Do people think your ret*d before they get to know you?

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ah, do you speak english as a second language? what was your first if you don't mind my asking? i am for legal purposes, classified as an "english as a second language" speaker, even though i learned it alongside and at the same time as my first language, spanish.

as a kid, when i wasn't being silent and having people assume i was nonverbal...i'd make remarks in gibberish or in other languages, leading people to think i was from some exotic land, and most certainly not a lifelong native to where i live. i...still think that happens nowadays and my ethnically ambiguous (IMO) appearance doesn't help matters much. (but i think most people fit that label)

lots of others have said i was intelligent too, most of the time i don't agree with them but i'd like to know what causes people to have those assumptions.

i guess people just assume that someone who is quiet and gets his work done is intelligent.

i dont know what other people think about me

Yes, I get that impression, for example in small talk situations with strangers or colleagues (who basically count as strangers). Those kinds of dialogues develop according to magical rules and formulas that “other people” wondrously seem to understand. Not me, though. Asked a yes-or-no question, I will answer yes or no (possibly followed by a “thank you”).

Did you have a nice weekend? – Yes, thank you.
And then I get that look.

It's even worse when it comes to redundant questions.
When I show up late at work, there is always at least one person asking, Are you working evening shift today?, and Yes is obviously wrong (or incomplete) as an answer.

Where I live I outwardly express my mannerisms. So I'm already known in the community but no one has came up to my face and called me ret*d. I don't know how one gets a feeling. The only vibe I Get is pretty much the uncomfortable experience of someone staring at me. I openly express I'm autistic. therefore no one has called me ret*d. People often stare at me like I'm a odd duckling. Though I don't percieve that as what you are perceiving. Oh by the way.

Update on what has happened in past month. I switched schools after attempting to work with the special education system. Since they accused me of "truancy". I'm quoting that, since I'm not truant..

On the forum that I run this would be called necroposting... But I'm not the mod here haha.

As for the stated question in the title, absolutely not. Everybody thinks I'm a genius of sorts. In fact people often assume I'm around 25 years old or so and doing at least a master's, maybe even a PhD. And I'm not that bad around people anyways, or exceptionally clumsy, though I am certainly less coordinated than average.

My parents thought I was for the first four or five years of my life. It's understandable, though, with doctors having told them before I was born that it was a strong possibility I would be. It was a very turbulent pregnancy.

Kip,

My first language was German.

Sometimes, I've had people think I'm ret*d.

I used to think I was actually ret*d when I was growing up. Then I thought that I "used to be ret*d, but it got corrected through brain surgery." That's what I told some guy when I was 9. I was really curious about the kids who attended the special school on my block.

Yes

kraftie, i used to think i literally ret*d, too. that was probably reinforced by an unrelated girl i knew back in second and third grade who shared my last name, she called me her "ret*d cousin". i, being a dumb child of course, went along with it and even wore it as a badge of pride, totally unaware that even at that early age, people were using my ignorance as the butt of jokes. i wouldn't catch on until i was well into my teenage years.


in high school i had someone tell me that "half the school" thought i was ret*d, that they "feel sorry for me". it didn't hurt, as that came from the mouth of my then limerent object, but if anyone else would have told me, i never would have gotten over it.

ah, cool.

One of the therapists that I went to thought that I had a learning disorder. She wanted my parents to pay $8000 for me to get a psychological evaluation.

I am ret*d and it's pretty obvious, so yes.

f*****g hell.

i would have told them, "why should i pay $8000 just so someone in a white coat can tell me what i already know??"

i know it could help with getting accommodations in school, disability benefits and stuff like that.

but $8000 is comical. droll.

Typically no. In class I am very energetic, enthusiastic etc. Especially when in classes like Sociology and history where I have an immense history. I often get into discussions/ask questions to the teacher and the other students. People as a result sometimes assume I am smart even more so than what I actually am.

Yes - people frequently think that about me before they know me.

No.