Abigail Caughman

GLD e-portfolio

Welcome to my GLD e-portfolio! Before reading any further, there is one main point you need to know:
I’m autistic. I have autism. I am not a person with autism. I am autistic. It is a core part of who I am, something that I cannot separate from me. My perspective is biased. Yes. And it is biased because, throughout the last four years, I have seen the effects of people who do not listen to autistic voices. I have seen this in the classroom, by professors teaching about autism. I have seen it in my encounters with educators, people who do not value my autism and see it as a bother. I am biased but I deserve to be biased. I have every right to be biased. Because for too long we have listened to everyone but autistics. It is time, finally, for autistics to be heard. And if I need to be at the forefront, so be it. That is a role that I will gladly fill. That is a role that I will take on for all the autistics before me who have not been able to have a voice. I will be their voice. I will be loud. I will be uncompromising. I will proudly be autistic.