Why are females with autism being singled out? Mae Seventh Voice

Wanting to be accepted by ones peers is not a new phenomenon. Nor is the act of presenting one's best self to others in order to win popularity or acceptance. It's an extremely human trait. Everyone does it. We are all taught to do this even as children. Yet despite this fact, there's only one section of the population being singled out and pathologized for applying the exact same "coping mechanisms" that everyone else uses. My question is why? Why don't we say that everyone is 'masking' themselves if that's what presenting one's best self boils down too? I mean really, it is something that everyone does. So why are females with Autism being singled out for presenting their best selves to others when everyone else does the exact same thing, only better most of the time? When someone can tell me why an action that is considered merely an artifact of human nature when it is observed in other people, is considered as 'masking' when observed in Autistic women, then I'll be satisfied, until then, I'll keep asking the same question.

-Mae Seventh Voice

Melancholy Princess - by Chrissy Shahankary

Melancholy Princess

I am the melancholy princess
my eyes shine because I cry
my smile comforts many
while I die inside
I am the melancholy princess
my hair flows like the sea
to be me is to be beautiful
but so unhappy.

-Chrissy Shahankary

Green - by Dallas Volk

GREEN If I grew quick and clever Touching surface too soon Would I likely get overturned? It was not my Spring… yet try I did To bloom from what I’d learned We foolish flowers Beyond helpful powers… Aren’t most of us lost Premature? Should I survive I would live for the Light As I always have strived To be sure

-Dallas Volk

Clouded / fragmented - by Flora Alice

The worst feelings are ones I simply can't describe a white blank page clouding me when everything escapes me and any traces of logic flee white noise clouds clattering cluttering me when all I've learnt seems wiped away leaving me hanging in air suspended when pattern collapses leaving me breathless I watch the fragments float away out of sight when I feel completely incomplete my body scattered my mind shattered F J-M

Seeing red / I exist / meltdown? - by Flora Alice

Seeing red / I exist / meltdown? My head is spinning My body is yearning Churning Swirling with anger Trapped in my own body Trapped in my own skin My silence is deafening My stillness is trembling Everyone leaves me I am leaving I have left Left my body I feel like crimson smoke Floating in the air A bitter residue Of an unknown despair I am red A vermilion hue The colour that I loathe I am my biggest fear If only someone could step inside my skin maybe then they would see what it's like to be me Listen to my silence my stark sighs Or ignore them as you do I know it is much easier To pretend That I am okay Like I am the others But please please, just remember that I exist I exist. F. J-M

Powerless - A poem by Flora Alice

It's a funny thing how the human race can turn me powerless Gag bound They mute me Sellotape my face so I cannot breathe Restrained They tie me up wind me around so I am paralysed Tied by the ropes of anxiety holding me back and pulling me out of reality F J-M

I Am The Girl Outside - by Flora Alice

This poem was written by my lovely friend and aspie sister Flora Alice. It's for my site www.girloutside.org ! 

I am the girl outside 
I am partially hidden 
like the shaded side
of the pale moon 

I am a shadow 
in the dark
dimly repeating
the others I watch

I am a mirror
a cloudy reflection
a distant echo
of the world outside

I am solitary
sitting still
silently listening
to inaudible noise

I am trapped
a prisoner
in my own skin
detached from reality

I am disguised
to look like the others
but if you look closely
you'll see I'm an outsider

I am the girl outside
you can shed some light
for me to see
but I'll never be free

F. J-M