What is one thing you wish that NT's knew .....?

Post Reply New Topic

I wish they knew what I really meant to say. I wish I could just talk to them all in text rather than verbally. Verbal kills me every time. But in writing? Writing I can handle.

Cheers! That should be on a bumper sticker!

I wish they new that I don't mean anything personal by not wanting to be with them all the time.

Heard that one before, its one of my favourite sayings

I just wish that people would realise that knowing a friend with an autistic child is not the same as living with autism - either as a parent or as someone with autism yourself.

That is a really good one.

How it feels to be excluded, wrongly accused, and treated as less than human.

Thanks guys! These are great! I love to hear multiple views from different people. It helps to see the broad picture of things.
Here's what I want you to know about NT's such as myself. Some of us really do want to understand those with some kind of disability.... This is especially true the older we get. Like you guys we often don't know what to do or say in certain situations. We have struggles and feel like we don't fit in or belong anywhere. We have are quirks too, and our way of doing things. We often wonder if we are normal all the time. We struggle with anxiety. We are insecure about ourselves. We have our intolerances. We have our obsessions just like you. We laugh inappropriately at times. We daydream. We inmate those around us. We are not that different from you, and we don't think you are any less human. I know this because the more I talk to everyone the more I know about people innermost thoughts.

I wish this topic was required reading for everyone on planet Earth.

I'm going to answer the thread topic question first.

What is one thing you wish that NT's knew .....?
How to sit quietly together at a table without talking complete nonsence just to pass the time.

Now that I've got that off my chest.


What is something you wish for everyone to know about ASD?

I'm an honest person. I'm not tricking you, I'm not foolin' with ya, I'm not liing to you.
I say things as I understand them to be, my understanding is limited to what you "tell" me.
I answer the question asked, not the qeustion you didn't ask because you were being polite.
I'm happy to sit in your company without talking. I'm not upset with you.
If you bully me, be rude to me, lie to me, betray me; it will not be forgiven or forgotten.

Know that I'm a good person, and not inconsiderate, rude, or condescending. I'm just not very good at decoding people. And just because I don't smile at people as much as I should doesn't mean I'm an angry/grouchy person. It's just the way I am. Stop trying to change me and start trying to respect me for my good points. And there are many (like being able to learn that anatomy diagram 5x faster than the next best person in the class).

I wish my husband could understand this....he always thinks I'm being rude. I'm just blunt and not very good at interpreting or modulating my tone of voice ("It's how you said it...")

I like this, but would like to add that NDs make assumption about NTs too.

Me wanting alone time does not mean that I'm trying to ignore you. It means that I am tired of dealing with you and need to recharge by doing stuff alone where I don't have to talk to you 24/7.

You do not need to check on me every ten minutes.

"Why can you talk to people online with such ease but have difficulty with me?" Because talking to a person face to face requires me to have to think about what I'm saying on the spot while being online allows me to take my time figuring things out.

Stop trying to shove me into being "mature" it's not gonna work. I've tried it and that tires me out.

Quit making assumptions about people you know nothing about.

Stop thinking that every choice I make is because I'm influenced by someone else.

I have a whole list of these.

Sometimes I think and process like a child but I still have a very sharp and powerful mind and in ways I am much more mature than others.

GregCav and Clacrymosa, I like what you said about time alone and sitting quietly. My needing time alone does not mean I don't want to spend time with someone else, I just need time alone to allow my system time to rest and be calm and allow myself to focus on me rather than what others need and want. It's just very calming and kind of centering to have time alone. I know NTs understand that because they need it too but I think that because Spectrumites so easily get sensory or emotional overload, and we are always trying to process stuff, it is that much more crucial to us. I really like being able to sit in a room with someone else and just be quiet and not have that feel awkward.

I've come across way too many NT's that seem to be under the impression that autism is just a "childhood thing." Even just yesterday, someone said to me,"wow, autism in your 20's? I'm sorry." I think it's because of the very heavy imbalance of attention placed on the difficulties encountered by childhood autists vs the near silence concerning the difficulties experienced by adult autists.