fidgetcubist:

Growing up autistic often involves not being believed. Your experiences of being tired, stressed, and overwhelmed are constantly minimized. “How could you be tired? You haven’t done anything all day.” “How could you be stressed? You’re eight.” “Look at the other children, how much fun they’re having. If we go home now you’ll miss out on all the fun!” If you find certain tasks particularly challenging, you are told it really isn’t that hard, you just have to [brief and unhelpful description of task].

There are no upsides to denying or minimizing someone’s pain, except that it frees the person doing the minimizing from having to deal with it. Even if the child is “only doing it for attention”, worst case scenario they give their child attention. What’s so terrible about that? Because the alternative is that they are teaching their child not to value and trust their own experience, and that is immensely damaging. It can mean the child might not recognize when they’re being emotionally abused. It can lead to mental health issues, burnout, and many other problems.

Not everyone responds to a given situation in the same way. If someone tells you something bothers them, just because you’re not bothered by it doesn’t mean they’re lying or exaggerating.