Does Wrong Planet Make You Feel Less Like A Weirdo?

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I like how I can come here and talk about all of this openly without really seeming like a whiner or something.

I have learned much more variation about autism from reading and posting here.

I was weird before I found Wrong Planet. WP merely helps me to revel in aforementioned weirdness.

Yes – it makes me feel normal, for the first time in my life!

In my case, I was never diagnosed and when I was a kid there was no such thing as Autism. And in real life I've never known anybody on the spectrum - for me it has literally been finding out that I am not the only one in the entire universe like me. That's a pretty big deal. I feel so much less guilty about things also, like being asexual. It used to seem like a huge horrible gaping flaw, now I know it's just me.

As someone else said, finding WP was a revelation and a relief. It didn't make me feel any less weird, but it explained it, so many things. And meant that I could talk about and work out stuff with other people which I had almost never been able to express or formulate, stuff which very very few people had ever understood even when I had been able to before.

PS. I'm not sure that the medical paradigm/narrative about us is exactly helpful ... does believing that you are disabled and/or dysfunctional as opposed to weird, ( eccentric strange odd bizarre mad nuts and difficult etc ) empower? I frame almost all of my peculiarities as disabilities now, and seriously doubt that I'll ever work again.

I feel extremely incapable, whereas younger/pre-WP I thought I was unique/exceptional on my very own incredible journey ... sometimes I still do ... but mostly now I feel like one of a crowd of people sidelined and disabled by ( a slew of ) social change, nothing special, defunct ... ... ... perhaps it's just age talking ( I turned 50 last Autumn ), perhaps it's the era.

Last edited by ouinon on 02 Feb 2014, 1:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

No.

Absolutely. Before coming here I just thought I was an as*hole with a bunch of really weird habits. Identifying with posts on here reminds me that I'm not just broken.

Both yes and no. On one hand, I really like that I can interact with others here without having to explain what my autism is, and why I would say this-and-that or think so-and-so. On some forums I've been called an insensitive jerk for some of my postings (not that often, though) when there was no harm intended.

On the other hand, I have grown more aware of my eccentricities that are not autism-related, and those tend to still stick out even when I'm among a group of autistics. But I'm slowly learning to take myself as I am again, after going through a period where I felt I had to conform to the expectations of others.

Hi ouinon - I think it had the opposite affect for me - I no longer think of my issues as abnormal. I never thought I was disabled, I just was never raised that way (not saying it's bad to know you are disabled, it's just that I was taught to think all my problems were due to laziness and not caring, etc.) Even though I've had lots of problems keeping jobs etc. for most of my life, I've been very lucky for the last few years - my abilities have been appreciated though I still have some problems. I'm 52 btw, so it took me a loooong time to get to this point.

I have some issues at work, some of them social, some sensory overload related, and some with executive functioning, but I am considered by most to be very good at my job. My reviews are always very good by both my immediate supervisors and the HR dept. I think sometimes just a little accommodation for people's problems can make a difference, because prior this job I had was an unemployable mess. I don't mean accommodations in the sense of I get my own office (I wish!), but just an understanding that I still am of value, despite that fact that they all think I'm totally bizarre. Sometimes I get treated unkindly or just socially dismissed and that sucks, but I live with it because I know they just don't get me.

Maybe that's what Autism awareness is all about - that if you let somebody be themselves even if you don't appreciate some of the their qualities, they can still be of value to your organization. It could make the difference between disability and independence for many people on the spectrum.

The thing that hurts me the most is that people who can play social games, that are far less capable - and even more important less willing than me, are adored and praised and while I am left to just watch. It makes me sad, but I don't let it ruin my life.

for me YES

I am new to the forum and totally knew to knowing that I have aspergers. My mom only just told me about a month ago I had been diagnosed as a kid. I was venting to her about all the problems I had been having, and how I felt so weird. Then I told her I learned about autism/aspergers and I thought I had it and she was like "yeah, you have it. Psychologists told me so". I was like "dang mom, why didn't you say something before?" lol.

In other words, I went MY WHOLE LIFE not knowing I was weird FOR A REASON. I didn't know there was a whole group of people that were JUST LIKE ME.

It makes me so relieved and happy! And I am learning a lot by stalking the forum already haha.

Edit: I do not think aspergers is a bad thing. I really can't see anything "wrong" with being aspergers. I just think its really really different. And anything different than social norm is treated like its "wrong". Some people probably think my fashion is "wrong". Who cares when theres other people in the world who are just like you.

I actually never even imagined a forum dedicated solely for people with Aspergers ever.

More weird that it's so hard to find people who tolerate me.

But it is comforting to know that when I'm confused, either I'll be ignored or someone will try to explain what is happening, or if I didn't communicate well, again, I'll either be ignored or someone will try to paraphrase what I said.

There's no shaking of heads or telling me to stop pretending, get it together, hurry up, how can you be so slow. None of that. Here if I don't communicate efficiently or describe being overwhelmed it isn't weird. I'm not pretending. And I don't feel labeled as pretending. I'm allowed to exist and share space. And not feel entirely a burden to have around.

So I do like that WrongPlanet exists.

I do not think I feel any more weird or less weird because of WP. Because of WP and getting diagnosed with Aspergers

1. I know why I am weird
2. I know there are others that are weird in similar ways to me.
3. I know that I feel less guilty and bad about being weird.
4. I don't think of myself as being weird as much because weird has a negative connotation. I mostly have replaced weird with different.

For my entire childhood and adolescence I was wondering what made me like this that I had so many, many UNRELATED problems - I was BAD at sport, hopeless at all the things social, I had nervous tics, OCD and so on - and now voila! - it turns out all those have just ONE explanation - a developmental PERVASIVE disorder. And for my whole life I just thought I was just smart and smart folks just sometimes get those as some sort of compensation for their enhanced intelligence: like with the X-Men; Rogue could absorb powers, nevertheless she couldn't touch anyone, which made any romantic life impossible for her, Angel could fly but had a physical deformation to be able to do this - his wings etc.

its great to know there is a part of humanity am actualy able to relate to but have never thought of self as a weirdo ,have never been able to tell people apart in all manner of ways-to self we are all the same fleshy template-its many other people who now feel definitely weird-eg;those with hive mind/group think,cant do any thought or action unless their peers think/do it-will never understand that...and people who say its wrong to use something [eg,females playing computer games] or wear something because its for a male/female,who says so? the gender police?