Mental illness vs. Autism

radvsblue:

alice-royal:

Okay, so I’ve seen waaaaaaay too many posts lumping autistics in with mental illness groups and it’s not cool because they are completely different.

Mental illness is the equivalent of a PC with a virus. It is a working computer with its own personality that the virus has attacked and affected in its own unique way. My depression and anxiety are not a part of me and I do not like them and they change the way I think/feel/act from my ‘normal’.

Autism is the equivalent of a Mac or Linux in a world of PCs. PCs think you’re defective because you appear to be a PC with a virus but in reality you’re a WHOLE OTHER OPERATING SYSTEM with all the strengths and weaknesses of any other, that just happens to be different from the majority of computers. But being a Mac is not a problem in the same way that being a PC with a virus can be a problem.

Macs can get viruses–autistics can have mental illnesses, and people with mental illnesses can be autistic. But the two are not synonymous. We do not have the same terminology or community or anything. This doesn’t mean that it’s not okay to learn how to cope with mental illness or even be proud of it.

Some people are treated for or recover from mental illness. You cannot change being autistic. You cannot treat being autistic. You cannot recover from autism.

You cannot spend a lifetime trying to turn a Mac into a PC. You should learn how to protect and love both Macs and PCs.