I'm autistic: I can speak
My voice is different, not weak
Though it's difficult I'm longing to connect
I'm autistic
My emotions can run deeper than the oceans
But they're oceans more like than you suspect

Yes, I am odd
And that difference causes pain
That don't make you God
And it don't make me insane
I'm your equal in my humanity
I am smart
I am sensitive
I'm autistic

I'm autistic, I am real
I can think and I can feel
When they tell you that I can't
It's just a lie

I'm autistic, if you love me
Please don't put yourself above me,
When you treat me like a child, it makes me cry

Yes, I am odd
And that difference causes pain
That don't make you God
And it don't make me insane
Without me, can do you anything?
I am an artist
I am a scientist
I'm autistic

I'm autistic, please endure me
Even though you cannnot cure me,
Please don't tell me that my life is yours to take
I'm autistic, please support me
It's too late now to abort me
But there's still time for the difference I can make

Yes, I am odd
And that difference causes pain
That don't make you God
And it don't make me insane
I'm your equal in my humanity
I am smart
I am sensitive
I'm autistic

I started thAutcast in 2009 in an anti-Autism Speaks tantrum.  I wanted a site to support a video I'd made, a parody version of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" that attacked the horror video they made called "I Am Autism."  I hate my original video now, so I'm not linking to it.  It's just really bad work-- the video and sound fight with each other and the vocal is awful because I was hurrying.  Besides, the campaign that I and many other autistic people launched against "I Am Autism" worked:  they actually took the thing down!  So the original version of "I'm Autistic" is badly sung, ugly, and completely outdated.

But there were parts of the lyric that I still liked very much, so I wrote the revised version above a while back.

But I'm not ready to sing for you yet.  I think I will be soon-- singing is one of my primary modes of communication.  One of the reasons I include my artwork and sometimes just link to songs I like is because I think I am unable to access the best parts of me through words.  One of the reasons I've continued to post fairly lightly is that I've been working very hard on the cartoon Adam and I are doing based on OWL.  Although I am incredibly fortunate to be as verbal as I am-- it's the primary reason no one else will ever really understand how disabled I am-- prose is not my primary language.

Music is.  And singing is a profoundly emotional act for me.  And I will sing to you, like or not, soon.

If you feel like singing, I'm including links to download both the Helen Reddy original and a karaoke track on iTunes.

If you want to record yourself singing it and upload it to YouTube, I promise to feature your video here.