Before you joined WP, what did you expect users would be lik

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I honestly was scared to join for a while. I heard about the group about a year ago. But not having a diagnosis, I was worried that I would be perceived as trying to fit in, or being 'special'. That my motives would be suspect, and not trusted, and that I would be an outcast in my attempts to solve this problem I've been facing.

Meeting the wife of a late-diagnosed man changed my mind. She told me to join. That if anyone would understand the fear and history of not fitting in, it would be other people on the autism spectrum. So I joined.

Amazingly, this is the first place in my almost 33 years of life where I have found other people like ME. I have been the black sheep of my family, school, and church. This is the first time when I have been surrounded by other black sheep. The diagnosis doesn't make me fit, just like the diagnosis doesn't make me autistic or not. Being autistic makes you autistic or not.

And I ramble. The end.

I didn't know what to expect when I first joined in the summer of 2004. Most of the members seemed to be younger than me back than. Most of the members seem to be older than me now.

I had Expeced The intellectual level of the people here to be high Generally .

Weird, came up as a topic on WP back in July. Here it is on the channel that aired it:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the- ... sode-guide

And reviews:

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio ... new-baking
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvan ... eview.html

Googling it puts up way more results, in case you don't believe me somehow.

Sorry I meant "I Like Trees" must be really young to have missed...

I'm not 115. Sorry. What have I missed, from what decade? Because really, I hadn't heard of anything about autism until I heard on my family members, later me, having it. The only stuff I've seen on the TV is what I've stated. I've seen more online, but that's because I'm looking for it.

i thought they would be more similar to me.
i thought they would be more objective and non-committal.

passions elude me in the sense that passions are seen to be emotional. i have no passions. i have obsessive interests, but they are logical ones and not emotive ones.

even the basic necessity of "comparing logic" with another person eludes me. i believe i am correct and infallible without support from any outside influence.

it would seem that i am fundamentally unable to engage in true reciprocal conversation because i do not have enthusiasm for any thought that i have not thought myself.

i do not place any inherent credibility in other people. i think of them as just "them". i do not devalue them or think lowly of them, i just know they are not me, so they may be wrong....and i could not bother to spend any time evaluating whether they are wrong or right because i need that time to think my own thoughts.

so i guess i was looking for blank-ish posts by blank-ish people that i could identify with, but instead i found a strenuous and impassioned hotchpotch of different personalities all vying to establish their territorial positions.

looking at it all from orbit, it seems like the antics in a petri dish really.
must move on from biology.

I apologize if you think Im attacking you. Im not.

Im actually about half of the age on my profile (only Jurassic, and not quite Triassic Lol).

It was in mid 1960's when I was in late gradeschool when autism first burst onto the scene as thing of public awareness. Radio talk shows, articles in print, and there was a movie about a selectively mute autistic boy growing up on the Yorkshire moors (forget the title) all suddenly happened around 1966.

But it was all always about autistic children, or parents of autistic children.

And in the fifty years since that era it continued to be that focus in society. And it pretty much still is now. Most of the resources available for helping autistics is for children and targeted to NT parents of autistic children.

Thats where I am coming from.

So YES -apparently you HAVE missed out on half a century of media focused on children (when the topic is autism).

Or from my pov it looks like you're missing the main ingredient and somehow only get the seasoning.


I am not accusing you of lying about the TV show about the gardener. What I meant is just what I said. I just never heard of it.

Its like the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Autism is the elephant and your like the guy who touches the elephant's tail and says "the elephant is like a rope", and I am like the other guy who has his arms arond the elephants leg and declares "the elephant is like a tree". Some third person who has their hands on the elephant's flank might say "both of you are nutters! The elephant is like a big wall".

The good thing about NaturaPlastic:

He is as flexible as rubber, and has a inductive mind.

One who expresses a vast array of opinions is not on the warpath.

People who express a limited amount of opinions are often on the warpath.

hmm that's an interesting question.. I'll say that before joining WP, my thoughts were that I seemingly hoped to come across many other aspies,auties,pdd's & hfa's without anyone being judgmental or so forth. It turned out to be a very nice place to learn & exchanged ideas,information etc..

The 1969 movie was "Run Wild, Run Free" and starred Mark Lester of "Oliver!" fame

Wrong Planet thread - Autism Representation 1946-1975

I expected intelligent people discussing, detecting and turning matters - and that is what I found

That's the movie I was thinking of.

Havent thought about the movie in decades, but its good to see clips of it again.