There is a misconception that people with disabilities are unable to be independent, have a job, and have a fulfilling life, and these limitations stem from that misconception. But with accommodation and support systems, disabled people can accomplish more than you think.
I’ve had people my whole life put limits on me because of my disability and most of the time no one has truly thought about whether that limit needs to be there. I remember being told that I wasn’t going to graduate high school, I couldn’t go to class, I would run away from school when I got overwhelmed and refused to talk to my EA. However, as soon as I switched to online learning I excelled and did graduate. If I don’t have to fight so hard to get proper accommodation I probably could have graduated with the rest of my class. That was a limitation that was placed on me without first considering that there might be a different way to accomplish that goal.
When you’re constantly told what you can and can’t do it’s easy to adopt the mindset that these litigation placed on you are set in stone. If you’re told that most people with your disability can’t have successful careers and have a 70-90% unemployment rate you might want to give up trying because what’s the point if you’re never going to have a stable job. This is a limitation placed by others but it’s very possible to overcome. You don’t need to be held back by others’ perceptions of your abilities. I’ve had several jobs and it was not easy. I had to work hard to develop the skills to get and maintain a job, some of my attempts didn’t end well but I kept trying. It might be instinctive to fail once (or many times) and decide to give up and give in to the limits others have set.
Another place autistic people tend to have other recognition limits their achievements is in independent living. Living on your own takes a lot of different skills, many of those skills like time management, healthy eating, and household tasks don’t come easy to a lot of us, and so it takes time and practice to develop the toolbox necessary to like on your own. But the misconception that living on your means you do everything by yourself holds many autistics back. Independent living can look different, maybe you have someone come with you on your weekly grocery trip, maybe you live with accommodation roommates that help with cooking. There are lots of ways around the barriers placed by the same society that says those with disabilities can’t live happy successful lives.
Whether it’s about school, work or independent living, society places a lot of assumptions about what we can do as disabled people and it’s easy to fall victim to being constantly told what you can’t do. But with hard work and figuring out helpful accommodations you can achieve more than you’ve been told.
This post from ditch the label about societal expectations and why its okay to ignore them may seem to be about silly problems however its small things that can make your life less stressful