Autism misdiagnosed with Retardation

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A downie went to my previous school, and he probably had autism too, he behaved differently than other downies, he rocked back and forth, and had the same soulless expression in his face all the time, he hardly said anything, and when he said anything, it wasn't understandable. yet everybody liked him and saw him as cool, yet me as an idiot, i didn't do anything to them or him, but I found it out that downies/ret*ds are society's pets/favorites, which I don't understand. A few of my aspie friends are popular, someone not, and I cannot understand it. I have read a few stories about some parents who has lost their downies, and that they are absolutely fantastic and bring joy, I have seen downies in town, and they are very likely favorites among NT's, yet I have not seen any stories about someone caring about aspies dying, that's just seen as enjoyable, they are seen as pests, but downies and other ret*ds are seen as the opposite. I can go for an NT by dressing like a teen, using perfume and hair gel, yet I can act like an *ss, I can be seen as introverted for a period of time.

It's called the flat affect, most people with an ASD will look like such (no matter the label), even those with Asperger's. You'll find a zillion posts on this forum of people being accused of being on illicit or legal drugs by peers, even though they weren't.

What's ironic about the first post, it's actually those with AS who usually have more problems with personal hygiene than those with HFA, and this was one area that some professionals used to distinguish them (amongst other things).

(I'm sure the OP has numerous things that can be pointed out and made fun of in person.)

I know many AS people, and almost all of them have AWESOME hygiene, and they have a lively expression on their faces, me included, I think the stinking aspies may be the reason why they are disguisted? Is THAT the reason?!

This thread is extremely offensive and I do not understand why mods allow it. It does not deserve reasoned replies.

I know what you mean by people with Down's Syndrome or other syndromes causing mental retardation being more beloved by peers and society at large. I've sometimes been jealous on behalf of my daughter because of this phenomenon so I've looked at it carefully and seen two core reasons:

1)People with Down's Syndrome have unimpaired social skills (assuming they don't also have autism co-morbid, like the boy at your school). This means that their social interactions are comfortable, warm and familiar to the NT world at large. There won't be any intellectual conversations and they'll need a lot of help, but when the NT world at large (and school peers) interact with somebody with Down's Syndrome, the interaction feels familiar and therefore good because it follows NT social norms. People with Down's Syndromes (and plenty of other syndromes, like Williams Syndrome, I think) are also comfortable and happy with social contact. They like being around people. The world at large responds to this by liking them right back. Autism tends to impair social contact and make it far less enjoyable. The world responds by saying "you don't like being with me? Fine! I don't like being with you either." This isn't fair. It's just part of the explanation for what you've seen.

2)People with Down's Syndrome and many other syndromes that cause mental retardation have distinctive physical differences that act as a neon sign over their heads saying "I am disabled. Cut me some slack". And so people do cut them quite a bit of slack. This generally takes the form of being patronizing. But somebody who is patronized is still welcomed into the group. They get treated as a forever-child, somebody to be treated gently but not as an equal just as adults don't treat children as equals. This comes with a set of problems of its own, but it is a form of social acceptance- albeit with huge strings attached- that is denied to Aspies because there is no physical difference. To the NT world at large, Aspies are not disabled and therefore not deserving of the slack given to diabled people. Instead, they are perceived as NT people who simply refuse to follow social norms, not because they can't (only disabled people can't) but because they won't. That is the perception that fuels part of the rejection. An Aspie isn't seen as disabled but rather somebody who just won't do things other people do out of sheer stubborness. And stubborness is never cut any slack.

This is true, I can relate to it.

The comparison of the way people with learning difficulties are treated as compared to an Aspergian. A person with learning difficulties for example a person who has Down Syndrome has a much better quality of life than an Aspie. That I think for many reasons no one has threatened to sue a Down syndrome because that would make him or her unhappy but they have an Aspie perhaps on many occasions and the same reaction as they have threatened to sue a person with learning difficulties. Other neurotypicals (or false aspies) those neurotypicals who look like aspies but are not, see people with learning disabilities as though they are little angels and see us aspies as though we have been sired by the coupling of Satan and a jackal. It is an absolute disgrace People would go out of their way to make a person with learning disabilities as happy as possible and go out of their way to make an Aspergian miserable as possible. People do care about the mental welbeing of people with a learning disability. But when it comes to AS people no one cares about our mental welbeing at all.

bdhkhsfgk, maybe you should take a break from this site. Some of your posts as of late have been rather rude and hurtful.

And trust me, not all people see Downies and the ret*d as angels and such gag-nonsense. I've seen some of them be just as bullied and abused as I was. All the "specials" were and still are "fair game" for those would hurt others for merely being different.

And I have seen the special child angel gag-nonsense directed at autistics of all sorts (yes, even those dxed as Asperger's) as well. It's just another ridiculous myth-stereotype.


(Also, currently dxed AS, often have that "stoned, ret*d" face [it is my main expression], and hygiene issues, thank-you-very-much.).

No offense, but please show me the stoned look, and I will see if I am mistaken or not, if the look I was thinking about is different.

These are not the best examples, but they are the closest I have:
http://belinda-rikku.deviantart.com/art/Meh-63275079
&
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb61 ... redork.jpg (silly vampire fangs...).

Stupid camera doesn't work, otherwise I'd take some new ones for better examples.

But really, type "stoned face" into google image, and you get the general idea anyhow. (although, unlike the majority of those pics, my mouth isn't usually open or "smiling").
"Blank" eyes, slack face, no expression.

I didn't think of that, [removed - M.]

Am I wrong?

Close the mouth, and that would probably be my "extreme concentrating" look. (hell, I might even have the mouth open sometimes.).

This is based on your op. I understand your trouble, some hfa's can seem ret*d but they aren't classified wrong. I know that som hfas are more like aspies byt these people who you think are ret*d are in fact hfas. My best friend who has hfa is like that, yet he is one of the most intelligent person i have ever met. I knew him from 5th grade as the slow kid and class and my classmates occasionally laughed at him as did I( i didnt kow i was aspie yet). In 7th grade after i was diagnosed, i joined a youth group for aspies and auties that he was part of and since he lived in my neighbourhood, I decided to become his friend. When I first met him, he was obsessed with norse mythology and knew everything you can no about it. He reads everything that interests him and keeps it locked up in his head. I'll ask him for insight on egyptian mythology and he will go on and on. Me and him write a sci-fi book and he is the source of many of my ideas because he lives in a fantasy world half the time. I love him like a brother and i've got to be the only friend he has because as his best and only friend grew up, he became a real douche and ignored Howard. He really looks up to me. So im just saying that although they seem ret*d, they really arent.

Hey OP, the meeting was for people with HFA, not AS, as you said. So duh on you to... Try some real research first.

I find some of this offensive. Oh I have AS to, but this just reminded me of those good ol' days in cooking class and my job at subway 'eat rott" store. "No I don't want you on the registar. This store has enough money problems." amung other rude verbal sayings infront of me. All I had to do was tell them I had Aspergers, and there they went, thinking "all over slow" rather than "slow socialy". Is having a flat stare really such a bad thing? In my experiance, the norms' reactions to it never get boring. So yeah..

Last edited by LiendaBalla on 22 Sep 2009, 12:47 pm, edited 5 times in total.

So what? And what is a "ret*d" stare?



That's your own narrow-minded opinion, what is a "human" supposed to act like? What is a "human" supposed to dress like? Your arbitrary judgement is because they don't act and dress like you think they should, your judgement is based on superficial qualities that mean pretty much NOTHING!



What are you talking about? Most autistics even so-called "Low-Functioning" ones look "normal" or should I say average. Also you shouldn't insult DSers, just because they look "funny" or speak "slowly" doesn't mean they are stupid you know, I know a guy who has Down's, he looks different and he speaks slowly, but he's coherent and has quite an understanding of things and has quite a vocabulary. Most (actually all) stupid people I've met were of average or above average "intelligence".



Aspies are frequently referred to as having "dead eyes" or the "aspie eyes", I have them myself, of course my overall face structure is "normal", so basically your insulting HFA's for having the same "dead eyes" that we have ourselves or is it something else?



Truly horrendous! A person who isn't like yourself, she must "clearly" be a "monster"....



They probably don't like you due to your smug elitist attitude.



Some parents do love their DS children, others do not (they are jerks), some parents do indeed love their autistic children (despite what you believe) others do not (they are jerks). False black and white dictiomony.



I took regular showers as a teen, then stopped when I had a major depression episode, I eventually got back into showering daily about a year ago or so.



I don't usually do this, but QFTW!



Smug senses of superiority based on superficial nonsense and elitism makes you stink much worse as a person.



Yep, so what is bdhkhsfgk really talking about? What is his point? Seems like he's just talking about a heap load of nothing, since what he says about others is equally applicable to ourselves.



I have decent hygene but I don't have a lively expression on my face usually, I guess I'm "not" human or an Aspie, according to you.



The autistic could see it that way too, "The world doesn't like me? Fine I don't like the world", if no one is giving reasonable explainations then everybody is left confused and hurt.



Which social-"norms" are we talking about? Some social-norms are integral while others are not, not everything is "black and white" or absolute, infact some social-"norms" only exist for a subset of people and are not "NT" at all, but rather cultural or clique-based.

I did not refer stinking aspies as "stinking as persons", but physical stinking, aka, smelling extremely bad.