Published on 12, July, 2020
I think the way I think is better than most people.
I disregard emotion because it's irrelevant.
I pride myself on doing things other people find difficult.
I think in black-and-white terms.
I like to solve problems.
I like to be direct and be spoken to directly.
I dislike vagueness.
I eat the same food every day because I know it's good for me.
I'm physically active because I know it's good for me.
I like routine because it's more efficient and streamlines my life.
Does anyone else think that they are superior to neurotypical people and if so how so?
Funnily enough in some ways I might have felt like that in the past before I realised I was autistic. I used to get very angry at what I saw as obliviousness. People just not noticing things. This is because I expected people to be able to be as aware of their environment as I am. So when they didn't notice things I saw as obvious, it would make me angry, maybe I assumed they were being needlessly self-centred or something. I'm thinking of when you're on a busy street and just navigating, making space for people etc, and they don't notice that you've done that for them. Things like that. The first thing that happened is that the complications of my autism turned up, and suddenly I was no longer able to be as alert on the street as I once was, I was focusing on just putting one foot in front of the other, people now had to move around me and I didn't have the capacity to acknowledge them. Then, later, I got my autism diagnosis, and realised that my observational skills are particular to my own neurology, so I no longer felt angry at others for not having them. After that I felt a little happier and less isolated. Personally I don't think there's such a thing as neurotypical. I think there might be a neurotype you could call "neuroefficient", and these people happen to function best under the current regime. So they get labelled "typical", and historically we get labelled deficient. They're really good at just getting stuff done, understanding undetailed instruction, and understanding complex social norms. That's why I call them neuroefficent., it's like their brains know all the short-cuts. But of course, our brains can read the map in all its glorious details. Dyslexics probably see the map in 3D, and ADHDers are the time-travellers, they see the map as a four dimensional swirling vortex. I think we all need each other.
I agree, more collaboration+ co-operation, less competition.