Meowtism
What is Meowtism?
I wish you understood Polish, because in Polish the words “meow” and “autism” blend together beautifully. In English, “meow” and “-tism” don’t align as nicely, since “autism” isn’t pronounced like the Polish “autyzm.”
So here Meowism may also mean Mild Autism. Mild enough you may live for 50 years without knowing you have it.
Severe enough to use all of the well-over-100 IQ points you were given to mask as if nothing is going on. And no one will know how much it will cost you.
Why “meowtism” anyway?
I’m not sure if it’s factual, but I once heard that autistic people can be very vocal. I’ve loved cats ever since I was old enough to distinguish a human from a cat (and I definitely preferred cats). Honestly, I have no idea how it started, but in my 40s, I began meowing more and more. I came up with the nickname “Kiciuś” (“kitten”) and jokingly told some family and friends that I’m really a cat, not a human.
Eventually, I realized I didn’t feel very human because I felt so different from the humans around me. Somehow, the act of meowing helped in various situations, and I simply felt better doing it.
It’s pretty wild to discover you have autism at nearly 50 years old via a random YouTube video listing 15 possible signs. When I identified with 19 out of 20, I knew something was up. It was both confusing and shocking, but also a massive relief—finally, I understood I wasn’t just stubborn or weird, and I could stop pretending to be someone else. That was about a year ago, and I’m still figuring it out. Hopefully, by sharing this, I’ll help someone else going through the same thing.