Hear Again: Resilience

Let's start with a definition.

Resilience is the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events.

It's the ability to be okay again after something difficult or bad has happened.

It's like falling off a bike when you're learning to ride.

Falling is not a pleasant experience and might even feel like failure.

Yet, most of us get back on and do it again.

I believe that most autistics are resilient.

For one thing, we're continuously dealing with a world that isn't very friendly to us.

Our day might look like this.

We went to work.

The fluorescent lights gave us a headache.

It was freezing cold in the office.

Two co-workers were talking loudly and disturbing our concentration.

We had to appear animated in a meeting.

We had to engage in small talk We were continually interrupted, and that's just a few of them.

Nonetheless, we returned to work the next day, knowing it'll be challenging for our autistic brains.

There are some unique ways that autistics show resilience.

It's resilient to attempt social communication when you don't understand body language or can't look someone in the eye.

It's resilient to show up when people think you're weird or quirky.

It's resilient to go out for the team even if you know you'll be the last one picked.

It's resilient for a person to respond to finding out they're autistic by learning all about it so they can understand who they are.

It's resilient to face a world that doesn't understand or misunderstand you and autism.

It's resilient to get up each day to face an alien world.

Are neurotypical people more resilient overall than autistic people? For me, if resilience means easily bouncing back from something negative, then that's not me.

It's not always easy.