Published on 12, July, 2020
I feel like an outsider here, my experiences seem very diferent, my interests different, the things I do or don't do are different. The books I find helpful or not are different. Most of you seem like lovely people, so I'm not having a go at any of you, but I just feel like I don't really belong here with the rest of you, I don't feel like it's imposter syndrome, more like I stick out like a sore thumb because of some of the above. I feel like I'm irritating people because of my differences, here I feel almost as much of an outsider as I do in NT company.
I’m sorry you feel like an outsider here - I’ve never got that impression when you’ve interacted on here (although admittedly I’m not great at judging these things!). I’ve certainly never found you irritating - much the contrary. You seem to have a lot to offer with your comments and contributions and come across as really friendly. I think as autistic people we often feel this way though - I know that I often feel paranoid that people really don’t like me - even when there isn’t much real evidence (according to my husband anyway!). I feel you are very welcome on here - I hope you realise that. As autistic people we all know what it feels like to be an outsider - and I like to think that this community is very good at being welcoming and accepting of each other. And in terms of you being ‘different’ - there’s nothing wrong with being different! Different is good, different is interesting! I like ‘different’!
I love it when we all think differently, it adds richness to the world and depth to our understanding of humanity. I'm not a fan of conformity - who wants to see everyone wear the same clothes, listen to the same music or eat the same foods? Why would we want everyone to think in similar ways? I enjoy when people can explain their thinking to others, as I struggle with this. Some things I can explain OK, other things I can't... so keep sharing please CatWoman!
Agreed :)