“Buck”, 25, is an able-bodied white transgender man (he/they pronouns).
Read more: Interview with Someone on the SpectrumQ: When did you first suspect you were on the autism spectrum? How did that feel?
Buck: That’s a two fold question. I didn’t have the thought until the last few years that I could be autistic, but I have always known I was weird/different growing up. I knew I was different in elementary school, but I never had a word to explain it until now. But having since found the word to explain why I’m different, it was nice. It explained a lot, but it was also difficult because all of the autistic people I knew growing up were on the high support level, and I didn’t have an image of what I was “supposed to be” as an autistic person.
Q: Would you say your experience is universal, or widely relatable within the autistic community?
Buck: It’s not universal, but probably individual traits or experiences are relatable. It’s a blanket statement that life events and experiences are not always comparable, since my life experiences have shaped how my autism presents – which is entirely different for any autistic person.
Q: What were things you recognized as autistic traits that you did in childhood, and now looking back you’re like “ooohhhh, okay, yeah, that makes sense”?
Buck: I was always the “stick to the rules” kid growing up. I thrived on routines, and was the “narc line leader” in school. There’s one experience where my daycare teachers told us to “grab a buddy” when going out to recess – and when we all went outside, no one continued to stick with their buddy. This stressed me out so much that I ran to the teacher and said, “No one is with their buddy! Do you want me to pair them back up?” to which the teachers went “…no, it’s okay.” When I got older, I then had a decade-long Harry Potter “obsession” (looking back, it definitely was a special interest) – I would discuss intricate plot points to family members who did not care, and had to have every book and read them all (even if it meant buying them on vacation).
Q: What is your favorite stimming activity? Can you describe it to me?
Buck: Oh, I dunno. I’ve learned to mask all of my stims growing up, and I feel like I present stimming in a different way than others. My favorite would have to be scream-singing along to a song in the car, it’s a whole body sensory experience for me.
Q: Do you feel the world disables you as a person on the spectrum? Do you think the world disables other people on the spectrum?
Buck: Like, yes, but I struggle with the word “disables”. I personally have other characteristics that put me at a privileged place to where people will overlook my autism and instead describe me as “eccentric, easily excitable”, etc. Because I am male passing and white, that makes it easier to overlook. I think the world definitely disables autistic people, especially those with higher needs of support. There’s a spectrum, just like autism, where the world has effected people with autism based on their other identities, how they grew up, etc. It’s all intersectional.
Q: What is your point of view on identity-first language? How would you prefer to identify?
Buck: I prefer identity-first language (ie. autistic person), because I can also view it within the context of being transgender. It’s weird to me to be called a “person of transgender experience”, right? It feels like people are trying to separate the identity from the person, but these identities are important to me. You can’t separate being transgender and being autistic from me. But I know that is my personal opinion and feeling, and if others disagree – that’s fine. But for me, personally, it’s identity-first.
Q: What is one thing you wish was less stigmatized about the autistic community, or neurodivergent community?
Buck: Understanding neurodiversity in general. That people think in different ways. Not that there needs to be any accommodations to these different ways of thinking (because I wouldn’t know what that looks like), but just the idea that the way information is presented in a “normal” way doesn’t mean it’s the “right” way of presenting this information. Just the acknowledgement in schools/workplaces that there’s thinking in different types of ways across the board.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to say or want people to know about you?
Buck: Nope! Thank you.
Unruly Bodies 
Thank you so much for sharing! I love how your post is an interview it was really interesting to hear Buck’s voice and read of his experiences. There are so many different experiences and ways of representing I feel like this is a great way of learning someone else’s.
This was a very interesting blog post. I haven’t yet seen someone do an interview. What made you want to do an interview rather than an essay or article format? I especially liked how they connected being autistic with being transgender. I never thought that the way people identify them are so similar. From a personal standpoint I always found having an invisible disability has its own challenges. Also, I too was excited when I was finally diagnosed.
Hi plantmom! Thank you for enjoying the post. I decided to do an interview versus an essay since I thought it would be a better medium of learning information and could be a way of getting to know the experiences of others rather than a long essay (I have ADHD, I know I’d much rather read an interview versus an essay!). Hope you have a great rest of the day, and let me know if you need any more clarification! 🙂
I was also a “stick to the rules kid” growing up, and in elementary school, I never understand why when one kid would break the rules we would all get punished as a class. It made me really anxious because I strived to do everything right and it was never good enough to avoid being part of the punishment. I also felt excluded by my peers a lot because I never wanted to do anything that broke the rules. Thank you for sharing such an interesting and relatable post!
Hi, I love your blog post. I think it is great that you interviewed someone who is not only on the spectrum but also a part of the LGBTQ+ community. I feel that oftentimes people think the two things never happen together, even though they quite frequently do. Giving people on the spectrum and/or in the LGBTQ+ community the ability to have a platform to speak and talk about what it is like is amazing. It allows for society to hear their stories and hopefully become more understanding and accepting of what they are “not used to”. Thank you for your amazing post and for allowing us to learn more.
Hello, first of all I love the creativity and the uniqueness with this blog post. Props to you on that! This interview was really interesting to read for me personally because I have always wondered for the longest time if I have Autism. When you mentioned the term “stimming activity” in one of your question, I had to look up what it meant and this honestly something I do almost daily when I am alone. When I listen to music or when I play video games, I would perform a repetitive body movement sometimes mainly when I get excited. I have always wondered why this meant and why I do this and honestly think it could be Autism.