I have autism.

Yes, me. The professional journalism major whose job it will be to communicate with interviewees, despite my social disability. I am the girl who landed a publishing deal for her novel before she even got out of college. I am the girl who plays three instruments, speaks two foreign languages, and trains horses in her spare time.

People are always shocked when I tell them about my diagnosis and that's why there's a huge misunderstanding about neurodivergence (a fancy way of saying that my brain processes the world differently than a majority of the population). It doesn't mean that I am dumb or innocent or constantly in need of protection.

All neurodivergence means is that I'm different. Different is neither good nor bad, different is just different.

And that's the problem I have with the "cure for autism" argument or the idea of the "autism warrior mommy." Why would we want to cure "different?" Why is raising a "different" kid likened to a social and medical war?

"Different" has its perks! It allows me to hyper-focus for hours on end, gives me incredibly sensitive hearing, allows me to see colors and smell fragrances when listening to music or writing, an ability I can harness in my creative work. I'm in tune with sensations in ways allistic (non-autistic) people are not. I'm emotionally intuitive; it's a myth that every person with autism lacks empathy. In fact, one thing I love about being the way I am is my unusually high level of empathy--I'm great at understanding others' emotions and what exactly caused them.

But "different" also has its downfalls. On the subject of emotional intuitiveness, I struggle to comfort a crying friend because I'll just start crying, too. I feel the world for them and yet I don't know how to process it. Fluorescent lights are so bright that they constantly give me headaches and anxiety, to the point that sometimes I struggle to even form sentences. Overstimulation is a given on any day at a busy university, which sometimes leads me to self-harm in order to cope. I'm working on it.

With social situations, I misread cues all the time. Just the other day, I explained to a professor that I'd like to go to office hours; she waved her hand, smiled, and told me to "come along." I interpreted her as meaning "Yes, that is fine" and not "Please walk with me to my office!" And so, I took off down the hallway by myself, leaving my poor professor wondering what on Earth had just happened.

I can't detect some sarcasm, I get horrible anxiety with any change in routine, I stim when excited or anxious, and when I come home from school I have to sit in a dark room for an hour on a sort of "sensory detox." And I'm constantly embarrassed by myself.

So yeah, "different" can suck sometimes. But we have to remember that there can be a ton of talent and gifts associated with "different." Being autistic, no matter where you fall on the spectrum, is not solely a hindrance or an advantage, just another way of being human.

And when has being human ever needed to be cured?