, at times, have joined these ‘factions’. I’m not perfect, and would never claim to be. I’ve also had my own disputes with people, and been badmouthed by them. I know how it hurts, especially when people are saying nasty things about you that you know aren’t true, but you can’t respond without making yourself look just as bad.

Lately however, I find myself pulling back from all of it, as it’s just too taxing (when you have CFS, stress is the last thing you need). So I’d like to share a few things that have helped me do that, and not get caught up in these things so badly.

If it’s someone else’s quarrel -

Firstly, take a deep breath, or several. Ask yourself if you really want to get caught up in their dramas. Try and stay calm.

Secondly, get to the root of the issue. Find out both sides of the story, if you can. Sometimes this isn’t always possible, but do try.

If you do feel the need to show support, then consider limiting your comments to the “I’m sorry you’re feeling so bad” type. In other words, don’t diss the other person.

Lastly, stay true to yourself. Don’t take on board other’s arguments or emotional states, no, not even to keep a friend. Figure out what YOUR true feelings are on the issue, or if you even have any, and stick to that.

If it’s your own quarrel –

Once again, stay as calm as you can, or regain that calm as soon as possible. It’s often hard I know, especially if some issue has been triggered, but do try. Meditation helps me with this.

Secondly, DON’T go badmouthing them, whether you name them or not, on your own page or in big, public groups, etc. If you must bitch, do in private, via PM or in some small private group, if you have one. Try to be the ‘bigger person’.

Thirdly, if you really can’t sort things out with them, and that’s not always possible, then just avoid them. Don’t respond, don’t ‘bite’ when they attack you. If this means you have to leave a group, then do it. Even block them for a while maybe, till you both calm down. Step away, rather than start a war. It’s better for your sanity, trust me.

Doing these things have helped me to stay, or get, a lot calmer than I used to be. And in the process, I realised just how often I’ve gotten swallowed up by other people’s issues. I now try to just avoid the more contentious types. I actually hate arguments, I’d rather just walk away, literally or metaphorically. Not to mention it’s better for my psychological and physical health to do so.

Maybe you’re like me, and hate arguing too, or maybe you love it. Still, it’s worth taking that deep breath or ten, before getting caught up in these conflicts. They have been known to lead to all sorts of horrible things – from general badmouthing, people being kicked out of groups, ‘hate So-and-So’ campaigns, right through to death threats even. It’s pretty awful folks.

Ask yourself, is this really how we want our community to be?

The Individual Is NOT The Enemy

Over the last few months, I’ve become aware of a great deal of dissension, quarrelling, and general lack of harmony in the autistic community, most especially online. It seems to lead to a lot of quarrelling between individuals, which often turns quite nasty. I wrote my recent blog post on bullying, in part because I felt that at least some of this discord resulted from misunderstanding of other people’s words, and the consequent loss of temper.

However I see now there is a bigger problem, and that is that we autistics often can’t SEE the bigger problem. So I want to put an idea forward, and I’m going to capitalise it, so it sears into people’s minds.

The Individual Is Not The Enemy. I’ll say that again, because it’s very important – The Individual Is NOT The Enemy. 

What do I mean by this? It’s simple. We’re a very mixed bunch, often with little in common but our autism, and there are always going to be other autistics we can’t get along with. People whose beliefs we think are stupid or illogical or sexist or racist or whatever. People who make us shudder, who we wouldn’t want to even be in the same room with, let alone the same community. People who we think are nasty, egotistical, manipulative, bullies, trolls, or any number of other insults or labels, take your pick.

But they are NOT the Real Enemy. They are a nuisance, and often painful to interact with, but they’re not the real foe.

So who, or rather, WHAT is? The Enemy, as I see it, is twofold.
1)     The systematic oppression and repression of autistics everywhere.
2)     The disharmony amongst ourselves that stops us effectively getting together and fighting the Number 1 Enemy.

While we squabble amongst ourselves online, horrible things are happening to us in the real world. Autistic kids are getting dosed with bleach or turps (yes, turps!), or unsafe and bizarre blood products or overdoses of supplements, or shoved into hyperbaric chambers, or being drilled in the ‘compliance training’ that is ABA at its worst. Autistics of all ages are being discriminated against, sacked, excluded, rejected, locked up, harassed, raged at, bullied, assaulted and even killed. And our murderers are excused (as are the murderers of almost anyone with a disability), because our lives are deemed less valuable, and killing us a ‘mercy’.

And if we do dare to speak up, we’re told that we’re ‘too high-functioning’, that we can’t speak for the ‘real’ autistics. But we know that no matter our supposed functioning, none of us deserve to be treated like this. And that the line between functioning levels is both imaginary and arbitrary anyway, and that at any time, we might step across it, and hence become a target for that kind of treatment – and indeed many of us have.

Meanwhile, misunderstandings about just what autism really is are everywhere, in the media, the education systems, amongst professionals, and the public at large. We are repeatedly told that we are an epidemic, a disease, a burden, a disorder, broken, brain-damaged, thieves of the ‘real’ person supposedly hidden beneath our autism, or all hackers and criminals, emotionless zombies, ‘like psychopaths’, mass murderers, etc, etc.

And all this will continue as long as we allow it to. It’s not going to be easy to stop it, but we have to do it, because no-one else is going to do it for us. We are the ones being dumped on, and we are the ones who must stop it. But we can’t do it if we’re divided and fighting amongst ourselves.

So I believe it’s time to take a good look at how we interact with each other. To resist the temptation to throw insults if we disagree with someone. To control our tempers, and if we can’t, to take time out until we can. To keep our dialogues and disagreements respectful. To argue the issue, not the person.

I know remembering all this in the heat of the moment is hard, and that it seems to be harder for us to forgive and let go of our anger and hurt, especially when we can’t see any reason why we should. I’ve been there, done that too, alas, all too often.

But it truly is a waste of our energy. Because – and remember the point I made above – The Individual Is Not The Enemy. They really aren’t. They may seem like it at the time, but the actual enemy is out there, and crapping from a great height on each and everyone of us. All. The. Time.

So I believe it’s time for each of us to step up and become ‘the bigger person’. To let old hurts go, and old sins. We don’t all have to be best buddies, but we can keep it civil, and work together when necessary (or apart, if necessary), to change the world.

I’m not saying it’s easy. But I am saying it can be done.

Let’s do it.

Aspergirls and Burning Bridges

Another excellent book I’ve just finished reading (courtesy of my local aspie group library) is ‘Aspergirls’, by Rudy Simone.[1] All the way through, I felt like she was talking about me and my life. One chapter in particular struck me though, and that was the one entitled ‘Burning Bridges’. Till I read this, I thought I was the only one who did this, but it seems it’s quite common, even more so with us females on the spectrum, she considers, than our male counterparts.

Basically, ‘burning bridges’ happens when something is not going right in our lives, and we simply don’t have the skills to do anything about it. So we do something drastic that severs that connection. It can be anything – ‘blowing up’ at a friend or suddenly dropping them, leaving a group or church or other association, having a serious meltdown at school, work or some public place that sees us expelled, fired, or banned from there; abruptly quitting a job or a relationship, moving house or even countries. The pressure has built up, we haven’t a clue how to fix things, so instead we self-sabotage, just ‘blow it up’ and walk away, our ‘bridges’ to that person or people or situation burning behind us. The trouble is, without help and support, we never do develop the skills we need to handle our problems (or not till quite late in life) and so we keep destroying our lives, over and over again.

This may seem a contradiction to the idea that autistics don’t like change, but there is one slight caveat to that. We don’t like change except when we initiate it. Abruptly destroying something, just throwing it away, can seem like the only control we can exert over a situation we don’t like. I know I have done most of the above over and over in my life, from childhood on, with the possible exception of public meltdowns (and there it would depend on how you define ‘public’ and ‘meltdown’), and moving country (which I definitely considered, but couldn’t do for practical reasons). I’ve destroyed or sabotaged or walked away from friendships, left relationships or destroyed chances I had of them, changed the places and people I socialised with or at, changed university majors several times, moved house many times, severed contact with people (often because I was too embarrassed by my behaviour to see them again), stopped going to shops or other places (again, because of embarrassment at my past behaviour), moved up and down the country, and generally started all over again, time and time again. It became intimately connected with my secret shame - I couldn't handle life well, and I knew it.

Sometimes, these changes weren’t under my control – a friend would move away, or a house I was renting would be sold. But mostly it was me and my own inner restlessness. I always thought the next place, the next person or group would solve all my problems, would be the one/s I’d fit in with at long last, would transform my life, or just transform me.

It never did of course. And eventually, like Rudy Simone, I was forced to stop running and face myself. And realise that I’ve undeniably hurt some people along the way, destroyed potential or actual friendships, and no doubt thoroughly got up many people’s noses. Looking back, I can see in some cases it was for the best that I did walk away from those people. But many another time, some help with learning how to recognise my feelings, express them in a constructive way, and to deal with conflict or unhelpful situations, would have changed my life considerably. This tendency to self-sabotage is a very real problem, and something we need help learning how NOT to do – and the younger we learn it, the better. This is where a mentor or advocate would be of huge help – they could teach us better ways to cope with the difficulties we have in life, whether they be sensory, emotional, social, academic, job-related, or indeed anything. Yes, I have more or less taught myself now, but it was hard. If someone had just taken me by the hand and said ‘there’s a better way’, how much easier my life would have been. How much less damage I would have done, to myself and others.

Perhaps things will be better for the next generation, perhaps they will get the support and guidance they need, whether it be from older auties, or non-autistic helpers and mentors. I certainly hope so.

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[1] Simone, Rudy. (2010) Aspergirls – Empowering Females with Asperger Syndrome. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London and Philadelphia.