Does this site depress you?

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Well how about you say why you do come here then?

now you're just repeating yourself.

This site depress me? NO WAY. It makes me happy. Helps me learn a bit about myself and discuss stuff at the same time.

Ma-137, I suspect the woman who told you off about the parking space was just making it up about the space being reserved and trying to assert her own pitiful form of authority over you.

It would be like the police pulling you up for not stopping at a stop sign when there was no stop sign there. This woman sounds like a real b**ch and it's good to see that your boss stuck up for you and didn't let this stupid stupid person get you sacked.

Teela, I'm quite prepared to admit that I have a disability but I'm also not prepared to pretend that I don't have it simply to fit into society. That is often the contradiction we are faced with in our lives as AS people.

This is a conversation that I had with my girlfriend this Sunday morning after waking up:
Me: Oh, Hilary, I didn't have a good sleep...
Hilary: Why? Maybe you had a nightmare that you were an NT?

Well, I didn't, but it would be quite a nightmare, all right! I have never been an NT, and don't know or understand their ways; they seem alien. I am not depressed that I am not an NT, and I am very happy that I found WrongPlanet and you all who understand me. I have found Hilary here too. I get sad and angry sometimes when I read stories written by those who are unable to find niches for themselves on this world. This is so wrong.

I had that dream once, when I was three years old. I was 12, and I wore black cargo pants, rode a BMX bike and had a cap on backwards. I had a girlfriend and another friend.

Of course that dream never came true.

Back on topic - this site is therapy for me, I makes me feel better knowing that there are people I can relate to.

Er.... I don't understand. Are you implying that I am supposed to think of myself as disabled and spend the rest of my life moping around about something I can't change?

I've been like this for 34 years and only found out about it 18 months ago. I have a job, a partner who lives with me and loves and accepts me for who I am, I own an apartment, and am thinking about trying to start a family in the not too distant future.

Why on earth should I view myself as disabled?

Right on, Feather!! !!
I'm 42, just found about this about 14 months ago. I am married and have a family. I am not disabled! Different, hell yes! No doubt about it!
Disabled, no!

Why would the site depress me? It gives me a feeling of belonging.

TeelaClarke, weren't YOU the one who called aspies freaks? I'm surprised you didn't get banned.

If you are not proud of your neurodiversity, you are no better than the NTs which oppress. The NTs that accept are good and will forever be praised.

I've always been an Aspie but never knew it until recently. This site helped me to understand how I am different from the NT people around me, as well as how I am different from other Aspies. Sometimes that understanding makes me depressed and angry, but I don't blame WP or the members.


Maybe it's an itch that TeelaClarke simply can't stop scratching...

I don't find this site depressing. I'm neither ashamed or proud about having AS. I think that's a better way to approach AS. I'll explain why I feel this way, but my opinion probably won't be popular...

To people ashamed of AS:

Don't label yourself as a disabled person. If you do, there is no way you can't feel bad about yourself. People will not want to be around you. Also, if you become the disabled person, you don't have to be resopnsible for what you do. You will always be the victim. Labeling yourself as a disabled person is basically a type of denial. You don't have to grow as a person. To be successful and overcome difficulties due to AS, there has to be personal growth. This can't occur when a person has a negative outlook on all of their problems. A negative outlook can cause personal decay, and make problems worse. On top of all of that, AS is a part of who you are whether you like it or not.

To people proud of AS:

Before I begin, I have no problem with people liking or accepting yourself (I'll discuss this more later). Pride causes a superiority complex. You must be cautious of this. Some things I have seen on this site, suggest that people with AS are better than NTs. This is absurd, pompous, and chauvinistic (there...I've said it). Many people with AS have been bullied or teased in the past and want respect from NTs. How can you expect respect from NTs when you think you are better than them? It is ridiculous and hypocritical. It seems that a some people with AS dislike and look down upon society. That's really the way to isolate yourself from society. Also these same people expect everyone else to change. That's pig-headed and rude. It you don't stop blaming society and if you're not willing to make an effort to improve, you will not succeed.

How I view AS:

It is a part of me. I accept who I am. I also acknowledge that I have traits that I should change because of it.

I agree with everything bec said, esp. the above statement. Just look at the deaf community for comfirmation of the above.


I particullary like this site not b/c it has an unique culture, but b/c I find you people to be more like minded and similar to me than anyone else, and that is a great feeling after years of alienation/isolation

(When I said like-minded, I fully relize that some may disagree with my statements. I accept this, and agree to disagree.)

You must have a definition of "disabled" that I don't. Mine doesn't include feeling bad about yourself.



Oddly, people want to be around me despite the fact that I refer to myself sometimes as a disabled person.



Oh?



Not in my definition.



This is, also, news to me. I have grown a lot as a person while also considering myself disabled (a term that I don't regard as at all negative).



My definition of success isn't "overcome difficulties due to AS". In fact the whole notion of "overcoming" in order to be successful is one that has been heavily dismantled by the disability rights community.



Viewing oneself as disabled isn't necessarily a negative outlook. It all depends on your definition of disabled. Which is just a word.



Autism is part of me, and one I don't have any plans on curing, and I'm disabled. I see absolutely no contradiction there.



I agree with the idea that autistic superiority is just as bad as NT superiority. However, only some of what is called "pride" (a term I don't totally understand the application of) seems to be about superiority at all. Much of it seems to be about equality after a long period of viewing oneself as inferior. And about seeing oneself as worthwhile (and not necessarily at the expense of others).

At any rate, I view autism as just being a word applied to a certain set of people. Whether or not anything about it is something that I can change, or should change, has nothing to do with whether it's considered "a disability" or not (an argument I consider useless given that I subscribe to something similar to the social model of disability in which disability is the interaction of certain kinds of people with certain kinds of societies and is not necessarily a negative medical/individual trait). Certainly I don't want to become non-autistic. I do adapt to other people, but also expect people to meet me halfway. My absolute limit in terms of adaptation can look like non-adaptation to other people, but I trust myself to know better than anyone else where those limits lie, and not to judge where I should and should not adapt based on a value system that views things considered "disability" as "negative" things to be "overcome". I do not agree with the idea that people who call themselves "disabled people" are somehow seeing themselves as inferior or not having responsibility for their actions (although some people can certainly use it that way based on their own connotations), nor do I agree with the idea that "pride" (in the sense of "autistic pride" or "disability pride" or whatever) means superiority (although some people can certainly use it that way based on their own connotations).

I agree. I believe that pride among the autistic community is probably one of being equal to NTs in some ways, superior to them in others and inferior in others. But genereally all mankind is equal and so we must remember that and try not to become as corrupted as the followers of eugenics.