Are you able to see yourself as normal.

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Who_Am_I
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30 Dec 2012, 7:06 pm

I'm not normal.
Sure, I have things in common with normal people, but I also have things in common with birds.


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AspieOtaku
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30 Dec 2012, 7:14 pm

I think of myself as normal most of the time however other people think of me as a bit odd especially when I talk to myself and repeat things or my echolalia kicks in.


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bumble
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30 Dec 2012, 10:24 pm

NT's are easily conditioned by society and are often not able to see beyond that conditioning. In other words they often have difficulty in regards to independent thought in some ways. The way they behave and often, what they believe, is decided for them by the culture they are raised in and they seem to have a lot of trouble questioning the validity of what they are taught in that way.

Blind acceptance.

Not all NT's are the same however, some do think for themselves but many, unfortunately do not.

And all in the name of socialisation and social acceptance.

They also have a tendency to be afraid of anything different and have trouble understanding the world outside of their own conditioned narrow perspective. Ie they don't understand my world any more than I can understand theirs. The difference is I am honest enough to admit it whereas they like to pretend they understand me when they clearly don't lol (at least in some instances anyway).

Some of their logic simply does not make any sense and many of their behaviours and beliefs lead to prejudice and discrimination even though they may seem harmless on the surface. It is their tendency to see anything different as defective that tends to lead to such problems, yet this is considered to be normal behaviour and is acceptable in many circles.

NT's can have just as many learning disabilities as people with ASDs can have, they just have them in different ways. Their high emphasis on fitting in socially often leads to ignorance and limits their understanding of the world around them and the nature of life itself.

I see ASD's as being nothing more than variation within a species that may or may not limit functionality in any given culture or environment. In some environments having an ASD may well enhance functionality in others it may limit them. In a simliar way, NTs can just as equally have traits that can do the same!



Verdandi
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30 Dec 2012, 10:45 pm

bumble wrote:
NT's are easily conditioned by society and are often not able to see beyond that conditioning. In other words they often have difficulty in regards to independent thought in some ways. The way they behave and often, what they believe, is decided for them by the culture they are raised in and they seem to have a lot of trouble questioning the validity of what they are taught in that way.

Blind acceptance.

Not all NT's are the same however, some do think for themselves but many, unfortunately do not.

And all in the name of socialisation and social acceptance.

They also have a tendency to be afraid of anything different and have trouble understanding the world outside of their own conditioned narrow perspective. Ie they don't understand my world any more than I can understand theirs. The difference is I am honest enough to admit it whereas they like to pretend they understand me when they clearly don't lol.


Quoted for context/clarity:

I think this is an overly reductive and simplistic perspective on NTs, who are themselves a diverse collection of people. I agree that some people do not think for themselves, but I find it difficult to believe that NTs are mostly just mindless automatons programmed by society to behave in certain ways. Society has an influence, yes, but NTs are not necessarily more vulnerable to it and autistics are definitely not immune to it.

Many of the traits you describe as being peculiar to NTs I've seen among autistics. It's far too easy to fall into a rather simplistic mindset of "us vs. them" where we're the good people and they're the flawed and possibly bad people, but this won't lead to a better understanding of others.

Maybe I just find generalizations difficult to understand, because there are far too many exceptions to generalizations (that is a generalization itself, though) to really trust them as accurate.

As to the OP's question: I always feel "normal." I don't know what "normal" is like for other people, and trying to work it out has never succeeded for me. But for me, I always feel normal because I am accustomed to being myself.



bumble
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30 Dec 2012, 10:55 pm

Verdandi wrote:
bumble wrote:
NT's are easily conditioned by society and are often not able to see beyond that conditioning. In other words they often have difficulty in regards to independent thought in some ways. The way they behave and often, what they believe, is decided for them by the culture they are raised in and they seem to have a lot of trouble questioning the validity of what they are taught in that way.

Blind acceptance.

Not all NT's are the same however, some do think for themselves but many, unfortunately do not.

And all in the name of socialisation and social acceptance.

They also have a tendency to be afraid of anything different and have trouble understanding the world outside of their own conditioned narrow perspective. Ie they don't understand my world any more than I can understand theirs. The difference is I am honest enough to admit it whereas they like to pretend they understand me when they clearly don't lol.


Quoted for context/clarity:

I think this is an overly reductive and simplistic perspective on NTs, who are themselves a diverse collection of people. I agree that some people do not think for themselves, but I find it difficult to believe that NTs are mostly just mindless automatons programmed by society to behave in certain ways. Society has an influence, yes, but NTs are not necessarily more vulnerable to it and autistics are definitely not immune to it.

Many of the traits you describe as being peculiar to NTs I've seen among autistics. It's far too easy to fall into a rather simplistic mindset of "us vs. them" where we're the good people and they're the flawed and possibly bad people, but this won't lead to a better understanding of others.

Maybe I just find generalizations difficult to understand, because there are far too many exceptions to generalizations (that is a generalization itself, though) to really trust them as accurate.

As to the OP's question: I always feel "normal." I don't know what "normal" is like for other people, and trying to work it out has never succeeded for me. But for me, I always feel normal because I am accustomed to being myself.


Yes I have to confess I can have a rather subjective view as I can only speak of the people I have encountered who all seem to follow a similar pattern in behaviour. Perhaps I have too much of a limited social circle...or I have been unlucky in regards to the individuals I have met. I tend to live an isolated existence partly due to finding socialising exhausting and partly due to lack of acceptance when i do try to mix.

This is why I pulled out of studying Psychology (my original academic love) and switched to hard science. Well that and the fact I have had bad experiences with the psychiatric profession lol. I am biased and sneer at the material when reading psychology books now.

There are, of course, always many shades of grey involved in any area and there is a lot of variation among all humans regardless of neurological make up. However, there an be a lot of similarities as well.

People of all shapes and sizes do like to fit things into neat little boxes though, myself included sometimes lol.



Verdandi
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31 Dec 2012, 1:17 am

bumble wrote:
Yes I have to confess I can have a rather subjective view as I can only speak of the people I have encountered who all seem to follow a similar pattern in behaviour. Perhaps I have too much of a limited social circle...or I have been unlucky in regards to the individuals I have met. I tend to live an isolated existence partly due to finding socialising exhausting and partly due to lack of acceptance when i do try to mix.

This is why I pulled out of studying Psychology (my original academic love) and switched to hard science. Well that and the fact I have had bad experiences with the psychiatric profession lol. I am biased and sneer at the material when reading psychology books now.

There are, of course, always many shades of grey involved in any area and there is a lot of variation among all humans regardless of neurological make up. However, there an be a lot of similarities as well.

People of all shapes and sizes do like to fit things into neat little boxes though, myself included sometimes lol.


All true. :) Sometimes it's very handy to have those neat little boxes, too.



Dillogic
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31 Dec 2012, 5:14 am

Yes, I'm a normal person. My personality lies within the usual norms, no matter what developmental disorder I may have.