C r eat ive/P ersona l Essay
Australian Bureau of Statistics, the labour force participation rate for those with ASD of working age is 40.8%, compared to 83.2% for those without a disability. I have an intense drive to remain in that 40.8%, which is why I do what I can to not let my disability show. In recent years, especially with government organisations, I have noticed employers wanting people with disabilities. This makes me feel more comfortable in disclosing my disability with work in the public sector and to feel like I can be myself. Despite all the shit I went through, I have met people who don’t treat me like I’m from outer space. With these people, I have felt comfortable to disclose my disability. I also disclosed it with my romantic partners (not my last one though), although I feel it always came a little too late. Moving to a new high school also really helped. I’m still friends with many of these people and having them as friends has helped me feel more like an Earthling. I can say this about people from here at Flinders as well. People I’ve met through my degrees and our clubs here have helped me feel more welcome in society. It has also aided me a lot in the development of my writing career and aided in my skill development.
“Yes, I struggled through mainstream schooling, but I would not be where I am now if I didn’t do it.” While I feel less alien now than I did growing up, there have been moments I have still have that Outer Space feeling to me. One came in 2015, when I visited a school for people with disabilities in Guangzhou, China. Some had physical disabilities, but I discovered some with more invisible ones like the ASD. They were people like me, but they were locked away in these “special schools” in which they would eat, sleep, and study in. It would only be on select days they were allowed out, be it for family or work experience. Seeing this struck me deep; people like me were being treated like dumb, diseased people in this country. It also made me realise too that despite everything I went through, at least I was born in contemporary Australia. Even though we would have been guilty of the same treatment a few decades ago, at least it’s better understood now.
Another recent event that brought my realisation that I was from Outer Space came in 2017. This came in a form of a comment from Ms Pauline Hanson, which stated that kids with autism should not be in mainstream schooling. I do not like talking politics in my writing or social media, but her comments hit far too close to home for me. Yes, I struggled through mainstream schooling, but I would not be where I am now if I didn’t do it. When she said that it suddenly made all my struggles and hard work feel worthless and a complete waste. It also made me feel as though that is what the ‘regular’ Australian thought too. Do they really see me as a leech to society and someone who makes their kids struggle at school? The support of friends and family made me realise though that what she said was lies, which I too accepted after some reflective thought. I guess it has motivated me to want to speak out against these outdated “populist” beliefs and show I can be just be like everyone else in society.
“Like Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, I will continue to try to learn how to be human.” I came from Outer Space, there’s no denying it. No matter with what I do or what other people say, I will always have be an alien. It is something that I have come to live with, and has come to define who I am. I will continue though to improve myself and show to the world that an extraterrestrial like me can be an Earthling too. I want to be able to benefit society too and give back to it for all the help it has given me, be that through writing and/or working. Like Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, I will continue to try to learn how to be human. Even if it takes the rest of my life, I will continue to learn and improve.
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