What do you wish NTs knew/understood more about ASDs?

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I agree. People need to learn to be more accepting. We're slowly getting there, I mean we've taken great strides against racism, sexism, and homophobia, but we still have a long way to go for those things, and an even further way to go in the fight against ableism.

That it's not a one-sided negative condition; there are positive traits as well -- good memory, excellent at focusing and detail, tenacity, ability to entertain one's self and to enjoy one's own company.

I wish people understood that ASDs and ADHD are not about having psychological problems, or mental illness, or something you can just change if you just will yourself to do it. They are pervasive neuro-developmental disorders, or a difference if you prefer to call it that instead of a disorder or disability, but they are developmental. neurological. and pervasive. Meaning that my brain developed so differently from the norm, it affects every aspect of my life.

I wish they would understand that Autism is a neurological difference, and didn't call it a "disease" or "illness" (they even do this in Wikipedia). I wish they could also understand that just because you may have issues in certain areas (some more severe than others, depending, everyone is different), doesn't mean that you are less valuable than any neurotypical person. On the other hand I wish they were more understanding when there is some issues (like at work) and work with you and around it to make things easier when possible (for example someone here said something about his supervisor taking the time to listen to him and not pressure him when he had to pause to think of how he would say something, and I thought that was great).

I also wish there wasn't so many misconceptions and prejudice against AS, and that people would realise that no one is 100% autistic nor 100% neurotypical, everyone is at least a little bit of both.

There is so many other things but I will stop here for now.

can see exactly the point are making but its not quite fully descriptive; some of us lack empathy,due to our level of LFA or HFA.

even those of us who are LFA [AKA those of us with autism who also have varying levels of intelectual disability] can spot a patroniser and hate it just as much as HFAs,we are adults with limited mental capacities-not adults with the brains of children,wish they woud recognise that,of course they never will because the world is so obsessed with placing everyone on a inteleigence hierarchy and stereotyping the crap out of people who are on either extremes of it.

wanting a feeling of belongingness or whatever the word is,is dependant on the persons level of autism and mental capacity.



1.none of us need pity,we are all just living the lives we have been dealt with,and that doesnt need people feeling sorry for,its patronising to us- seeing the person behind the label woud be a better trait instead of applying everything they do to their labels which then biases their reactions.

3.agreed though our own community does it continuously towards the spectrum just as much; to be fair to NTs,it seems to be a human trait.

Yeah, true. But some want pity.

I'm having a helluva time trying to convince my brother of this. He believes that my diagnosis means I'm crazy. I've tried to tell him that I'm NOT crazy, that my brain just processes differently. He says 'If that's not crazy, what is it?"

lolwut? You should respond, "if that's not stupid, what is it?"

i wish NTs knew how immensely hard it is to deal with stress, pressure, anxiety and change when you have ASD. people always tell me to push through change and do things anyways, and i really do try, but then i shut down and regress back to doing nothing.

I agree with starkid hehe. I think your brother is just immature, he will probably understand as he gets older. Or maybe he is saying that just to get a reaction from you.

Thirded , or fourthed or millionthed

If Webalina is 54, I'm voting her brother is stupid.

I didn't realise Webalina was 54, so this means her brother should be old enough to know better. I guess he's just being stupid like you said

One thing that I wish that some Autistics would learn: Not everybody has your perspective and views things the way that you do. Not all of us like having Autism (nor does it make us horrid individuals) and some of us would like a cure. If you like it then there's nothing wrong with that either. It also can go from being a Neurological difference to disabling in some scenarios. Another thing is that generalizations about non-Autistic individuals are perceived as being just as offensive as the generalizations that some of them make about us. A third thing that I've noticed is that some automatically believe that being unaware of what Autism is means that they're ignorant. Not everybody is educated and a mind reader with or without Autism, so inform them/educate them about what it is if they're unaware. They often can learn about what it is.

I don't act as an advocate for Narcissism or Asperger's (I may have both and was diagnosed with the second one) as I'm well aware that everybody has different views on it and that I wouldn't speak for everybody who has it. There's nothing wrong with having Autism in my opinion, but I'm sure that a bunch of Autistics would disagree with me (which is alright). I'd also like to point out that not everybody who doesn't have an Autism spectrum Disorder is usually as bad as we generalize them to be. They have emotions like we do and are likely offended/appalled by it just as we get offended by them. No offense to anybody on this, but I felt like throwing out my two cents on the conflict (I don't expect everybody to be page eye to eye with me on this either which is alright).

^This, a thousand times this. My fiancee gets mad that we don't go out to eat very often or that I don't like accompanying her shopping and doesn't understand how tough it can be. Same with my job, who thought I was faking and overreacting when I would shut my light off and disappear for some time because they'd stick me in a checkstand when it was busy.

I appreciate the sentiment, but my brother is 52. I doubt aging is going to gain him much understanding....lol. You just have to know him. He's the exact opposite of me -- spontaneous, quick-tempered, quick to judge, acts before he thinks, believes he's right ALL THE TIME. (God...reading all those things in one line completely weirds me out...lol.) To be fair, he's actually become pretty understanding since all this came to light. He's treating me much better; it's just that he isn't interested in sitting down and actually talking to me about this in detail and learning more about it -- hence, the "crazy" comment.