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:Scorpion0x17 may be right from his perception that he is different by degree not by nature. Personally I am more inclined to True Colors view of things, as I do feel radically different, even if in a milder form than most.Maybe I need to revisit my view of the spectrum by saying that relating to the spectrum works for some, but I think it neither helps nor defines many others.
Maybe I need to revisit my view of the spectrum by saying that relating to the spectrum works for some, but I think it neither helps nor defines many others.
I think you and True have missed a key point in my post(s).
That is that I used to think the same - that I, and the way I think, is radically different to the way NTs think.
It was only through trying to answer the question of why I felt that way, by reading up on psychology and the way the human brain functions, that I realised that the differences between the way my brain functions and the neurotypical brain functions was not down to it's nature but the degree to which particular circuits and sub-circuits with the brain function.
A very poor analogy is that of computers (and, no, I'm not going to repeat the oft quoted, and I think very inaccurate, though sometimes usefull shorthand, idea that the NT brain multi-tasks, and the Autistic brain doesn't) - all, modern computers, no matter what their make or model are all essentially the same, they all use silicon transistors, which all work in the same way, and all use binary logic to achieve their programming. However, an Apple Mac is a very different beast to a PC, and even within each of those groups, Mac and PC, you have very wide range of degrees of functionality determined by the speed, power, and functionality of the components from which they are built. Fundementally, by nature, they are the same, but they differ greatly, by degree, in what they can do.
So, as I understand it, it is with NT and Autstic brains, fundamentally they are the same, they have the same basic components, and use the same basic logic, but the speed, power, and functionality of the circuits with the brains differ greatly.
That is, and is what I mean by, a difference of degree, not of nature.