Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
I've been feeling really low lately and something that hasn't helped is the subject matter of a class debate we had the other day. We began to talk about autism and Asperger's Syndrome, and this popular girl who has no communication or social difficulties whatsoever (in fact one of her many gifts is that she makes everyone love her) says, "Everyone's on the spectrum, it's just to what extent. My cousins are autistic, so I know."
And...I know we're all entitled to our own opinions and beliefs. And it's not like that was the first time I had ever heard this theory, and to be quite honest, I'm not the most severely Asperger's person in the world. In fact, you'd probably say I had it quite mildly - particularly if you were an adult meeting me, as adults seem to bring out the best in me in a way that my peers can't. But when I saw her sitting there and just saying that, surrounded by all her friends kissing up to her and agreeing with her, whilst she'd just been going on about the party she was off to the next day, and the gig she was going to soon with another girl on our table, I just wanted to say, "OK. So you believe everyone's got autism. You try living a day in my life - seeing everyone make friends around you whilst you're left completely alone, no matter how hard you try. You try knowing you're different ever since you're old enough to think, and then tell me everyone's on the spectrum, because I think you might feel differently then. You've got no idea how lucky you are! I'd give anything to be accepted and supported by everyone like you are."
Now, I know she doesn't mean that everyone is autistic or AS to the point of diagnosis. She just means that we've all got little tendencies here and there. But, though I wouldn't say it to her or any of the kids at school as it makes me sound like I'm just making trouble or feeling sorry for myself or using any excuse to have a big, dramatic, overemotional reaction, I found it really difficult to hear that from her, and in my personal opinion it's actually quite an insensitive thing to say to/in front of someone with any form of autism. (She does know I have AS, and she says she believes it's true but I don't think she does - none of the others do.)
Am I being out of order?
Thanks for reading,
Liv x
longman said:Thanks Scorpion0x17, perhaps I could understand your perspective better if you could illustrate your perspective with how we are being treated at the moment.In response to the Government initiative "Leading Rewarding and Fulfilling Lives" the local authority I've just moved from read it as providing learning disability support for anyone with autism through their existing learning disability partnership board.The local authority I've just moved to doesn't even have autism on its website. It hasn't made a decision yet whether adult autism comes under learning disability or mental health. I think mental health runs it at the moment but its unclear.So if you feel what I'm saying will "further distance ourselves from society" and "only make our plight worse" could you make it clearer what you think will happen?My personal impression, for what its worth, is that saying everyone is on the spectrum is taken to mean its nothing special, and merely underlines the popular perception of adult autism as immature over-sensitive people who cannot cope with the same circumstances as everyone else. And who therefore are delusional and must be seen as having a mental health problem.
Thanks Scorpion0x17, perhaps I could understand your perspective better if you could illustrate your perspective with how we are being treated at the moment.
In response to the Government initiative "Leading Rewarding and Fulfilling Lives" the local authority I've just moved from read it as providing learning disability support for anyone with autism through their existing learning disability partnership board.
The local authority I've just moved to doesn't even have autism on its website. It hasn't made a decision yet whether adult autism comes under learning disability or mental health. I think mental health runs it at the moment but its unclear.
So if you feel what I'm saying will "further distance ourselves from society" and "only make our plight worse" could you make it clearer what you think will happen?
My personal impression, for what its worth, is that saying everyone is on the spectrum is taken to mean its nothing special, and merely underlines the popular perception of adult autism as immature over-sensitive people who cannot cope with the same circumstances as everyone else. And who therefore are delusional and must be seen as having a mental health problem.
Well, for a start, I don't think that there is much, if any, link between the way the government initiative is being implemented and whether autism is considered part of a wider spectrum or not.
But, let us for the moment assume that there is.
The current state of affairs is far better than it used to be - it used to be that autism in adults wasn't even recognised. Nor was it even accepted that there were differing levels of impairment within the autistic population.
So, things are moving in the right direction, if very slowly, and if there is a link between this movement and the perception of autism as part of a larger spectrum, that can only mean that that perception is a good thing.
As for your last paragraph, I'm not sure about 'immature', but we certainly are, often, 'over sensitive', though also often 'under sensitive', and even 'normally sensitive'.
What we need to break is the idea that we are 'delusional' and the perception that we have 'mental health problems'.
I again don't think that distance ourselves from the society is likely to do anything to help in breaking those ideas and perceptions.