u/moosegoose682

I recently just got diagnosed with autism, and obviously with a diagnosis comes with a lot of feelings. I’ve always felt pushed out of social situations, I’ve learned to water down my love for orangutans and have even been toyed with by people asking about facts or information then actually being completely disinterested. The appointment was difficult and was very hard to sit with afterwards but one thing my provider said to me was. “You have so many strengths, one of those strengths is orangutans I have never met someone as passionate as you” the only other person who has ever tolerated my love for primates was my mother who told me “you are just cursed with feeling too much and some people are like that, but with that comes noticing beautiful things” I remembered seeping into my carpet In 6th grade wondering what was wrong with me, but now I have many opportunities to show what orangutans have become to me, I now write about them in my journalism class and have turned in many informational awareness spreading assignments, I sat down next to my teacher and showed him orangutan jungle school while my class had independent work time and as I left he said “thank you so much for showing me that today I never knew so much till I met you” I wear a silly orangutan shirt even though it doesn’t match my usual style just cause it makes me smile, and when someone asks me why I love orangutans so much I just shrug. “I cannot live without beauty that’s what makes me weak in the face of certain people” - Albert Camus