Sweetleaf wrote:
Callista wrote:
On the other hand, we're also rule-followers, which makes it far less likely that we'll try illegal drugs, just because that's the rule.
Not all of us.
That should go without saying; the diversity of human beings means there are exceptions to every rule.
When I say something like, "We're rule-followers," I don't mean, "Every single autistic person is a rule-follower"; I mean, "We're notably more likely to be rule-followers than the average person is." Kind of the way you would mean it if you said, "Men are taller than women"--the trend is there, but people are so diverse that there are many exceptions.
Most autistics do like having rules to follow--but some don't follow other people's rules; they have an internal rule set that they follow, which may or may not include not breaking the law. Only a few are truly impulsive and erratic in their behavior. I think this is because our minds just work better in patterns.
Some autistic people who deliberately don't follow rules, have decided that they do not care about a culture or society that has rejected them. Often these are young people (and here I mean people under 40) who are trying to determine their own identities and identify their own values, because they have discovered that they simply don't agree with the way people around them live--sometimes because they've been mistreated, sometimes because they've decided to stop pretending to be NT. Even then, they often have, or are searching for, an internal standard to live by.
That is what I mean when I say we're rule-followers; we tend to have consistent sets of standards for both ourselves and others, because we like things to be predictable. It's not universal, but it is very, very common.
I take things a bit too literally maybe...I suppose you didn't specify 'everyone with autism'.
I guess I would say I have my own internal rules that I follow or try to follow anyways...but yes with laws it sort of depends on the law, there are plenty I don't agree with and interestingly enough I think most people break multiple laws a day because there are a lot of very small minor laws people may not even be aware of.
But yeah I don't really follow societies 'rules' either like I don't wear make like supposedly females are supposed to and I don't try to mask my autism to act more 'normal' so yeah I don't exactly conform to all those unwritten rules of society....Also I find culture intresting just not the american culture of consumerism(though now its gone worldwide so its not just an american thing). As for society I don't care much for it at all and think change is necessary....though I like how some attitudes in society are shifting, like it seems there is a rise in people questioning the war on drugs and what not.
03 Mar 2014, 3:44 am
