What Autism And Self Perspective Can Feel Like By Various Writers

We asked two adults with autism how it can feel to have autism and relate to the rest of the world. Matt Lynch and an anonymous writer share those views and a poem.

By Matt Lynch

The Mask I Wear

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A Poem By Anonymous

I am the one who isn’t enough

And

I am the one who is ‘too much’

The one chastised for things I didn’t mean

So much so that I have no self esteem

Apologise, take ownership of things that aren’t mine

Maybe because it’s easier than being wrong all the time

I stand a better chance of being liked

When my mask is on and I smile

But what about what others don’t see?

The tears and the turmoil, fear of being me

I cannot and will not prove everyone right

So

I swallow my words ands and sit tight

I sit on my hands so no one can see

That I pick my hands until they bleed

Pulling and pulling the strands of my hair

Surely that would make people stare?

That’s not acceptable in today’s digital age

Not the way a mother of kids should behave

So I put my mask on, push down the tears

Hope no one notices my long list of fears

No one can see; my cough is a disguise

Bile rising and the stinging in my eyes

When someone looks with a questioning frown

I just say “I’m tired” with a smile and it works for now

It covers the terror, the panic and the fear

Of the things I don’t make sense of and don’t want to hear

I don’t understand what their expressions mean

So I’ve learned to smile and look keen

Replay it all in my head while I am alone

All the bits I got wrong, I hope it didn’t show

It’s too much sometimes and I want to hide

I need to be better and work on my disguise

Because now my transformation is almost complete

Shy anxious girl to woman of the world

There are two me’s

The one that you see

And the other for those

Unlucky to get close

Maybe one day I’ll fully be able

To transform and in private be stable

Tomorrow will be better I tell myself each night

Tomorrow I will learn how to get it all right

To calm those butterflies

To stop those slipped beats

Until next time, until I am free

Free to be brave enough to be me