Does you anyone feel normal people get more things?

Post Reply New Topic

Facepalm. One of those times I wish we truly were Vulcans and could just mind meld to show the person what living with autism is like. Yes, normal people have it hard, just as hard as the parapalegic that has to have constant help to function, and probably even harder than the blind person that relies on braille that doesn't seem to exist, or the deaf person people ridicule behind their back because, well they're deaf, they can't hear it so ha ha. Yeah I'm really feeling the pain of normal people struggles. Oh yeah, that parapalegic, deaf person, and blind person also have to deal with all the monotonous every day problems normal people experience too, just with the extra burden of disability-- but you're right they don't have it any harder or difficult than normal people. Nor does the autistic person that can't function in public due to the obscene sounds and distracting neon lights, nope all autistics are super high functioners and those that aren't we can just bury our head in the sand until they pass by.


Not fighting for equality, which also includes the unpleasant business of calling out inequality, is the surest way to be walked all over-- which is as defeatist as it gets. When you've been persecuted for being "different" or "off" then you can come back and ride your high horse all day about how tough it is, until then realize that what people on the spectrum experience in relation to other people is real and one can't truly understand it unless they experience it.


Yeah, most hiring managers are NT and autistic tendencies trigger the old "won't fit company culture" check box quicker than Chris Christie eats a doughnut. You're right there's no NT law saying one can't be weird, but that doesn't mean they won't try to starve you out via the economy. Try living as part of a minority that is >2% of the population and come back and tell me how "mythical" you think the tyranny of the majority is.

Well said Aristophanes.

I'd like to add that I take issue with the idea that recognizing something equals being victimized by it.
Pretending that autistic people don't face unique challenges is unhealthy.

I better start hurting people right now, for they determine their faith, no one else! Convenient. If they get broken, when I break them, it's all on them.

Aristophanes, great post.

As you wish.

I like to think of it in terms of "you won't know until you try", sure nothing in life is guaranteed, except maybe taxes, but unless you put the effort in you'll never know if there isn't maybe something more to it.

I do not believe that all disabilities are equal to one another, some clearly have it worse off than others, and from what I've seen of their posts, I'm pretty sure boofle believes this also. I also believe that if a person is nitpicky enough, that they can take just about anything out of context.

Technically, the root of boofle's argument is calling out inequality, in bid to promote equality, which makes your statement kind of ironic.

If that was their high horse, then I'd no doubt find their low horse baffling.

As a child I was low functioning, as a teenager I was high functioning, and as an adult I'm mid functioning. I've personally experienced all three facets of functioning Autism, and I won't BS, being low functioning was pretty f****d up. The hallucinogenic nature of my Autism introduced me to a lot of horrifically nightmarish creatures that would have made Lovecraft's entire mythos look like sunshine and rainbows by comparison had I known about it at the time. It certainly wasn't a gift back then, I can tell you that.

Mid to high functioning though? Very few know just how easy they've got, and most think that they've been dealt a pretty mean hand, which again goes back to the whole perspective thing I was talking about before. I know Neuraltypicals that have it a lot worse than I do right now, but who couldn't even begin to comprehend what I went through as a child, let a lone be able relate to any of it.

Actually, I've already gone over this in a couple of posts elsewhere on the Forum, but I suppose just as fnord has done, I too will go over it again.

I actually put down in my CV as having Autism, because it actually improves my chances of getting a job. For one thing, a lot recruiters have commented on being either impressed and/or surprised by my honesty, and have confessed that they can usually tell if someone's hiding a mental disorder. Ironically, a lot of people with mental illnesses get rejected, not because the company doesn't want to employ people who have autism in the like, but because they don't want to invest in a dishonest worker. Personally though, I think some of my Sociopathic friends who put Sociopath down on their CV and are able to continually hold steady employment, are a much better example overall. I mean if employers will willingly employ a known Sociopaths, then there's really no excuse for Autistic people to hide it, and risk immediate rejection.

I agree, just as it's equally unhealthy to pretend that Neuraltypicals likewise don't face their own set of unique challenges.

I agree with those who say that one shouldn't let a diagnosis define one's life, or let it prevent them from getting the things they want, but I do also have to point out that autism is called a disability. It functionally limits a person's ability to perform at the same level as a "non-disabled" person. As such, it makes perfect sense that, even if a person tries as hard as they can for as long as they can, for some, possibly many, the fact that they have autism is what is preventing them from succeeding in an area where an NT has found success.

The challenges faced by neurotypicals are not relevant to this forum. That they have them is a given.

It's not "special treatment"; we aren't getting anything to make our lives better than yours, it's "accommodation"; it's what we need if we're to stand a chance at living a life without mindless discrimination and rejection which make the possibility of measuring up to the success of the average NT nonexistent. Even with this so-called "special treatment" we still face adversities which you, by virtue of your "majority rules" brain wiring, will never experience.

And yet despite that irrelevancy, so many people are constantly beating down upon, and outright dehumanizing them.

I don't know the situation in Canada or the United States, but here in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where both myself and boofle live, there are significant resources and institutions in place by which someone with Autism can draw heavily from regardless of how old they are or how severe their Autism is, whether they're employed or unemployed doesn't matter, all have access.

Well actually, the National Health Service and Welfare acts as massive safety net for everyone in the entire country, people with Autism just get a few bonuses on top of that and access to more specialized services.

It's nice to know that my Income Tax goes towards something useful. /no sarcasm

In the US depending on your location there is little or no help for adults. Americans culture is much more extraverted then the UK so that of course reflects in hiring practices and your ability to not get fired. Also business here tend to see an employee who is disabled as a person who might sue them and any person that is different as a person who might shoot up or blow up the office. So the hiring process often involves multiple interviews and reams of personslity tests designed to weed out difference.

No offence but being First Nations in canada and living on a reserve AND just being a minority i feel White people get more money, jobs, and above all; respect, regardless of their mental abilities... Come to think of it my white autistic friends are a lot better off than i am but thats just me.

Seriously, how are people without autism dehumanized by autistic people discussing the challenges of autism?

I can do all them things if I want to but it takes a lot of energy for me and all my energy goes into earning money and keeping a roof over my daughters head.

I've never been good at relationships really as I enjoy my own space far too much.

I don't like travel because I have anxiety when I'm too far away from home so holidays/vacations are completely wasted on me.

I do what I can do and that is good enough for me.

The OP asked;

I responded to the bit in bold because the equivalent of the question coming from an NT, "does anyone feel disabled people/aspies(/two toed sloths/chipmunks) get more things?", would have been no more palatable to me than the above question... And i would have challenged the inference made by the question.

In my precis'd response from earlier;



I made it clear I was talking specifically about HFAs. I then went on to say;



My line in bold is what appears to be causing problems, causing some to feel I'm likening HFAs challenges to NTs. Take it in context tho. I'm actually saying everyone has challenges, tho they're distinct to the relevant groups (NT or HFAs and as said in a later post) because as I've maintained from the beginning, I don't believe anyone's suffering is greater or lesser than anyone else's.
This is not only because I strongly believe in equity for all, but, because a set of circumstances led to my also having mental health issues. More irony, anyone?

I was a mature student social worker in Glasgow, wanting to specialise in mental health (if anyone's looking for yet another bit of irony) and I got the call that meant I had to transfer back to England because my mother's health had rapidly declined.

Anyway, she died. I fell apart. I have a chemical imbalance. I should be medicated and be having counselling. Less than a year later my father is going thru a battery of tests for cancer.

But I'm only an NT so my suffering cannot possibly be on a par according to some of the attitudes/posts on here.
Yet for me it was HUGE. My life stopped. I was on the verge of my dream career and now I'm a failure.
Granted I wasn't born like it. Granted I'll hopefully get better. Doesn't change that I'm suffering tho. My challenges may not be your challenges but are they any less valid? Doesn't mean I'm saying you don't have challenges either, mind. Yet that's how some have read it.

Startrekker, thank you for your excellent posts. I mostly agree with you.



But I'd still say they should try and go as far as they can get... The alternative is to not try at all, I'd suggest? If that's right, then surely it's better to keep at it?
Yes, discrimination exists. Functional limitations exist. And i'm not suggesting work hard and you will be rewarded because that is indeed, wishful thinking. As Idealist points out there are no guarantees but the alternative doesn't sound great either (to me)

My father is a retired orthopaedic surgeon. He was at the top of his game. He would have made it 30 years sooner, according to him, had he been white.
Functionally he was fine but his form was his handicap. Everyone has something holding them back, to reiterate my earlier points.
Yet he never once thought of quitting, going back to India, or feeling resentment. He just played the hand he was dealt.

ZombieBride thank you for your post also;



I don't have autism but I can relate to the discrimination you're talking about regards ethnicity.
My ethnicity is something I was born with and can never change. Nor would I want to. It makes me 'me'.

I'm of indian origin (born in India) and I've been judged most of my life. Sometimes overtly, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes thru 'positive discrimination' *pfft*
The last gem, just a few months ago, was when I was asked by a white woman, "Do. You. Speak. English?"
Yep, she spoke very very slowly and LOUDLY and enunciated very very carefully.
I speak and write more eloquently than many a native (not arrogance, just fact) but my skin colour had done the talking before I could open my mouth.

Another occasion was on placement during my degree. I and a colleague went to this facility. She was white Scots. I was from England, of Indian origin and an old fart.
The reception she got was warm. Mine was cold. They made her life easy, mine hard. Not just residents but staff, too.
I had to work doubly hard and by the time we left, the manager herself came to do my one - to - one (a high honour apparently) and in our meeting offered me a job after I qualified. Did I resent my colleague for having an easier time of it? Nope.
Was it due to my being indian and from England (Scots aren't keen on the sassenachs)? Yep, cos I overheard comments.
Life however isn't fair. I just worked harder to prove myself.

Everyone has their cross to bear. It's childish to say my cross is bigger n heavier than yours. And that was the only point I've been trying to make. Discrimination can go both ways. Life can be tough and unfair.
But if you get some perspective to quote Idealist, you will see it could both have been better OR worse.

This is the longest post I've ever made anywhere . Not doing it again. Tiring too. Especially on a phone. Dunno if I got thru but, I'm done.

Hello Boofle,
I'm very much for seeing people as individuals and against the group think, us vs them, AS vs NT, so I understand where you are coming from.

If you take two individuals with identical backgrounds, intelligence, ethnicity, financial, locality, whatever.......the one who is autistic will struggle with making decisions, forming relationships, achieving academic results, managing finances, success at work......compared to the NT person. That is why it is classified as a disability.

There are many here who have been told that if they just get over themselves, stop being lazy, make a bit more effort, etc... then all of the above will no longer exist. It just doesn't work that way.

Yes, life is generally hard work for most people, but it's important to recognise that life and death is different for those on this spectrum.

Please don't edit peoples posts with a FTFY, I know it's common on forums but it often comes across as sarcastic and is not well appreciated here. If you knew Androbot a little better, you would know that the last thing you could accuse her of is being a defeatist.

None of us are perfect. Welcome to the Wrong Planet.

Idealist, I have to disagree with the one of your points, sorry. Support in the UK for HFA adults varies massively by area. So some receive good support while others receive little to none.

Thanks for your post, neilson_wheels. I'm still learning and I appreciate your taking the time

I just wanted to ask, what's FTFY pls? It sounds painful