A Strange Fantasy

Jeepers!!! What reactions were considered 'normal' or not to such treatment? 

It sounds eerily like the 'test' for witches where they drowned women and judged them witch or not depending upon whether their corpse floated or not!  

The Wikipedia page for 'Changeling' actually contains a section about the possibility that the legends may derive in part from children with neurological differences - for example, folk tales about mischievous elvish folk who can be distracted by giving them something to count are very common.

Thankfully, diagnosis is now not quite as barbaric as it used to be...

[to identify a changeling] ...it is supposedly necessary to mistreat the child by placing it in a hot oven, by holding it in a shovel over a hot fire, or by bathing it in a solution of foxglove. 

I just watched a bit 'the high crusade', a movie from 1994... 

I do believe that a remake is justified... with classic star wars effects of spacebulkships and old weaponry versus unsuspecting aliens, aliens only capable of anti-spaceship-gunning... here and there some 'in vain' attempts to redirect the weaponry, but too litlle too late.. after the first surprise, the mongols take control of modern weaponry and their superior tactics also work in space, where nobody hears you scream, ...

Or why not a charge of heavy knight cavalry... They could make it 'biological warfare' with all types of cool primitive fighting men (vikings, indians, samurai, ...) if playmobil thoughts of it, it's fair game ... you may even allow them to team up together...

I like your remark on people generally...

I think general people have lots of their brain-activity shrouded from their mind's eye... 

It's clear now to me that some socially acceptable practices should not be discussed. They are understood. Some stupid examples: when you visit somebody and they say 'we're about to eat'... that means 'come back another time'... staying longer might get you invited for food... but you may lose that friend for having bad manners... I remember talking this through with a friend, and that friend simply knew this... typical, and discussing it made him uncomfortable... even more typical, I guess... I suspected a kind of internet-brainweb between people, that autists have no access to. With all kinds of info constantly broadcasted and updated (maybe when they sleep), like what presents to bring when invited to a wedding party, or only to the reception, ... it's like most people know these things... common sense?

Anybody fan of 'black mirrors'? they come up with that kind of stuff .

I had some disappointments...

There is an old book 'the high crusade'... there's even a movie about it... I had the idea once ... partly fanfiction, where the existance of the Star Trek Klingons would be explained. Mongol warriors would be taken, entire tribes, from their homes, by giant spacebulkships... These ships would then transport them to planets with highly advanced technology, but without experience in hand to hand combat... biological warfare, let's say... I can't recall seeing the movie ever, and I never read the book until my sister in law pointed it out to me... 

I had the same with 'in the land of the blinds'... I don't think the one-eyed one would be king... I think he would be an annoying guy talking about colours and other nonsense, where the land would be well adapted to the blinds, so they would not need any additional guidance. 

The trick could be to jump always on the latest technology... like Stephen King's 'cell'... not his best though...

I can definitely identify with this & have always felt that I didn't really belong, like some sort of 'Changeling'.

I can fit in reasonably well with most other people, but only by initially analysing their behaviour & then consciously choosing the best way to mould myself to gain their approval.

There was a very old 1970s TV series called 'The Martian Chronicles' (from the book) where in one episode the last Martian child survives by literally changing shape to hide amongst humans, but then gets caught when different groups it lived with all appear at once & it keeps instinctively switching forms. When I watched that in my late teens, it nearly made me cry, as it perfectly described how I felt.

As I've got older, I still pretty much do the same thing, but now I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never truly fit in anywhere. Even my own parents/family have never really understood & for the same reason that it is usually fairly easy to blend in.

People generally only see what they want to see, so if you can identify that & show them a reasonable approximation, they will just assume the rest. The only problem is that once you realise that truth, it makes you feel even more like an alien.

At least my cat accepts me unconditionally though!

I get it, completely. The Planet of the Ood is an episode of Doctor Who that made me cry because it seemed like the perfect place for me.

I do feel a bit like an alien most of the time. I never truly feel as if I belong. I feel like I can never fit in -- no matter how hard I try to change myself to fit in. Reading and writing have always been my escape - getting away to another world. Where I can't be the one that is hurt. 

I'm luckier than most. I have some good friends, my family try their best... but I feel as if I don't exist on the same plane as everyone else around me.  The world goes too fast or too slow for me. I just can't get on the right frequency.  Most of the time, I don't feel part of the world (and it isn't because I don't want to be/don't care).