My Autistic Take On Success ...

With all that being said, I believe the industrialization of social services and the self-perpetuating marketplace adversely affects individuals who have been boxed and labeled, causing more harm than the intended diagnoses suggest. I started life with an array of learning difficulties within the confines of a 'story' that could sell well. However, considering the above, the only stories that truly matter are the ones filled with images that serve the interests of those publishing them, rather than empowering individuals to become the captains of their own ships.

My wife has coined a term for these images used to sell stories within the sector we find ourselves in: 'disability porn.' I find it to be an apt term, given the predisposition and tendencies of today's extremely narrow-minded services.

I challenge the notion that success lies solely in conforming to predefined narratives. Instead, I celebrate the courage and resilience it takes to navigate a world that seeks to define and control me. My story should be filled with authenticity, self-acceptance, and the freedom to create my own image—a dynamic and evolving representation of myself. Not some eternal static, moreover plastic picture that is typically embedded within unsolicited and endless pop-ups.

My would-be success on any one of my would-be labels is not to buy into any ideals that do not resonate with me. I need no validation other than what I can give to myself. I don't need pretty pictures and bubbly feelings in order to climb a ladder that need not exist in order to be free. Such a world is a prison. It's to that order of magnitude that I reach out and connect with others like me. It's lonely as hell, but that's okay... What's important is that I feel free, to simply be me.

THE END ... or is it?