Dear Disablists,
I am an Aspie. I was raised by a drunken, bigoted bully who beat me whenever possible, and for whatever reason he thought was right. I was bullied at school by anyone looking for a victim, as well. The police used to round me up with the other usual suspects whenever there was an incident of vandalism, theft, or burglary, and accuse me of the crimes simply because I acted 'weird'.
My first wife cheated on me, and her rich boyfriend not only paid for her divorce lawyer, but also got me fired from work and blacklisted for employment all over town. I lost my family, my home, and my job, and ended up homeless and on the streets. To get out of abject poverty, I enlisted in my country's military, where I rose up in rank twice as fast as my peers, and earned an Honorable discharge.
I put myself through university, and eventually earned an MSEE degree. I have remarried, and enjoy a new life with my wife and her relatives here on the West Coast. We are prominent in our church. We own our home. We both work full-time and our co-workers come to us to solve their problems. People like us for who we are, and not for our wealth.
Now you come along and declare that I am an 'Abelist', and that stories like mine are told to 'shame' you into becoming better people. You tell me that a person with an ASD could never succeed at life, and that "Horatio Alger" stories are myths. You tell me that for you there is no hope, and that you have given up trying to improve yourselves because your ASD makes it impossible for you to do anything useful.
Had I learned 40 to 50 years ago that I have an ASD (instead of in the last 10 years), and had I been taught to believe since then that I was a hopeless case with a crippling disease that would prevent me from ever achieving any measure of autonomy and success in my life, then I would also have become one of those people complaining about how life is 'unfair' and how the world owes me something.
(If you are truly crippled by ASD, then this is not about you; but if you use your ASD as an excuse to not even try to become a better person, then this is about you.)
I am proud of my accomplishments; even prouder after learning from you that such accomplishments are supposed to be impossible due to ASD. I have achieved something. Now you want me to stop telling my story.
Stuff it.
Sincerely,
Fnord
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I have no love for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iranian Leadership, Islamic Jihad, other Islamic terrorist groups, OR their supporters and sympathizers.