I deeply relate to having internalised ableism, and honestly, your sentiments at the end about confronting it by having difficult, but necessary community conversations with people who've experienced similar experiences of it, along with the guilt, shame, and fear we're forced to feel against our will and without our consent.

Thank you for writing this and thank you for getting this out because internalised ableism can feel like a huge truck from neurotypical society that sends out messages of self-hatred with so-called 'cringe' culture against us along with reproduced anti-Autism stigma against us. And so-called "self-help" and "self-l*ve" communities (predominantly comprised of ableist neurotypical people that continue to borrow concepts from people they continue to other and marginalise) wonder why we have a difficult time unlearning, unpacking and relearning a lot of stuff while they continue to give us a lot of slack just for trying to accept and liberate ourselves.

Please keep writing because your articles are extremely valuable and are necessary to lead vital conversations with in our Autistic communities!

With care and Autistic solidarity,

Raven (They/He/Xe, and other neopronouns)