I often don’t react to events in real time. The speed of my reaction bears no relation to the magnitude of an event. I need time to process. Time to sit on my feelings and sort emotion from fact, communication from gibberish, and truth from the convenient memes of utter bullshit that permeate any culture. I am careful in my reactions. I do not hold to the notion that if enough people say something, if they seem to know what they’re talking about, and if they say it with enough confidence, then it must be true. A lie told with authority is still a lie.
Do not mistake my quiet for silence. The words are there, and given time to parse them out I will endeavor to make myself heard.
I am a gentle person. I seek in all I do to harm no one, and like all humans, I fail more often than I like. But do not, under any circumstance, mistake gentle for meek.
So I want this understood by the person (and others of that ilk) who felt compelled to spend almost thirty days typing rape centered death threats coupled with my name into google so I could read them in my blog stats:
I am not afraid of you. I have not been writing because I have been busy with my life, not because you shut me down or put me in my place. No matter how many ways you combine my name with the words fuck, kill, and autistic in some pitiful rape culture “mad libs” game, it does not make me less of a person. I am real, valid, and surrounded by love. You are irrelevant to me.
The only reason I post this is because it stands as another piece of evidence. When autistics speak of hostility they face, that is not imagined.
When women posit that sexism still exists on an ugly, violent level, that is not imagined.
It took me a lifetime to get where I am; to reach a point where I believe in my own worth, and self determination.
Now that I am here, nothing you can do is going to make me go away.
It's Bridget's Word 
People can be cruel, keep strong.
You’re a dear. Thank you.
Assholes. You’re a stronger, kinder, more empathetic, BETTER person than they’ll ever be.
My great grandmother was a massive influence on me. She instilled an ideal of being gracious while rebelling. She valued intellect and equality in a time when women just did not do that, and managed to keep that southern charm the whole time she bucked the “good old boy” system. I try to live up to that.
Stay strong. You are so right that whoever it is is not worth your time. What a disgusting thing to do. Stay amazing!
*We* are amazing. â¤
You are fierce and gentle. The combination is dynamic.
That means the world coming from you. đ
Any friend of Brenda’s is a friend of mine:) so sorry to hear of all the hatefulness directed towards you.
Thank you. I appreciate all the concern.
There will always be haters and haters hate. When the hate is directed toward you, that is when you know you have struck a blow, hit the target, touched a nerve. That is when you know you are stronger and the haters are weaker. And there are many more supporters than haters in this world.
I hope so. đ
What I wanted was not only for people to see how ugly this can get toward autistics, but also show the misogynistic bull that makes it okay to make rape threats against women when one doesn’t like their opinions.
I am so sorry to hear what happened to you. Thank you for documenting it, and doing this so eloquently.
And I understand about needing time to process reactions. This doesn’t always happen to me, but it does sometimes. You’re not alone!
I appreciate your kind words.
There are no words really. I am sorry this is happening to you.
There really aren’t, are there? I don’t understand this behavior, and I’m not being disingenuous when I say I’ve not wasted my energy trying to figure out who did this.
The ugliness of some people never ceases to amaze me. I guess the day it does, I’ll be in trouble. đŚ xo
You have a kind heart. You’re going to be just fine. đ
Your heart is gentle, your writing strong. Awesome! Just ignore the graffiti, it is way beneath you.
Thank you.
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